Meet Jo

I am a forensic linguist by training. Before that description raises more questions than it answers, here is the short version: forensic linguistics is the study of language as evidence,  how words are chosen, how meaning is constructed, and how communication lands differently depending on context, audience, and intent. It is, at its core, the science of how language works on people.

I hold an advanced certification from the Forensic Linguistics Institute, founded by John Olsson in the UK, one of the foremost authorities in the field. It turns out that background is exactly what search engine optimization is.

My career took a path that looks indirect until you understand that thread. After completing my degree and a stint teaching, I moved into advertising sales, eventually specializing in digital. I became the digital sales manager at KGAN CBS 2 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where I spent years helping businesses understand not just how to spend their digital budgets, but why certain strategies worked and others didn't. That question — why does this work — is what led me deeper into SEO, analytics, and the mechanics of digital visibility.

It is also where I met Nicole.

We recognized each other immediately, the way people occasionally do. Within six months she was my person. Our relationship grew personally and professionally, side by side, over more than a decade. When she launched Kismet, joining her was not a difficult decision. It was the obvious one.

I bring a different kind of thinking to the studio than Nicole does. She finds what makes a business irreplaceable and builds something beautiful around it. My job is to make sure the right people can find it. Those two things are not separate conversations. At Kismet, they never are.

I am a forensic linguist by training. Before that description raises more questions than it answers, here is the short version: forensic linguistics is the study of language as evidence,  how words are chosen, how meaning is constructed, and how communication lands differently depending on context, audience, and intent. It is, at its core, the science of how language works on people.
I hold an advanced certification from the Forensic Linguistics Institute, founded by John Olsson in the UK, one of the foremost authorities in the field. It turns out that background is exactly what search engine optimization is.

The analyst behind the visibility

My career took a path that looks indirect until you understand that thread. After completing my degree and a stint teaching, I moved into advertising sales, eventually specializing in digital. I became the digital sales manager at KGAN CBS 2 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where I spent years helping businesses understand not just how to spend their digital budgets, but why certain strategies worked and others didn't. That question — why does this work — is what led me deeper into SEO, analytics, and the mechanics of digital visibility.

It is also where I met Nicole.

We recognized each other immediately, the way people occasionally do. Within six months she was my person. Our relationship grew personally and professionally, side by side, over more than a decade. When she launched Kismet, joining her was not a difficult decision. It was the obvious one.

I bring a different kind of thinking to the studio than Nicole does. She finds what makes a business irreplaceable and builds something beautiful around it. My job is to make sure the right people can find it. Those two things are not separate conversations. At Kismet, they never are.