Aaron Dodge’s Professional Story & Personal Brand Capture His Hustle & Heart
Written by Meg Seitz · Photography by Julia Fay
Everything that Aaron Dodge is or aspires to be really comes down to two things: hustle and heart. {Continued below}
As the Director of Brand Management for The Littlefield Co., Dodge actively drives a new role in business development and branding that places him right smack dab in the center of a lot of fresh energy – sales, social media, branding, video and photography as well as all the people that make all these happen.
He’s been in the job since the start of ‘18. It’s a new role for the company which means Dodge invests his time in the real stuff – doing what needs to be done, learning or refining the business processes that make the most sense, and partnering daily with Founder, Duncan Littlefield.
It’s a lot about content; and even more so about challenging brands to think more seriously and sincerely about the story they want to tell and to whom they need to tell it.
The role captures Dodge’s unique ability to see and cultivate possibility; it’s also a testament to his professional story, but also his personal brand.
“We get set in our ways and our daily routines, and we get into a new role, and we think, ‘Well, I’m here now; I’m just going to exist’ – and that’s just not true,” he shares. “Everyone can get better all the time.”
As diverse as Dodge’s career has been across businesses and locations in the continental U.S., there are some through lines that connect his work with his personality; those include his energy, momentum, and agility.
A native of Upstate New York, Dodge holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Coastal Carolina University; he launched his career as a part-time Game Night Intern with the (then) New Orleans Hornets before he took on the role full-time; two years later, he moved to Minneapolis to work as the Game Presentation Coordinator for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Then, in 2014, he moved to Charlotte to live closer to family; he worked in several marketing and communications jobs before landing a role with Arthur Elliott Marketing Group in January 2017. It was in that role that Dodge fell in love with branding and video.
Not long after that, he met Littlefield at TEDx Charlotte; Littlefield was photographing the event; Dodge was managing social media. Both were in roles responsible for capturing the content and spirit of the event which meant that the two hit it off professionally and stayed in touch.
“We were just really on the same wavelength,” Dodge recalls. Littlefield offered Dodge an opportunity to join his company in a whole new capacity starting in 2018. “Dodge is truly one of a kind,” Littlefield noted. “He understands the equation of effort and passion equaling success. I’m honored to him on my team, and I’m thankful to call him a friend.”
Today, Dodge spends his time and energy with Littlefield Co.; he also works as the Game Presentation Stage Manager for the (now) Charlotte Hornets.
“The extra work required,” he admits. “It’s all that work – the real stuff, not the glorified stuff – that you do when no one else is looking that makes an athlete better and will make this business better.”
The energy, momentum, and agility you experience in Dodge’s professional story is also clear in his personal brand. If you follow him on Instagram, you experience his daily, storied adventures in food, fun, dance, music, and fitness. He’s funny, real, bold; he’s also the biggest fan of Charlotte freshest brands, businesses, people, and events. It’s an athletic approach professional and personally.
So, what’s the connection for him between being an athlete and joining a young start-up?
“The extra work required,” he admits. “It’s all that work – the real stuff, not the glorified stuff – that you do when no one else is looking that makes an athlete better and will make this business better.”
If his constant, buzzing energy and approach is about anything though, it’s about the success that emerges from pushing himself to be better every damn day.
“We get set in our ways and our daily routines, and we get into a new role, and we think, ‘Well, I’m here now; I’m just going to exist’ – and that’s just not true,” he shares. “Everyone can get better all the time.”
I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about Dodge’s dance moves he captures daily in his bathroom mirror.
So, seriously – why the dancing?
“I’ve been dancing in the bathroom mirror for years,” he admits, candidly. “It’s just now IG stories lets me share it with more people – and, hopefully, make more peoples’ days.”
Meet the Author: Meg Seitz is the Founder and Managing Creative Partner of toth shop, an agency with one goal: Elevate your brand’s content through powerful writing, creativity, and strategy. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor with Queens University and Founding Partner of the children’s book series, “Bea is for Business”.
She’s an English major with an MBA, so she can talk Homer’s “The Odyssey” just as well as she can talk sunk costs – though she’d much prefer the former.
Meet the photographer: Julia Murray, owner of Julia Fay Photography, feels most at home behind a camera with a story to tell on the other side. Her business began during her sophomore year of college, while majoring in radio and tv broadcasting. Now residing in Charlotte NC, she primarily shoots weddings and other local small businesses like her own. Her favorite part about her job is the connection it brings between art and people.
