Farm to digital marketing: young professionals pursue the Leelanau dream

By Stephanie Purifoy
Sun contributor

Artist and web designer Raquel and farmer Kevin Jackson’s journey came full circle when the millennial couple, both 33, settled in Leelanau County five years ago to pursue their dream of working for themselves and growing roots in this beautiful place. Their story is a powerful testament to young professionals who take the risk of leaving safe jobs in downstate urban areas to chart their own course. Northern Michigan and its aging population needs more of them.

Ready to explore, Raquel and Kevin left Michigan in 2011 with only what they could fit in their newly purchased Land Rover. They were leaving behind a successful painting business in Brighton in southeast Michigan to live on the road for as long as it took to figure out the next step in their lives. Raquel had learned shortly after Mother’s Day that she was pregnant, and the realization spurred the Jacksons into action. “That basically put a fire under our butts that if we were going to do anything bigger than what we were, we had to do it then,” said Raquel. They launched their trip west after staying with friends on Fisher Lake in Glen Arbor.

She kept her design company Rockwell Art & Design and ran it remotely from coffee shops and bookstores while on the road as the couple made their way across America. Their journey eventually took them to Boise, Idaho, where Raquel gave birth to their son Abraham, and after spending a few months in the area, returned to the Midwest. Kevin had found a job on a farm in Cedar, which was exactly the opportunity he had sought. Their road trip, which lasted nearly a year, came to an end where it had begun, in Leelanau County.

As they followed the road less traveled, their entrepreneurial ingenuity came in handy.

Raquel, who had been drawn to the arts at a young age, received her associate’s degree from Collins College in Phoenix after an art teacher in high school encouraged her to follow her passion. After nearly 18 months in Arizona she moved to Chicago to study at Columbia College but soon left after realizing that her education might not be worth the cost. Out of school, she returned home to Brighton and met Kevin. Neither of them liked the idea of a desk job so they began painting houses. Raquel would meet with clients and establish color palettes while Kevin calculated prices and painted the houses.

“We did really well,” said Raquel. “People really liked us and we were this young professional couple. We realized that we had this entrepreneurial spirit but we also knew we didn’t want to be painting houses for the rest of our lives.”

Inspired by a friend, Kevin began researching farms and organic living and proposed that they start moving toward having a farm of their own.

Around the same time, Raquel was working part-time at Oh My Lolli! a local handmade-candy store when owner, Keith Karp, began to recognize her artistic abilities. He decided to hire her as a designer and manager. She helped him with advertising, packaging and designing the company’s website. Kevin came aboard as a production manager. Meanwhile, Karp encouraged Raquel to follow her entrepreneurial ambitions.

“He said all I needed to do was start,” she remembered. “And that made me think that maybe I should do it. He put that thought in me.” So she launched Rockwell Art & Design, which helps companies with everything from interior paint colors to website design and social media management.

In Leelanau County with their two children, Abraham who is 5, and Levi who turns 2 in November, the Jacksons have begun to realize their dreams. Rockwell Art & Design is prospering and Raquel also does marketing work for the Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce. Kevin runs Jackson Station farm on land he rents from the Olsen family in Maple City and keeps livestock in the barn. The Jacksons recently purchased a chunk of land that they hope to develop into a functioning farm.

Raquel admits they’ve led unconventional lives and knows that at times some question their lifestyle.

“We live in such a world where there’s this expectation that if you do A and you do B you’ll get C,” she said. “You go to college, get a good job, get stability and you’ll be happy. We knew early on that we just weren’t those people.”

“Being willing to take risks and take that leap of faith is huge,” Raquel urges young people who hope to make the same sort of leap that she and Kevin did, “Patience is also a huge thing. If you can remind yourself why you’re doing it, I think you can get through just about anything.”