WHO
WE ARE
About Workhorse
With more than 20 years of combined experience, we know all too well what it’s like to be understaffed and under-resourced while facing ugly tasks and immovable deadlines. After working in the trenches together in nonprofit theater, we created a concierge business consulting firm that helps small businesses, nonprofits, and individuals solve organizational problems, tell engaging stories, and grow sustainable revenue streams.
Whether we clear small tasks off your nagging to-do list or create a multi-year strategy designed to fulfill your most ambitious vision, we want to help you sleep better at night. Let us put our experience to work for you.
Jackie Baker, Partner
With over a decade of experience in arts and nonprofits, Jackie’s passion is rooted in organizational sustainability, good governance, and hyper-effective, happy teams. As managing director of Pittsburgh-based immersive theater, Bricolage, she tripled the full-time staff and operating budget and steered two strategic plans, including the Greater Pittsburgh Small Arts Capitalization Pilot program. Her designs of Immersive Companions and Theater for All catapulted the company onto the national access scene and have since been replicated by others. During her tenure, Bricolage’s attendance grew by 70%, contributed income grew by nearly 50%, earned income grew by 145%, and the organization’s new infrastructure grew to allow a new immersive production run every year.
Prior to Bricolage, Jackie was the development manager at Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST), where she secured a 1 million dollar grant from the Heinz Endowments in support of initiatives such as Penn Avenue Creative. From 2019-2023, she served as president of the board at Handmade Arcade, Pittsburgh’s largest independent craft fair. Jackie coaches emerging arts leaders, has led workshops at the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Conference and the Inclusive Innovation Summit, and has worked on the National Dignity & Respect Campaign. She can make a plan for even the wildest of ideas when armed with a team that gives a damn, an oversized whiteboard, and a big cup of cold brew.
Emily Willson, Partner
Emily has spent her career helping nonprofits, arts organizations, independent creatives, and small businesses tell their story and grow their company despite their shoestring budgets and scrappy teams.
As the Director of Marketing at Carnegie Museum of Art, Emily implemented an overarching communications strategy that successfully married the museum’s revenue and fundraising goals with its mission-driven activities and messaging. She led PR efforts for the 57th Carnegie International, more than doubling the press coverage from the previous exhibition (over 50 local stories and 80 national/international stories including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal).
As the head of marketing at Pittsburgh-based Bricolage Production Company, Emily transformed the theatre’s print-heavy advertising approach into a robust and dynamic digital-based strategy that doubled ticket revenue and broke all prior fundraising records. She dramatically increased the company’s social media followers (Instagram by 340%, Twitter by 45%, Facebook by 66%) and overhauled the website, resulting in a 660% increase in yearly pageviews (2014 v. 2017).
Emily has a BA in graphic design and an MS in communications. She loves a challenge and would love to help with yours.
