Growing Businesses at Home and Beyond

RENEE PERKINS ’16

by Anne O’Connor ’78

What was a new business school graduate to do when a global pandemic threw a monkey wrench in her employment plans? Well, start a business of her own and grow it into a company expecting close to $1 million in annual revenue three years later, of course!

Scrambling to afford the lease for her Cambridge apartment, Renee Perkins ’16 moved home to Nantucket to think about how she could make money in a poor job market. The 2020 Bentley University graduate had interviews, but hiring freezes due to COVID meant no immediate offers. However, with the help of mentors, she soon realized that she had both a unique opportunity and the skill set to promote local island businesses and help them succeed in a changing world.

Growing up, Renee helped her parents with their Nantucket whale-watching business, first as a crew member and then with marketing, so she combined her creativity with her love of helping businesses grow to develop Nantucket Island Marketing. She used $10,000 in savings for seed money and went door-to-door pitching a core set of marketing services. A handful of local businesses, including restaurants and a top real estate firm, signed on. Then, those first customers referred others, who in turn referred more.

Renee, a former soccer and ice hockey player, understood the importance of having a good team from the get-go. “I knew I wasn’t going to be the expert on all things marketing,” she said, so she hired a fellow LA alumna Sara Murphy ’16, as a graphic designer. The agency now has two full-time employees, one part-time employee, and numerous freelancers.

Nantucket Island Marketing is a fully remote operation, which allows Renee and her crew to work with businesses both on Nantucket and in the Boston area, where Renee now lives. However, it also means they have invested heavily in technology. Task management keeps the team on the same page, so each step gets done every time, and a robust analytics reporting platform allows the agency to show clients their return on investment. “I’m always thinking five years down the line: How is someone going to know how to do this?”

Renee said, adding, “Sports are all about solving problems to

The business community has taken note of Nantucket Island Boston Business Journal featured Renee as one of 25 under-25 business and entrepreneurial leaders