Brkthru

11/26/2025

A note from our co-founder Jeff Hastedt as we head into Thanksgiving. Delivering when it matters the most is core to who we are. We’re proud of the teams across Brkthru who continue to show up for our client partners.

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of great work come out of brkthru. But every now and then, there’s a moment that stops you in your tracks and reminds me why we built this company in the first place. This Thanksgiving example is still one of my all-time favorites. Not because it was the biggest p...

10/01/2025

Elizabeth Brooks - Founders Cup Honoree September 2025!

For each of the past seven semi-annual company meetings, Co-Founders and Managing Directors Andrew Sklerov and Jeff Hastedt select a Founders Cup winner.

The recipient at our recent offsite in Birmingham, MI, was Elizabeth Brooks, Senior Vice President of Client Services.

While presenting the award, Jeff Hastedt said, “Liz joined a young Brkthru in 2019, and since then has played a major role in building our client services team, structure and processes. She leads by example, focusing on impactful digital media campaigns and client satisfaction.”

Congratulations Liz, your honor is well deserved!

09/30/2025

Five recipients of our Core Value Awards were announced at our recent All-Company Meeting in Birmingham, MI.

The semi-annual Core Value Awards celebrate Brkthru employees who embody, exemplify, and uphold our Brkthru values in their interactions with our internal teams and our clients. Individuals are nominated by their leaders and then selected through peer-to-peer voting.

September 2025 honorees are:

The Caring Champion: Cherylyn Ebertz

The Trust Triumphant: Heather Morris

The Courageous Contributor: Emary Vasquez

The Catalytic Communicator: Jennifer Brinn

The Positive Attitude Ambassador: Michelle Cisneros

Congratulations to the September 2025 Brkthru Core Value Award winners!

09/29/2025

Join us in congratulating a special group of employees – our September 2025 Platinum Performers.

During every Semi-Annual All-Company Offsite we recognize employees who put clients first by finding ways to say yes, seek out creative solutions to challenges, lend a hand to their colleagues and maintain a positive attitude.

This time in Birmingham, MI, Co-Founder and Managing Director Jeff Hastedt awarded the distinction to seven well-deserving team members:

Kristine Smith
Grace Porter
Olivia Sumner
Christi Illanes
Leah Carter
Jarred Colon
Jerrod Macpherson

Congratulations Platinum Performers!

09/24/2025

Smart growth starts with smart conversations. Upselling or cross-selling just to close a deal? That's bad business.

This Forbes article highlights JeffHastedt, our Co- Founder/Managing Director, and his philosophy around the art of upselling: it should always be a solution to an emerging need. And it's always about understanding what is going to meet your customer's needs in the most efficient way possible.

Read the article here:

Upselling explained with tips and examples for 2025.

08/15/2025

“One thing that’s been pivotal to Brkthru’s success is our commitment to staying true to who we are, belief in our mission and go-to-market strategy and treating our clients with humanity, empathy and a service-first approach.”

In a recent interview with Authority Magazine, our Managing Director and Co-Founder Andrew Sklerov details the lessons he learned while growing our company, and how these experiences helped form the company’s business approach.

Learn how Brkthru became the company it is today and read Andrew’s advice for founders in the full Q&A:

https://medium.com/authority-magazine/fresh-founders-andrew-sklerov-of-brkthru-on-the-unique-challenges-of-building-a-business-from-a1628430fd24

An interview with Dr. Bharat Sangani

08/05/2025

🌍 50 People. 6 Weeks. 12.6 Million Steps. 🌍

by Illanes, HR Generalist

The Brkthru team just wrapped up a six-week "Around the World" Walking Challenge, and the results were nothing short of incredible. With 50 participants stepping up for a virtual trip across the globe, we walked, jogged, paced, and powered through—together.

📊 Challenge Totals:
👣 12,669,231 total steps & activities
🛣️ 6,334.62 total miles walked
(That’s like walking coast-to-coast across the U.S. and back!)

🏆 Top 5 Final Steppers:
🥇 Jaime Grzybowski – 797,616 steps
🥈 Hanna Obaidy – 726,762 steps
🥉 Allison Kordys – 697,434 steps
🏅 Cherylyn Ebertz – 657,054 steps
🎖 Bailey Blair – 641,508 steps

🎁 Top Prize Raffle Winners:
Allison Kordys • Jaime Grzybowski • Gauvreau • Collins • Finn

This wasn’t just about the steps—it was about connection, motivation, and building healthy habits while cheering each other on from across the map. 🚶‍♀️🌐🚶‍♂️

Here’s to momentum, movement, and meaningful wellness experiences. On to the next adventure!

08/04/2025

Brkthru observed National Intern Day with a virtual mini-Brkthru U session introducing our two Summer 2025 interns to our core values, mission, and what sets Brkthru apart from the competition.

Marketing Intern Owen Barr and IT Intern Nathan Avants joined Senior Learning Development Specialist Eric Mossack and Learning and Development Specialist Emily O’Connor for the special BTU session.

“So far, working at Brkthru has been a great experience,” said Nate, currently pursuing a degree in Enterprise Technology Integration at the College of IST at Penn State University. “Although Brkthru is my first leap into professional work, I already feel like I’ve been spoiled for future companies. I’ll carry much of what I’ve learned with me moving forward, both on the software and culture side of things.”

“Working at Brkthru has exceeded my expectations," said Owen, a senior at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. “Despite working remotely, I immediately felt included in the team environment and people from every department wanted to get to know me. As a graphic design intern, I have learned a lot about the design process for clients as well as Brkthru marketing. I’ve gotten the opportunity to apply my design skills while learning how the digital advertising world works.”

Thank you, Nate and Owen, – we’re happy to have you at Brkthru!

07/07/2025

50 states. 1 relentless co-founder. Infinite client dedication.

This week, our co-founder Jeff Hastedt officially set foot in his 50th state - Alaska. 🫎🌲✈️

From big cities to the most remote corners of the U.S., Jeff believes there’s no substitute for showing up in person. Listening. Learning. Shaking hands. That mindset is woven into Brkthru’s DNA - and it’s one of the reasons our partners trust us to show up and go the extra mile (or a few thousand).

At Brkthru, we’re proud to be a team that doesn’t just talk about relationships - we invest in them.

Joining Jeff in Alaska were Brkthru's National Director of Client Success Dustin Moody and National Account Executive/Strategic Partnerships Sean Scanlon.

Congrats, Jeff, on this epic milestone! And thank you for leading by example every single mile of the way.

06/20/2025

The Media Team at Brkthru wrapped their fourth annual department offsite, and their second at our Detroit Training Center. This group of 45 media wizards - leaders, media traders, ad ops and SEM specialists - spent their time together refining their craft, learning about new and emerging tools and participating in presentations with partners from The Trade Desk and The Walt Disney Company.

"While the content is valuable, it is second to the team and relationship building that comes out of these in-person meetings," said Tom Leone Vice President of Media Services at Brkthru. "My favorite part of being a remote company is getting together in person to share meals, stories, laughs and a Detroit Tigers game."

This is how we do it at Brkthru!

06/13/2025

8 More BTU Caps in the Air!

The most-recent graduates of Brkthru U completed our week-long onboarding and training becoming the thirteenth class since launching the program in December 2022.

This group of new Brkthru employees chose the name 13TU (a clever mash up of the numbers 1 and 3 to resemble a B). Dave Asch, Kelsey Martinolich Jackie Lixie, Kyle Jackson, Daniel Whiteside, Connie Cox, Shannon Finn and Victoria Navarro - graduated with honors from our innovative, weeklong immersive training program we call Brkthru U.

Facilitated this semester by Eric Mossack, Emily O’Connor and Jennifer Brinn, the class covers our commitment to service, Core Values and brand pillars, how we work and processes, strategic approach to digital media, department overviews, our clients and key verticals, and The Brkthru Way.

Brkthru U classes are held at our Detroit Training Center in Southfield, MI, a 7,000 square-foot facility that includes two training rooms, modular open space and offices, and state-of-the art audio-visual technology.

If you’re a digital media pro who might be curious about a company that invests time and resources to onboarding and training all employees, swing on over to our careers page to check out the open positions.

06/12/2025

Members of the Brkthru regional hub in Detroit hosted the June 2025 class of Brkthru U to a welcome dinner of Detroit pizza and brews at famous Como's in Ferndale, MI.

Brkthru U is the weeklong training class where new employees are immersed in the Brkthru Way.

From all of us in the Motor City and across Brkthru, we're glad you're here and part of this fantastic team that continues to break new ground in digital media and keep our clients happy!