Kaysha Kalkofen & JoAnna Dettmann, tSunela

  (Joanna Dettmann pictured)

by Julia Paulus

In 2005, Kaysha Kalkofen and JoAnna Dettmann met while working at Brighton Digital Marketing. After teaming up for various projects, Kalkofen and Dettmann landed a major account for the agency, and that was their turning point. “I knew that we would be a great team and create a good company,” says Dettmann. “The support behind our friends and family to go on our own was remarkable. We created tSunela in May of 2006.”

For Kalkofen, the similarities between their values and goals is the backbone of their partnership. “Choosing the right business partner was the smartest move,” she says. “I tried to start my own business before, but it all fell apart because of who the other person was. If you’re going into business with someone, you have to make sure it’s the right person.”

Over the past four years, the partners have proved to be right for each other and their business. “tSunela started out with just two employees – me and JoAnna,” says Kalkofen. “We had no office space and worked out of JoAnna’s kitchen off of two laptops and a printer. Now we are a team of seven and we have an office full of equipment and computers. Our client load was zero when we took the leap to create tSunela, and now we are blessed with a client list with over 20 companies. Our revenues in the first year were $60,000, and we finished last year with $1 million in sales.”