Our Female Founded Marketing Company

You’ve seen our work—but do you know how Skellydog came to be? Let’s rewind and take a walk through the creative chaos that led our founder, Madi Balman, to where she is now.

Madi Balman has always been “the art kid.” She lived in the art room any chance she got, cranking out creative projects like her life depended on it. One of her earliest masterpieces? A massive 18×24 mosaic portrait made entirely of colorful magazine clippings—20 hours of obsessive detail and pure passion.

So it shocked no one when, in 2016, she kicked off her graphic design degree at Charleston Southern University.

Already set on turning creativity into a career, Madi started freelancing for local small businesses in Charleston while still juggling school. She hustled hard, building her portfolio project by project, and by 2017 she was already hitting up networking events as a student.

Come 2018, Madi went all-in. She officially launched her brand under the name Mae Creative and didn’t look back.

Like most 20-somethings trying to figure it out, she hit a few bumps along the way. But instead of letting setbacks slow her down, Madi used them as fuel. Work became her outlet. Her escape. By summer 2018, she landed an internship with Charleston Southern’s Marketing Communications Department and got a first taste of the marketing world from the inside out.

She kept chasing experience wherever she could—interning for a gym, a Charleston designer, and eventually landing two standout opportunities: Obviouslee Marketing in 2019 and Trident United Way in 2020. That last one? Still a client five years later.

Fast-forward to the start of 2020: Madi was ready to make Mae Creative legit. She had plans, a job lined up, graduation on the horizon… everything was finally clicking.

Then the world shut down.

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC & HOW IT SHIFTED BUSINESS

COVID flipped the script. No graduation ceremony. No design portfolio show. The job she’d secured disappeared overnight.

Still, Madi kept grinding. She officially graduated in May 2020 with a BA in Graphic Design and a minor in Business Administration with a marketing focus. But like so many new grads in that era, she was thrown into a job market that had basically hit pause.

Late 2020, she landed a role as an SEO Specialist at Creative Consulting, a local marketing agency. It gave her some much-needed stability while she kept pushing Mae Creative forward.

Somewhere in the middle of the chaos, life surprised her again—in the best way. In August 2021, Madi married the love of her life. By early 2022, they packed up and moved to Groton, CT. Just one month later, Mae Creative became her full-time gig.

She took the leap—and became CEO and Creative Director all in one shot.

NEW YEAR, SPIKE IN BUSINESS

With full-time focus came major growth. Madi joined her first networking group and immediately clicked with the entrepreneurial crowd. In Q2 2022, she was named BNI SECT Rookie Networker of the Quarter, and by May, Mae Creative brought on its first contractor.

At the same time, Madi began helping others elevate their brands, taking on the role of Art Director for Carolina Spark Magazine and North Carolina Bridal Magazine. That evolved quickly—by summer, she was also their Creative Director and Assistant Marketing Director.

By October 2022, things were moving fast. Mae Creative welcomed its first intern, and business just kept building momentum.

In 2023, Mae Creative made waves—features on FOX, ABC, and over 100 other business networks. Named one of the Top 15 Web Design Companies in North Charleston by Expertise. The brand was getting loud, and the clients were getting bigger.

But with all eyes on Madi, it became clear: Mae Creative had a ceiling. If the brand was going to grow, it needed room to evolve beyond the person who started it.

INTRODUCING SKELLYDOG

Enter: Skellydog.

In 2024, Madi rebranded Mae Creative into what it was always meant to be—a bold, edgy, no-BS creative agency with serious bite. Skellydog isn’t just a new name—it’s a whole damn vibe.

This rebrand allowed Madi to step fully into her vision: a boutique creative agency built with a team of skilled freelancers, designed to scale, and unapologetically authentic.

We live by our tagline: “Your Brand’s Best Friend.” That means showing up with loyalty, creativity, and real-talk advice—no fluff, no nonsense. Just bold brands and badass strategy.

Some of the core values we operate by:

• Authenticity. No masks, no façades. Just real people doing real work, with real heart.
• Compassion first. We always ask, “How are you?”—and we mean it.
• Work-life balance. Quality work > time clocks. We trust our team to get it done, their way.
• No sugarcoating. We’ll always be kind, but we’ll also tell it like it is.
• No gatekeeping. We share our knowledge because growth is for everyone. We don’t hoard tools—we teach you how to use them.

ALLOW US TO REINTRODUCE OURSELVES

Skellydog is your go-to agency for bold branding, creative marketing, and design that gets noticed. We specialize in taking Creators, Innovators, and Change-Makers to the next level with strategy, heart, and a whole lotta guts.

We believe badass marketing starts with a badass brand. When your brand is aligned and intentional, the rest falls into place.

Our secret sauce? Compassion + strategy + truth-telling = transformation.

We give a damn. We go deep. And we fight for our clients like hell.

Wanna work with Madi Balman and the Skellydog team? Hit us up and let’s build something unforgettable.