About Our Founder
The Story Behind The Sizzle
Hi! I’m Stephanie Nivinskus, CEO of SizzleForce Marketing, a Fractional CMO and digital marketing agency in
San Diego. I’d like to share a little story with you…
Family legend claims my great grandfather, “Pappy,” wrote one of the most famous slogans used by Planters Peanuts in the 1920’s.
He owned a cigar and candy store known as “the finest snooker parlor in Kern County.” Rumor has it, a salesman for the peanut company visited his store once upon a time and Pappy casually suggested a new slogan to him. Next thing he knew, the slogan appeared on peanut tins everywhere. My family has been bragging about it ever since. I have no idea if this story is true or false, but I’ve been told my “wordsmith gene” comes from Pappy.
After graduating with my bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Diego State University (#GoAztecs), I landed my first job working in the advertising department of San Diego’s wildly popular entertainment newspaper.
(Remember newspapers? Before the internet was a thing, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, people used to actually read them).
A couple of years later, I was the proud resident of my first office in corporate America at The San Diego Union-Tribune.
When “dot com” became a thing, I was hired by Cox Communications to bring their new internet property to life. And that I did. It was eventually acquired by another media property and is still going strong today—more than 20 years later.
Since 1995, I’ve been marketing companies of all sizes across just about every industry you can imagine.
I’ve worked on marketing campaigns for the NFL, Quiksilver, and Starbucks, along with thousands of other companies. Regardless of size, each and every one of them shares the same goals: to be seen, to be known, and to be absolutely unforgettable.
I’ve written for Forbes and Entrepreneur.
My book, “Absolutely Unforgettable: The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Creating A Heart-Centered Brand That Stands Out In A Noisy World” made it on the bestseller list in the United States, Canada and Australia. It also made it on the “hot and trending” list in the United Kingdom, which still makes me giggle. In fact, whenever my (now) teenagers question how cool I am, I remind them the internet says I’m “hot and trending” in the UK. So there. #GoMom
SizzleForce Marketing was born in 2009.
Eager to give smaller companies a bigger voice in the marketplace, I built this company with my then 7, 5 and 2 year-old children by my side.
Today, SizzleForce Marketing is a very carefully curated team of fractional CMO’s, digital marketing strategists, content marketers, copywriters, website designers and developers, branding experts, and social media marketers. Every day we strategize and execute marketing solutions for mission-driven, scaling companies. We service a broad range of clients, but we have an extra special place in our heart for pet brands. It might have something to do with the fact that we have not one, but two dogs on staff.
