the mothership
Have you ever had the feeling, when you walked into a room, that you were finally with your people? If you haven't, we hope you experience it one day. If you have, you'll completely understand why we refer to our corporate headquarters as "the mothership". Without further ado, here are our fearless leaders...
Unofficial Title: MacGyver
A native to the Bay Area, Irja discovered her passion for photography in small indie and punk rock venues throughout the San Francisco area, shooting vivid images of her favorite local bands. The bands appreciated the attention, and this hobby quickly turned into a sweet gig - shooting promotional photos for them, as well as other bands swinging through town (lucky girl)!
In the meantime, Irja spent 10 years working in special event production and marketing, where she put her photography skills to use creating stunning images of social and corporate events that can be seen in a variety of industry publications, as well as an array of event vendor websites.
Realizing photography was clearly her calling, Irja began to expand her horizons further to include family and wedding photography, and now happily captures little smiles for whippersnappers in San Francisco.
Name: Khrisma CarterOfficial Title: Trainer
Unofficial Title: The Go-To Gal
We first met Khrisma and her family when they came in to the Bend studio looking for some fabulous family photographs, as well as some of their "spirited" toddler. She fell in love with whippersnappers, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Born and raised in Pineville, Kentucky, Khrisma brings her Southern charm to the whippersnappers team. With a degree in Communication and Psychology, and background as an account manager and traveling trainer for a major cosmetics company - Khrisma is a perfect fit as a showing consultant and corporate trainer at whippersnappers. She takes care of everything and everyone. Period. Did we mention that she brings scrumptious homemade goodies in on a regular basis? That's just the icing on the cake...
Khrisma lives in Central Oregon with her husband, Jeremy, and her sweet daughter Olivia. She also makes those fabulous tutu's you see in so many of our whippersnappers pictures.
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Official Title: IT Specialist
Unofficial Title: Mr. Fixit
Jeffrey DeLong has worked within the advertising, communications, and print industry since the early 1990's. He graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor of journalism degree in advertising and minors in psychology, marketing, and English.
DeLong comes from Lincoln, Nebraska. For the last 11 years, he has been the creative director for Firespring, a marketing solutions company focusing on web development. Currently, he is the Creative / Interactive for Sym Labs, Inc., a creative strategy and design firm in addition to his work with whippersnappers everywhere. He is often referred to as a "geek with social skills," and he's DeLong relied upon to translate tech into plain English.
Jeffrey has served on the board of directors of numerous advertising and communications groups including the Advertising Federation of Lincoln, AAF Ninth District, and the National ADDY Committee (where he met Lisa Flynn, in the pre-whippersnappers era). He has been recognized regionally and nationally for his achievements in the industry.
In addition to being a strong team leader, Jeffrey is a top creative designer and lead design trainer. He has a wealth of knowledge about all aspects of computer-aided design and serves as the "go-to-guy" for programmers and developers regarding design issues.
He spends most of his spare time with his wife Sarah, and children Alexander and Amelia. Jeffrey also continues to find new ways to use both sides of his brain.
Name: KC Flynn
Official Title: Founder/Chief Creative Officer
Unofficial Title: Prince of Darkroom
When Lisa and KC Flynn got tired of tearing their hair out to get a few
photos of their two young sons, they decided to take action. That
action morphed into a wildly successful children’s photo studio based
in Bend, Oregon.
With a degree in Communications and PR, along with a background in
print advertising and graphic design, KC heads up the digital darkroom
at whippersnappers studio®, making sure that every image is picture
perfect. A skilled graphic designer and photo editor, KC is the
creative guru at whippersnappers. But don’t expect to see him at the
office early in the morning. As the resident rock star, KC plays more
than 100 gigs a year throughout the Northwest. He toured Nashville for
a number of years and even opened for Randy Travis, but Oregon kept
calling him home.
Named Central Oregon’s best local musician, KC lives in Bend with his wife, Lisa, and his two clones, Kellen and Aidan.
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Official Title: Founder & CEO
Unofficial Title: The Big Cheese
With dual degrees from Washington State in Marketing and Psychology, Lisa Flynn has a bit of a split personality. Is she a savvy marketer, or a perceptive public speaker specializing in human temperament? A clever entrepreneur, or a doting mom? The creator of a hot new concept in photography studios, or a generous philanthropist who’s helped raise more than a million dollars for Central Oregon charities? The answer, of course, is all of the above.
After founding a successful marketing strategy firm in Central Oregon and operating it for nearly a decade, Flynn heard the siren call of a new challenge. No photography studio in existence seemed to provide the boutique experience she and her husband craved for their two young sons, so why not create it themselves? From the moment the Flynns flung open the doors of the flagship whippersnappers studio® in 2006, it was an instant local sensation. When the concept began snagging the attention of franchise industry experts nationwide, Flynn implemented the next stage in her business plan. In less than two years, she took the studio from an original concept start up to a hot new "break-out" model franchise.
The success was nothing new to Lisa, who has been recognized for her business sense as well as public service work in the likes of BusinessWeek, Ad Age, StartUp Nation, and The Franchise Show. A nationally sought-after speaker for her savvy insight into marketing to temperament types, Lisa has won a variety of advertising honors, including the American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal Award and a handful of local and regional ADDY awards.
Named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Economic Development of Central Oregon, one of the "Top 200 Women Owned Businesses in the Nation" by StartUp Nation, and one of Bend’s “Outstanding Women in Business” and "Accomplished Under 40" by Cascade Business News, Lisa currently runs the franchise corporation for whippersnappers studio®. Her first home is in Bend with her husband, KC, and their two angel boys, Kellen and Aidan...her second home is at an airport near you.
