MARIE WOOLF BY BILL YOUNGBLOOD. S eek and you shall find an exclusively remote creative

firm, Woolf Media. Located

up a long and narrow winding Mariposa road and nestled on a hilltop overlooking the beautiful Sierra Nevada Foothills is a rather extraordinary boutique business.

Marie Woolf, creator and owner of Woolf Media, is not an average artist. Completely self-taught Marie has always showcased a strong desire for the arts starting from childhood. By the time she was old enough to hold a crayon, she was off to the drawing board, or better yet, the kitchen table.

In high school, Woolf began drawing political cartoons for commission and started to take her art to an even higher level after winning first place in a national contest at the age of 16. Her cartooning catapulted her into the creative industry where she was able to fully spread her artist’s ability across many media to create and maintain her one of a kind firm.

THIS WOOLF RENDITION RAN IN THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY INQUIRER/DAILY NEWS SUNDAY, MAY 23. “Woolf Media is a full-service creative firm working across a wide spectrum of design, editorial, marketing, media and advisory disciplines and sectors,” according to its Web site.

Her clients include corporations and companies, as well as “private enterprises, entrepreneurial startups, major publishes and film studios, national and local political campaigns, distinguished CEO’s, artists and authors.”

Relocating from West Los Angeles 18 years ago, Woolf and her husband fell in love with the raw Mariposa land and soon decided to make it their permanent home. Saying so long to Los Angeles and its land of compressed public relations and media firms, Woolf broke a barrier and set a business example like no other.

WOOLF WAS THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR/DESIGNER/ WRITER OF THIS LOGO FOR 1ST CENTURY BANK, LOS ANGELES. Building from the ground up in 1992, Woolf set in motion her distinctive firm, which then would take five years of building and designing. With the introduction of the internet at the right time, FedEx and a passion to explore media in her own way Woolf found herself “ahead of the curve without realizing it, her business held mystery and glamour to many people.”

Her Web site now attracts many online visitors and the majority are return customers. Listed within the site are detailed examples of her work, partial lists of clients and a brief introduction of how she manages to compete with other leading creative agencies from her remote location.

Woolf works with anything found in a full-service, creative firm.

“These include, but are not limited to, original concepts, market positioning and design from logos to entire corporate print collateral programs; sophisticated Internet strategies; media relations, scheduling and management starting with powerful press releases; literary services including editorial and writing for inhouse collateral, essays, speeches and

articles, and author representation; editorial and creative direction for advertising and corporate photo and film shoots,” its Web site states.

Being so secluded works to Woolf’s advantage and makes her versatile in order to better serve clients. Her shop just a few strides away from her home residence away from her home residence allows for an easy daily commute. Her work is produced in a serene setting without distractions. The way Woolf runs her operation is diverse for her industry. She has been able to build corporate sites all from the top of her very own hill.

Although she does invite clients to come up and work in a quietly creative environment, as well as enjoy her remarkable home library, she travels frequently and has arranged meetings which she is able to set up in many major cities, “I travel to them. They save money on overhead by not having to come to me in many cases,”she said.

In terms of what accounts for Woolf now, she has her home in Mariposa to thank,” Woolf said. “I don’t think I would have ever made all this happen if I had stayed in L.A., I think the isolation has been absolutely magical, no distractions, no temptations.”

Certainly, Woolf hasa been doing just that since her start here. Serving on the Mariposa Arts Council board in 1993, she was able to see budget problems regarding the funding of essential arts programs to kids in school. Woolf took to her skills personally writing a letter to the chairman of Crayola explaining the problems the county faced in trying to fund sufficient art supplies for schools. Just 10 days later, pallets of 64 count Crayola crayons boxes were unloaded right outside Woolf’s residence. Ten thousand boxes that is, as a donation to the county after simple yet direct letter to someone who had the heart to read it.

Woolf has served at the top of several national campaigns. She is politically unaffiliated, yet intensely involved with the major political parties. To this day she still maintains a strong professionally discrete relationship with many ties within Washington D.C. and considers it a second home.

Along with her remarkable career as a creator she has held the notable role of chairman, CEO and executive director of Project Compassion, a National non-profit humanitarian organization. Until August of 2008, Woolf had dedicated years into the project in order to help serve families of military personnel whom had passed away in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Since her leave from the organization, Woolf has rekindled her love for political cartooning, as well as working on her four feature comic strips. Her projects showcase her true versatility as a creative director, embracing her genius originality as an artist.

Woolf is also a handpicked feature writer for a popular woman’s’ site BlissfullyDomestic.com, in which she is now makes time for reviewing and blogging on books, which to her is her “inspired art.” Woolf can also be found ghostwriting a book for a large bank CEO. Yet given the recent downturn of the economy, she was unable to reveal that person’s identity.

Woolf has her own moral to the story. “Today we can make it happen from anywhere. You are not longer isolated here anymore,” she said. “It doesn’t take that much of an investment to get yourself out there but internet, good business manners and FedEx.”