What makes us tick

Across this work, we’ve noticed a recurring theme, stigma. Stigma is a scourge that further oppresses and strains people’s lives. It makes people feel isolated and disconnected. It compromises access to the support and systems we all need to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

For years, we felt our work could be improved by custom photography. Having our audience see that other people, real people just like them, are taking charge of their HIV status is important.

Chapin Hemmingway, CKs’ resident photographer, digs into the qualities of film over digital photography in our latest blog.

With this blog post we are announcing and publishing our third Certified B-Corp and Oregon Benefit Company Annual Report. Coates Kokes is proud of its continued growth in B Corp activities, with the highlight being our renewed certification late last year. The bar keeps getting higher, and that’s as it should be.

Last year, I had a friend move to Portland from out of state, and as I was helping her settle into the local culture, she had some questions about recycling. Some of these answers were straightforward, like “what goes in the yellow bin?” But other questions I was left answering with a bit of shrillness in my voice. Because I know how to recycle, right? I recycle every day. There’s no reason for me to be this unsure about a few questions from a friend.

A year ago, when I was living and working on my mom’s new farm, I would wake up to the noises of chickens, goats and sheep welcoming the day with their cacophony. I had alfalfa hay in every single one of my jacket pockets. Never would I have imagined that in six short months I would be working on the 13th floor in downtown Portland for a communications agency. Talk about a change of scenery!