Her Story
About Kelli
Kelli Gauss serves as Director of Marketing and Growth at Pivot Design, a creative agency based in Chicago. She began her career after graduating from the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh in 2015 with a marketing major and radio, TV, and film minor. Kelli spent two years at InTouch Solutions before joining Pivot Design, where she advanced from account management to her current leadership role overseeing client growth and agency marketing efforts. She completed the Four A's program in partnership with Northwestern Medill around 2016-2017. Her agency earned a Silver Award for Rare Disease Agency of the Year in 2025 and was a finalist again in 2026. Kelli is president of the Healthcare Business Women's Association Chicago Downtown Chapter, having been a member since 2017, and previously served on the board of PAWS Chicago from 2020 to 2025. She attributes her success to grit, embracing new challenges, learning from experiences, and the support of good mentors while maintaining positive energy.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kelli
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would probably use the word grit, and just being able to roll up my sleeves and never back down from a new challenge, and just being afraid of never having done something but just being open to trying and learning from that experience. I have had good mentors along the way. Part of that comes with trying to maintain good energy going into any new situation because that can make such a big impact on the outcome.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would just say keep a really open mind. None of the career steps that I took I would have been able to predict, so always just keeping a super open mind is what I try to tell everyone, and not try to chart out your entire career at that young age, but really keep an open mind and meet people. Networking is what it's all about, always being open to new possibilities.
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