Courtney Lee

Courtney Lee has had the itch for advertising since she was a very small girl. Growing up, her grandfather owned an ad agency and her uncle worked for HBC in advertising. She started her marketing and design education while still in high school by taking courses in business and marketing co-op which allowed her to intern with several retail businesses and a local university. Later she attended Conestoga College for Marketing Co-Op and maintained good grades while also competing in the OCMC awards where she won both a gold and silver medal (with partner Erika Jones (nee Dietrich). Upon college graduation, she secured a contract with a major romance novel publishing company. It took less than a year for her to realize that working with spreadsheets in the retention marketing department was just not creative enough. She needed something else. This was when she was hired to work in the marketing department for Liquidation World, Inc. Taking over responsibilities for all interior and exterior signage, she was able to submit a logo that was chosen to re-brand the company to “LW” (now owned by the US company, Big Lots) over those submitted by agencies and internal staff. In 2005, Courtney launched GCS Design working mainly with clients in the bridal industry. Since then, GCS Design has grown to include clients of various industries and arenas helping to keep her styles fresh and innovative. In the fall of 2010, Courtney chose to leave LW and pursue GCS Design full time. In the past year it has truly become her full time job. Availability is not a problem for her clients since both her children are in fulltime daycare and she is often up late working past their bedtimes. No matter your time zone, she can accommodate! (bio written by K. Suliter)