Allegra Poschmann: Design Director and Founding Partner at Pact
I met Allegra Poschmann through a mutual friend in Victoria, BC, Canada. Although we have never met in person, we connected instantly and I feel like we’ve been friends forever. Allegra and her business partner have grown their website design and development company, Pact, from the two of them to now 15 team members in just 3 years! Learn more about Allegra’s journey from the US to Canada, her background in design, and the success of her business, Pact.
From the United States to Canada
Growing up, Allegra was accustomed to moving. She moved with her family 18 times when she was a child, but her most formative years were spent in Dallas, Texas and Wichita, Kansas. When she was 17 her dad accepted a job in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
“Moving to Montreal was a real culture shock for me, but it was also really enriching in so many ways. I went to design school in Montreal and then thought I would go back to the US to get my master’s degree. I had a full ride scholarship to The Savannah College of Art and Design, but I also graduated with a bunch of job opportunities in Canada.”
Allegra decided to start her career and put the master’s degree on hold. Right after college she worked for a large agency in Montreal. It ended up being a great learning opportunity, and they hosted party where she met her husband.
“He’s also a designer and we continued to live in Montreal for 10 years. It was a really wonderful city to build our careers. Eventually, my husband started working for a company out of Victoria, British Columbia. He had been working there for six or seven years remotely and decided he wanted to manage his team in person, so we decided to move to Victoria.”
They moved from Montreal to Victoria in February of 2020 and have been there ever since.
From Journalism to Design
Attending a public high school in Kansas with excellent extracurricular programs, Allegra found herself drawn to journalism.
“I became the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper. I had this kind of zany idea that I wanted to change the black and white newspaper to a news magazine. I look back at it now, the design choices and the colors, and it’s the worst thing you could ever see, but it lives on today and it’s still a magazine.”
“It taught me about printing techniques and what I thought was design back then. I always thought I wanted to be a journalist, but there was kind of this spark with design.”
Allegra had her heart set on attending the University of Kansas journalism program, but after moving to Montreal, she decided to go to design school instead.
“I graduated [high school] in 2008. The economy was in shambles and every journalist was losing their job. I thought, ‘I’ll study design and then I’ll be a really practical kind of employee in a newsroom because I can design the layouts and also write the stories.’ This was very much 18-year-old logic, but I ended up studying design and really falling in love with it.”
“I ended up minoring in English and majoring in design. I think that sets me apart as a designer, it’s the ability to combine storytelling and visuals. I think that’s what a lot of my clients and people that have worked with me over the years appreciate about me. I see it as a fully formed kind of thing. You can’t really have one without the other.”
From Traditional to Digital Design
After a couple years at the large agency, Allegra started working for a number of startups in Montreal. Prior to that, she had no digital design experience.
“I’m mostly self-taught in terms of digital design. I was working with some of these startups where I would be the first or second or third employee. I was figuring out how to do social media posts, and emails, and websites, and ecommerce, and art directing photo shoots. I really liked that energy. I really liked working with founders and helping them translate these big dreams into something that could be launched into reality.”
“My first real foray into digital design was this job that I had at a small studio in Montreal. This is the job that changed my life in so many ways. I got to work on brands like The Honest Company and Reformation and Glossier. And it was more than just designing a button for them. I got to really think about what those stories are and how to bring them to life, which was really an incredible opportunity.”
While Allegra was at that agency, she built a team and eventually became the head of user experience and design there.
From Freelancer to Co-Founder
In 2017 one of Allegra’s main clients was acquired. The acquisition happened a few days before her son was born and it was a really challenging time for Allegra. She had a tough pregnancy with a lot of complications and she was working overtime. She was given the option to continue on with the company, but she would need to come back to work sooner than she would have liked and the job would continue to be demanding. Instead, Allegra decided to take the time with her newborn to figure out what was next.
“I remember interviewing for jobs and I didn’t really find something that I felt would fit my lifestyle with my kid. I remember when I started freelancing I wanted to make enough money each month to pay my mortgage and within the first couple of months I had far exceeded that.”
Allegra started freelancing while she was in Montreal, which is where she met her business partner, Alex.
“Alex is a developer who has also worked on e-commerce and with a number of Canadian startups. He had started with one company doing 1 million or so in revenue and scaled them up until they were 10 times that, so he really knew what it took to scale up a brand beyond a website. We freelanced together and always flirted with the idea of maybe starting something, but there was no need at the time.”
Then, in 2020, after a series of misfortunes with homeownership in Montreal, Allegra and her husband decided to move to Victoria, BC for his job. Allegra found herself underwater with the move, the baby, and the freelance work. She knew she needed help and that she and Alex needed to formalize a business.
“We built Pact on a few key premises that I think are different from a number of other agencies.”
“First, we focus on building long-term partnerships, rather than trying to extract maximum capital from our clients with little regard for their long-term vision, priorities or bottom line. This is where the name ‘Pact’ comes from and it holds true. Not a single client has left since we started and I’m proud of that.”
“Second, we’re transparent with our prices from the start. Other agencies will seem cheaper, but they will add on additional service fees in the middle of a project, which is frustrating to the client. I’m really open and honest. I have launched hundreds and hundreds of sites in my career, and so has Alex. I’ve built many brands that I love. I know what it’s going to take you to get over the finish line and if we can commit to that, I can commit to helping you make money.”
Over the past three years, Pact has grown from just Allegra and Alex to now 15 team members.
“I’ve built a great business doing 7 figures in revenue with close to 100% year-over-year growth, all based on word of mouth. I’m incredibly proud of that, as it’s a testament to the phenomenal team we have built.”
Advice for Women
On Starting Your Own Business
“Being warm and nurturing, stereotypically feminine traits, have been a core differentiator for me in building my business. I relate deeply to the founders that I work with, their triumphs and their struggles. I think my clients really appreciate my vulnerability and honesty. We are often told as women to tamp that kind of behavior down in the workplace, ‘lean in, perform masculinity,’ those things and that’s bad advice. On the flipside, don’t let your warmth or good nature be exploited as that can happen, too!”
“It’s still nowhere near as tough as raising a kid, though - and I’m still in awe that I was able to sustain a life and bring it into the world. I’ve never felt prouder of myself than the moments after I gave birth to my son.”
