Derekah Kingery has her sights set on building her personal marketing brand while uplifting other local organizations along with it.
Kingery runs Stonecatcher Marketing, a coaching and consultancy firm for small business strategy development.
In a nonprofit or startup, said Kingery, “If we know we’re all on board with what we’re working towards, who our services are for, that really drives the strategy of everything else you do.”
“I see a lot of small businesses miss those pieces, and so I started Stonecatcher because I wanted to help provide those foundational strategy pieces, and to partner with people,” Kingery said.
She describes herself as a “jack of all trades.” Kingery’s career has taken her from campus ministry to Associate Director of Annual Giving at her alma mater, Millikin University, to independent contracting work in the marketing field and beyond.
Kingery is originally from Decatur, Illinois, where she completed “kindergarten through [her] MBA program.” She moved to Ely in 2024 to join her wife, Becca, who was then her long-distance partner, in the home Becca had recently purchased right in town.
Drawing from a wide breadth of professional experience, Kingery now hopes to build strong foundations for her own marketing firm, grounded in Ely’s local economy where there are “so many small businesses.”
Since Stonecatcher’s May 2025 registration as an LLC, two local organizations — Ely Community Resource and a productivity coaching program — have made use of her services, along with two out-of-town businesses.
Kingery said she has hosted an initial discovery call with another local entrepreneur, while several others have sought her business card.
“I just am really passionate about people. I love improving and restoring processes, and I want to see communities flourish. This is just the way that I found that I can do that. I have a lot of fun with it, because I get to meet with people and ask questions,” Kingery said.
“We start connecting pieces, and we can say, okay, we can streamline this. We can make this process better. We can create a process where one doesn’t exist, so that more of your time can be spent on the parts of your job you actually got into this work to do,” she said.
Kingery’s profession is only one element of her commitment to local engagement.
She is the senior warden at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and additionally runs Game Club for middle and high schoolers through Ely Community Resource. She has also recently launched herself into the acting world as an ensemble member of Annie at Ely’s Historic State Theater.
“Because of who I am as a person, I’m always looking around to what I can get involved in and what I can do, how I can be a part of community building and the community in general,” she said.
Kingery’s efforts in her business and her community reflect back to Stonecatcher Marketing’s namesake and guiding philosophy, drawn from a Biblical story of a woman facing punishment by stoning.
“Those of you who haven’t sinned, cast the first stone. The point of that was to say that we are called to be stone catchers, not stone throwers, to stand in that gap,” Kingery said, “I want to stand in the gap for people.”
“For small businesses, what are the stones being thrown at them? How can I help?” Kingery said.
In the nea r future, Kingery hopes to take on a greater load of Stonecatcher work and transition away from her ongoing job as an independent contractor. She hopes to remain “flexible” in her approach to everything she does and adaptable to shifting local needs.
“I will continue doing anything I can to help Ely flourish and grow,” Kingery said, “I’m all in.”
