Kim Bode and Her Bold, Award-Winning Agency
With fortitude, drive, and a whole lot of dogs, energy, and laughter, Kim Bode knows how to lean into the exceptionality and authenticity of her award-winning communications company. 8THIRTYFOUR is every communications strategy beautifully wrapped up and tied with an efficient bow. They “leverage all types of media together – marketing, branding and design, public relations, digital, website, content and more – to create the results you want.”
8THIRTYFOUR, and its crew of 10, is the only Michigan firm on Forbes’ Top 200 PR list and was recently named a Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year by Michigan Celebrates Small Business, Best of MichBusiness. The agency has also won so many West Michigan Public Relations Society (WMPRSA) PRoof awards, they’ve lost count. Along with these agency-wide nods, Bode was also named WMPRSA’s 2024 JEDI (social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) Communicator of the Year, and was recognized as a notable DEI leader by Crain’s Grand Rapids in 2023.
We caught up with Bode to discuss transparency, motivation, the secret to her agency’s success, and the importance of ad-vocating for Michigan’s small business community:
Focus: Why did you start 8THIRTYFOUR?
Bode: It sounds idealistic, but I wanted to make a difference, do things differently, and not be held back by the status quo. My goal was to build a space where all are welcome, work is delivered transparently, and people are valued above all else.
I didn’t see many women in corporate leadership positions, and those who got there went through h*ll and back to climb that ladder and shatter the glass ceiling. So, I started 8THIRTYFOUR in my mid-20s, and it’s been all unicorns and rainbows since then…kidding. Running a small business is like being on a rollercoaster that’s stuck on a perpetual loop, and the first climb gets higher every time around. Nineteen years, an ADHD diagnosis, embezzlement, and business pivot later, I’m still kicking and calling things as I see them.
Focus: 8THIRTYFOUR’s origin story is filled with transparency. Despite challenges and setbacks, how did your entrepreneurial spirit persevere?
Bode: I just don’t have quit in me, and when I’m faced with insurmountable odds, my neurodivergent brain and entrepreneurial spirit kick in.
My drive is a blessing and a curse. I have the grit and ability to outwork and out-hustle most everyone (and it will kill me someday), but it also means I isolate myself, do too much, and take on projects just to prove I can do it – when you tell me it’s impossible, I say, “Hold my beer.”
The embezzlement almost cost me my company, marriage, and home. It resulted in wrecked finances, trust, and the loss of family. Although, many would argue it wasn’t a loss at all.
I went to mediations, legal meetings, and court alone because, as a woman, showing up with support (like with a husband) is perceived as weak. There is systemic bias baked into our systems, and experiencing it firsthand almost drove me over the edge. Someday, I’ll write a book…maybe.
Focus: What does it mean to truly be an integrated communications company?
Bode: It means we understand how everything works together – tools, tactics, goals – and we tie all efforts back to people, ideas, and data. People are at the core of everything, ideas are how you stand out, and data is how you know what is and isn’t working.
Over the last year, we have further honed in on public relations and digital as it ties into our new venture, 8THIRTYFOUR Schools – personal brand coaching, soft skills training programs, and business leadership programming. We teach people how to stand out.
Focus: 8THIRTYFOUR has a vibrancy unlike other agencies. What’s your secret?
Bode: Being 100% authentically us, quirks and all. I call us the island of misfit marketers. We do things our own way and we work with people and companies we believe in. When that drives every decision, it shows in our work, public profiles, and results.
The honesty and transparency in how we conduct ourselves create trust, and trust creates energy. We like each other, our clients, our communities, and we don’t pretend to be anything we’re not.
Focus: Share some of the strategies you use to keep your employees happy and thriving.
Bode: Employees are the hardest part of owning a business, and I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years. The only thing you can do is learn from them and make different, better mistakes the second, third, and fourth time around.
The world has changed, and what drives you is not going to be what is important to your employees. As business owners, we need to remember that every generation has its own challenges, and how you manage Gen Z is very different from how you man-age Millennials.
I try to teach them to think like business owners and empower them to make decisions because I don’t want to make them all – I’m tired! Having the right people on your team will make or break a company, and it’s my job to lead by example, recognize them, and really see them. It isn’t easy, but what in life is?
Focus: How does using algorithms, data, and “measuring everything” give you the best information for your clients?
Bode: Marketing people are seen as snake oil salesmen; it’s a reputation a lot of people in the industry earned, and it’s made it harder for everyone else. It’s why I started 8THIRTYFOUR. In my “real world” job, I paid a PR company around $7,000 a month, and it only made more work for me – I had to manage them!
We find the opportunities for our clients, and it’s tied back to goals and driven by people, ideas, and data. Data guides everything we do; it’s the only way to see how a campaign is performing. For example, if we secure coverage for a client in PEOPLE Magazine (we have), we look at traffic to their site, shares, and we guide on how to get the most out of the coverage. Getting an article is not where the work ends, it’s how it’s integrated into the rest of your communications.
Focus: Tell readers about Happy Hour Hustle and what prompted you to start a podcast?
Bode: Well, I love happy hour and all I do is hustle, so it seemed logical at the time. But really, I wanted a space to have the conversations that need to be had. We are a society built on niceties, and we are rather comfortable turning a blind eye to gender bias, injustice, and failure. We tackle the uncomfortable – the stuff no one dares to talk about. Happy Hour Hustle is basically the conversations you have after work when people have had a few and finally voice the truth.
Focus: What keeps you motivated?
Bode: Making the world a better place, and yes, here I go again sounding all woo-woo, but why would I do this if it wasn’t to fix things? It’s what all entrepreneurs do: they see something that doesn’t work, find the solution and then implement it. It’s why the work around the Women’s Entrepreneurial Fellowship through the SBAM Foundation is so important. Women start businesses at twice the rate a man does, but they have less access to capital, resources, and community. That lack of support means they don’t have a network to lift them up when sh*t gets really hard, and it means many women-owned small businesses fail before they reach the five-year mark.
SBAM is working to change this, and if WEF is the reason even one of the women-owned small businesses makes it through the second-stage growth journey, then we’ve done what we set out to do.
It’s also why we need the entire business community’s support. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. It’s what builds our economy, and as our elected officials like to say, small businesses are the backbone of the economy.
Focus: As an SBAM Board member, explain why it’s so important for small business owners to get involved and advocate for themselves and the greater community?
Bode: Small business owners are the drivers of our economy and the number one employer in our state, yet decisions are made about us and for us, and we’re not even invited into the room.
SBAM gives small business owners a collective voice. When you get involved with SBAM, you finally have someone fighting for you and your business, and suddenly you’re not so alone. The best decision I made for my business, hands down, was to join SBAM, and the value of the past 10 years has made me back tenfold what membership costs. You don’t get to complain if you’re not willing to be part of the solution.
By Bona Van Dis, Editor of FOCUS; originally published in SBAM’s November/December 2025 issue of FOCUS magazine
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