Kelli Frieler is the Founder and CEO of Vibrant Impact, where she helps businesses grow,
focusing on helping local media companies. Growing up around broadcast, Kelli’s
grandfather founded Leighton Media (formerly Leighton Broadcasting). As a child, she
fondly remembers remote hopping and witnessing the impact of broadcast on local
businesses and communities.

Kelli’s professional career began in auto dealerships, where she worked as a Sales
Manager, Finance Manager, and eventually co-owned a dealership. This experience gave
her firsthand insight into the challenges of balancing business operations with marketing
strategy. She later joined Leighton Media, starting as a seller and becoming a radio market
manager before creating the company’s first digital leadership position.

At Leighton, Kelli focused on digital growth in owned and operated platforms (such as
apps, websites, and hyperlocal branded content) and third-party digital solutions. Under
her leadership, the digital division surpassed multiple seven figures in just under two
years, even with its largest market being radio market 185 and several unrated markets.
Kelli’s approach emphasizes creating structures and service standards that prioritize the
customer. She focuses on content that fosters community, conversation, and connection
—qualities that radio and TV excel at. Today, through Vibrant Impact, Kelli assists media
companies nationwide in achieving stable and meaningful expansion. She ensures
businesses thrive by aligning impact goals with revenue and cash flow, contributing
significantly to their communities’ vitality. As the acting Director of Digital for Guaranty
Media, Kelli stays connected to the operation changes and opportunities within local
communities while sharing ideas and experiences with broadcasters nationwide.

When she’s not geeking out about business and digital, Kelli is exploring with her three-
year-old son, Theo, and her husband, Jason. Kelli is an avid NFL football fan and a Green
Bay Packers shareholder!