By Emily Christensen | Photo Julie Pagel Drewes ’90

When Emily Novotny Hauber ’13 landed her first job out of college as a marketing coordinator for CITY | Clean and Simple, a uniform laundering service based in Oelwein, she was a one-woman department blazing the way in a space that had previously been handled by an outside agency on an as-needed basis. Though she’d had a bit of an early start — she had worked part-time as an intern for the company during her final term at Wartburg — Hauber hit the ground running with a degree in communication arts, a minor in graphic design, and a passion for family-owned businesses and learning new things.

In the early days, Hauber would put in long hours as she familiarized herself with the new job and the new industry.

“I had never even taken a marketing class at Wartburg,” she said. “I did do an e-commerce class that helped, but mostly I leaned on my experience as the marketing executive for Entertainment ToKnight at Wartburg. I watched a lot of YouTube videos when I wanted to learn how to do a new design or video technique. Wartburg taught me how to learn.”

Those long hours paid off, though, as she got to know not only the people in the front office where she worked, but the men and women who worked on the floor. She was invited to be part of after-hours conversations she otherwise would have missed and picked up on nuances about the company as she tried to absorb as much as she could in the shortest time possible. Her passion for her work didn’t go unnoticed. Colin Wetlaufer, CITY president, knew that even with little experience, Hauber had what it would take to help them grow their success in the field.

“From the moment Emily showed up as an intern, I knew she was unique. She went out of her way to ask what she could do to help us, and that excitement never faded,” he said. “When she decides she is going to do something, it’s really just about giving her the resources to make it happen.”

That was never more apparent than in year three of her CITY employment, when Hauber considered the possibility of moving on. Being a department of one was no longer the challenge she desired. She either needed help or new opportunities. Wetlaufer understood her concerns and asked her to give him three months to prove that the company was sincere when it came to supporting her marketing efforts. After one month, she knew she wouldn’t be going anywhere.

“He’s such a visionist. I knew I wanted to work for him. We’ve doubled the size of this company since I’ve been here. The executive team trusts what I am saying and vice versa. We do a S.W.O.T. analysis each year, and usually marketing is one of the top strengths,” she said.

It didn’t take long for others to see the value in Hauber’s work, too. In an effort to get CITY clients to let Hauber and her crew — she now oversees eight full- and part-time employees in the marketing division — film inside their business for a client spotlight, she would produce a short video for them as a thank you for the access. At an industry convention in March 2019, Wetlaufer and Hauber were approached about an opportunity to help build the marketing office for a Chicago-based laundering business.

A month later they signed a three-year contract, and Clean and Simple Marketing was born. Hauber would travel to Chicago to work with that team, shoot photos and video, and help them build up their brand.

“This was a good way to test the waters for us,” Hauber said. “Up until that point we’d been doing these client spotlights for free, but several had asked if we would be interested in doing more work for them. Then we had these industry people asking us to help them, but we were very strategic about who we partnered with. We didn’t want this to just be another traditional marketing firm. That’s why we sign the three-year deal with everyone. We want to be all in if we are going to do it. We don’t want it to just be project based.”

Today, Clean and Simple Marketing offers two packages: an all-encompassing plan that has Hauber and her team doing the heavy lifting or an “in-sourcing” package that allows Hauber to train up and mentor a new marketing coordinator who can take over when the three-year contract expires. Her second client was a strategic planning coach who works with CITY to help them grow for the future. Their third client was based in Seattle, and Hauber was there when the first wave of the pandemic hit the city in March 2020. Despite the challenges of the last year, Hauber, who is now vice president of Clean and Simple Marketing as well as director of communications for CITY, managed to bring on new clients in varied industries.

“This division of CITY was started because of what she has done. It was a natural next step,” Wetlaufer said. “We know that laundry isn’t the sexiest business on paper, and not many people say they want to get a marketing degree to go work for a laundry business, but it’s essential. There is a lot of creativity that happens in these private businesses across the country. I give credit to her for looking past that rough exterior.”

 But, for Hauber, where she landed isn’t all that surprising.

“I grew up in a single-parent house with my mom and two brothers. My entire life, the family business has been a lumberyard, which could also be perceived as not a glamorous industry,” said Hauber, who is married with a 1-year-old son. “But watching my family and our family business grow from all of the hard work, that is very glamorous to me.”