I’M ROBYN KELLY
Victoria, BC based advertising agency founder, speaker, and endometriosis advocate.
I'm most creative in the quiet, early morning before the world wakes up. I thrive in real conversations, the kind that go beyond the surface. You can usually find me recharging by jogging along the ocean with a good playlist or podcast on.
My unconventional path started early in life…
I left home at sixteen years old.
Not because I didn't have a loving family—but because I was being raised in a high-control, cult-like religion where my path was already written for me. I was expected to follow a life that felt stifling and deeply misaligned with who I was. I had questions. Big ones. And the only response I typically got to my questions were:
"You're too curious, Robyn."
"Sometimes, you have to be okay without an answer."
I wanted more. I needed more. And I couldn't accept a life that demanded blind obedience at the expense of my freedom.
I'm an Aquarius—stubborn, independent, intuitive to the core.
I had to find my own way, even if it meant stepping into the unknown alone.
In my twenties, I built a career in tech sales from a Sales Assistant ad on Craigslist.
I climbed quickly in a male-dominated industry. Within a year, I was an Inside Sales Rep, then a Senior Inside Sales Rep, then a Sales Manager—finally becoming the Distribution Sales Manager for North & South America. I was making six figures as a late-twenty-something woman in tech with no formal post-secondary education.
I worked full-time, travelled often for work, and went to school part-time. I convinced my company to pay for my two-year Professional Sales & Marketing Management program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
I was doing all of this while secretly battling something I didn’t have a name for yet.
The pain. The bloating. The exhaustion. The heavy periods. The emotional toll of living in a body that never felt at peace.
I still remember going to my boss at 27 to tell him I needed surgery. I kept the reasoning light, even though I was thrilled to hopefully get some kind of diagnosis. I told him I had an ovarian cyst that needed to be removed—which was partially true; it was one of the things they planned to address during surgery.
After over a decade of asking questions, being persistent, and not taking no for an answer from countless medical professionals—and just six months after meeting my now-husband—I finally had a diagnosis.
I had Endometriosis.
It explained everything.
I wasn’t crazy. I wasn’t exaggerating my pain. I wasn’t imagining it. Every abdominal attack, every intense bout of bloating, every awful period, and even the painful sex—it was all real, and now it had a name.
Oddly enough, getting the diagnosis gave me confidence. My curiosity, my question-asking, my intuition—it had all led me here. It was a good thing to be curious and persistent.
At 29, the tech company I worked for was sold.
I took my shares and bet on myself—launching my own social media marketing business.
It grew faster than I ever imagined. Within a year, I was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year. But fast growth comes with a cost.
In 2019, just a few months after my husband and I got married—I hit a wall. I went to Nate in tears, overwhelmed and afraid I was going to start letting people down. And I’m not someone who asks for help easily. But I knew I needed it.
That moment marked a turning point—my solo business became a fully incorporated agency, co-founded with my husband and rebuilt to last.
At 33, I was in severe pain again.
The endometriosis had grown back, and a cyst had fully taken over my right ovary. They weren’t sure if it could be saved. Thankfully, it was. But I was told by my surgeon and specialists to start trying to get pregnant again—immediately. We had already been trying for years.
At 36, after three more years of trying, I finally got pregnant. A positive test. A spark of hope.
But at 7 weeks, I miscarried.
I fell into a depression. I showed up for my clients. I smiled through dinners with friends. But inside, I was a shell. Grief, fatigue, and heartbreak hung heavy over everything. And still—I kept going. Until I couldn’t.
Eventually, I burned out. Fully. Completely.
That’s when we knew: we needed a change. We needed to realign our life.
We took a step back, restructured our agency, and rewrote the rules.
I immersed myself in learning Meta advertising, found a mentor, and my husband and I got clear on our niche.
We turned our agency into a boutique digital advertising and creative studio focused on helping brands scale in industries we aligned with most—wellness, clean living, and beauty.
We started to see the real impact we could make by partnering with businesses we genuinely believe in—scaling their revenue while staying true to our values.
Today, we live by the ocean on Vancouver Island. We’ve designed a life where work and well-being can actually coexist.
I lead strategy, paid media, and performance—while making space for movement, community, and creativity. Our agency, SWTCH HOUSE, helps purpose-driven brands grow with clarity, intention, and real, tangible results that support their goals.
It’s been both clear and deeply fulfilling: helping our clients bring in thousands of new customers, supporting their retention and lifetime value growth while consistently achieving 4X+ ROAS each month. What we do truly fuels the growth of indie beauty and wellness brands—and we’re proud to be part of their journey.
BRANDS WE WORK WITH
Since I started sharing snippets of my story on Instagram back in 2016, my goal has always been to inspire.
Having a misunderstood and often misdiagnosed chronic illness is lonely. I share to encourage others to be curious, to ask questions, and to be f*cking persistent.
Life doesn’t ever fully smooth out. The road twists. The grief comes in waves. But there’s always a light. There’s always a way to adapt, realign, and keep moving forward—on your own terms.
Everything we go through—we grow through. This is where true confidence comes from.
