Photo by Jeremy Kramer
Second Careers
From: Salesman
To: Conservationist
Brandon Reynolds was a normal kid, he stresses. “I would go outside and get a stick and hit weeds like I was a samurai, but I wouldn’t call myself a nature kid.” It’s a far cry from his current preoccupation with conservation—Reynolds is founder and CEO of B the Keeper and community engagement coordinator at the Civic Garden Center (CGC).
His path into the industry was not clear cut. Reynolds attended the University of Cincinnati’s business program, where he learned he had a knack for marketing and sales, and decided to concentrate in advertising. As the program required in-the-field co-ops, Reynolds spent his final semester working at Carriage House Farm in North Bend. It was there, learning about sustainability techniques, that he found a passion. He could use his advertising skills to tell stories around projects that help people.
Despite this epiphany, he took a more traditional route post-graduation. Reynolds joined Curiosity Advertising in December 2015 and helped work on campaigns for Cincinnati Bell, Penn Station, Mentos, and The Christ Hospital. After work, he’d get home and turn on CNN, where he saw stories about the Amazon rainforest on fire.
He knew he needed to find a way back into conservation. “If I can sell you on the internet, on breath mints, food, and hospital procedures through billboards, maybe there’s a way I can get people to think more mindfully on the environment,” he says.
Reynolds left Curiosity in April 2017 and called his old stomping ground: Carriage House Farm. “Can you teach me beekeeping?” he asked, remembering watching the farm manager put on a suit and reach right inside the hives. Carriage House Farm took Reynolds on as an apprentice beekeeper. The next year, he took over farm operations and found a job as an ecological landscaper, installing landscapes composed of native plants and features (native plants require less maintenance and are functional for local wildlife, thus conserving natural resources).
Blending his experiences in beekeeping and ecological landscaping, Reynolds founded B the Keeper in November 2018. His goal: Get people excited about using landscapes to help local wildlife and reduce their carbon footprint. One of his clients is his alma mater, St. Xavier High School, which displays his billboards on its property.
Because Reynolds understands the power of proper advertising, he knows how to tell a story that will resonate with people. Consider his 2019 partnership with Rhinegeist Brewery—a volunteer with the CGC at the time, he suggested that Rhinegeist brew a beer with CGC honey. A percent of sales could fund CGC conservation projects.
“We were their first ever project of that type,” he says. “We had an event, and the beer sold out in 45 minutes.” They got another keg, and that one sold out in a half hour. “I met you where you are. You’re a fun Cincinnati person who likes to drink beer. I didn’t force anything on you. I developed a convenient pathway to learn about conservation.”
Reynolds now works full-time at the CGC, and his mission at B the Keeper has shifted to “much more than landscaping.” His partnership with St. X has expanded to include a pollinator habitat—the school has three hives on the ground, which Reynolds helps students manage through the Bomber Bees club.
And where he once managed 20 hives at Carriage House, he’s now down to one: his most successful hive, at his grandmother’s in Lincoln Heights.
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