The Cemah Story

From Local Agency to Focused National Expertise

It started with a search for something different.

Back in our early 20s, we were both feeling a little lost. Sara had just graduated from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and, feeling burnt out on art, took a job in finance that she quickly grew to dislike. Christopher was working as a musician, picking up gigs and studio work, but was also feeling defeated by the creative grind.

We both loved art and technology, but we weren’t sure what our future held. Knowing we worked well together, Christopher suggested we start our own design agency. He would handle the technical side, and Sara could focus on the artistic direction. We were still dating at the time, and we often joke that starting the business was a bigger commitment than getting married a few years later.

Learning by doing.

With two laptops and a shared ambition, Cemah Creative LLC was born in 2011. In those early days, we did a bit of everything to make ends meet: logos, flyers, business cards, social media, advertisments; anything a local business needed. It was our real-world business school, teaching us invaluable lessons about what small business owners truly needed to succeed.

As we grew, we began to focus more on websites. It was the perfect fusion of our skills and passions. But the more websites we built, the more we noticed that the traditional agency model felt broken for small businesses. The high upfront costs, unpredictable hourly billing, and slow processes just didn’t make sense for small businesses.

A better way for small businesses.

Having never worked at other agencies, we started asking a simple question: “Is there a better way to do this?” We researched, talked to our clients, and came to a clear conclusion. The agency-standard way wasn’t the right way for the businesses we wanted to serve.

So in 2017, we set out to build something different from the ground up. We created a simple, all-inclusive subscription model with no upfront costs. It was a process and a product built on a partnership, aligning our success directly with our clients’ long-term growth. It worked. Within a year, we had a waiting list of over four months.

Building a business that supports life.

Our “why” has always been bigger than just building websites. We wanted to create a business that would allow us and our team to build a life we loved, based in family, community, and art. This principle became our guide. By staying remote, we had the freedom to find our perfect hometown while running an efficient business that delivers incredible value to our clients anywhere in the country.

When our daughter was born in 2021, we took the time to live out that “why,” moving to Saint Clair, Michigan, and focusing on our new family. It was a period that reinforced our core belief: a successful business should support a fulfilling life, not consume it.

Today, our team brings that balanced perspective to every project, more committed than ever to helping our clients build websites that help them achieve their own version of success.

– Christopher & Sara Abalos