May 18, 2022

This paid piece is sponsored by Click Rain + Lemonly.

Ashton Dockendorf is known as Lemonly’s unofficial historian.

She began as Lemonly’s first full-time employee when the fledgling infographic studio was just getting its start more than 10 years ago. From championing Lemonly’s culture to leading its design team — almost half of the company’s 18-person roster — she has grown with Lemonly through nearly every chapter of its history.

Starting with the startup

Dockendorf graduated from South Dakota State University in 2010 with a major in advertising. She and Lemonly’s co-founder and executive creative director, Amy Moore, were classmates. Ashton worked as a marketing specialist at SDN Communications before starting at Lemonly in March 2012.

“Amy and I were friends, so seeing what Lemonly was doing and the clients they were working with, I definitely felt some FOMO (fear of missing out). I saw Lemonly doing really cool stuff and wanted to be a part of it. Hitching my horse to something so new was definitely scary,” she said in describing her decision to join the two-person design company just seven months into its existence.

Dockendorf  has been able to grow along with Lemonly over the years, starting as a jack-of-all-trades, designing and managing her own projects. She worked as a visual designer and then senior designer before becoming Lemonly’s design director in 2019. Those opportunities to advance her skills and her role, she acknowledges, have been a big factor in her staying with the company for more than a decade.

“I’ve had opportunities and steps along the way that have allowed me to grow,” Dockendorf said.

Now, as a leader and manager for the design team, she’s focused on empowering others. “We have amazing people. For me, it’s about finding ways for those people to excel in areas they’re passionate about.”

Advocating for adventure 

Managing people and advocating for her team is where Dockendorf finds the most meaning in her work today. Having worked as a designer for 10 years, she knows the day-to-day life of a Lemonly designer well. That experience gives her credibility and compassion as a leader, creating a supportive space for her team where everyone can be vulnerable and feel protected.

That supportive community feel extends across the whole company. As a creative agency, Lemonly benefits from an environment “with zero competition or ego,” as she puts it. “We’re not competing with each other. We’re all helping each other get better and appreciating each other’s talents.” 

Team members, known as Lemonheads, thrive on the ability to own their work, take risks and try new things — very much in line with the company’s core value of adventure. “That (the mix of autonomy and collaboration) makes for fertile ground to grow in as a designer,” Dockendorf said.

It can be challenging to grow people in a small company, she admits. That’s an area where she’s excited about Lemonly’s acquisition last year by Click Rain. “It opens up new opportunities for us. It’s certainly a transition, but (a year later) I think we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible for Lemonheads with the resources and opportunities that being part of a larger organization might bring.”

The Lemonly and Click Rain teams gathered together at last summer’s company picnic.

Adding in some ‘Vitamin C’

Over the years, Dockendorf has become an ambassador for Lemonly’s culture — something the company touts as a key differentiator in addition to being the “Home of the World’s Best Infographics.” She leads the company’s culture team — called Vitamin C — and makes sure Lemonly’s culture is prioritized in leadership conversations and company decision-making. That includes recent collaboration with Click Rain’s culture team, Atmosphere, to help build camaraderie across the two sister companies.

Dockendorf cites her tenure with Lemonly as a reason she feels a strong sense of ownership and stewardship of the culture.

“I’ve seen Lemonly in all its forms from almost the very beginning. I’ve grown up with Lemonly. I’ve been here long enough, and I love it (our culture) enough that I don’t want to lose it.” But she also knows that the company’s culture is every Lemonhead’s to own.

“Nothing makes me more qualified than anybody else to be ‘in charge of’ Lemonly’s culture,” she said. “I’m not ‘in charge of’ the culture — it’s everybody’s to own and build. I’m just someone with the accountability and responsibility to make sure it’s always a focus of ours.” 

Dockendorf points to Lemonly’s core values — adventure, collaboration and integrity — as something the company got right early on.

“We nailed our core values. They connect with Lemonheads,” she said. The company’s core values are both descriptive and aspirational — articulating who Lemonheads are and what they continually strive for.

Lemonly’s core values are displayed on pennants in the company’s downtown Sioux Falls office.

Culture can feel like an abstract, atmospheric concept. Beyond just words on a wall — Lemonly’s core values are emblazoned on pennants at the front of the office — how does an organization build culture?

Dockendorf believes culture is in the details — the small, often taken-for-granted aspects of our everyday experiences in organizations.

“I try to identify the things that made me feel comfortable, welcome and secure through the years and carry them forward in small ways.”

One of the major cultural touchstones she is passionate about is Lemonly’s annual company retreat. She has led retreat planning for the past several years.

Retreat “is the capstone of our efforts to build culture. Bringing the whole team together in a different atmosphere strips people of their assigned ‘roles’ as Lemonheads and as people. It lets everyone get to know each other and build camaraderie and trust. It reenergizes the whole team and helps us all reconnect with the core ethos of the company.”

Lemonly held its annual company retreat in the Black Hills last September.

‘Better Every Day’ and beyond

Looking toward the future, Dockendorf hopes Lemonly continues living out its mantra: Better Every Day.

“I hope Lemonly keeps getting better for our people — empowering our people with new opportunities, new roles, new challenges to take on. I want as many people as possible to get the chance to grow,” she said. “That’s what I love about Lemonly. It’s allowed that for me, and I want that (opportunity) for other people too.”

The 10-year legacy of Lemonly’s design director spans almost every part of the company’s history — with hundreds of clients and thousands of infographics in the company’s portfolio — but Dockendorf said leading the creative team is her favorite project yet.

“When I think about my time and trajectory at Lemonly, I’ve certainly designed things I’m proud of. But the things that give me the most validation and pride are the ways I’ve helped my team grow — being their manager, mentor, advocate and friend. Those behind-the-scenes moments, knowing I’m helping people grow and feel secure and happy, those mean the most to me.”