Founder Cassandra Bernard at Cascio Creative’s Aug. 14 launch event. Photo by Michael Connor.
Tampa Bay area resident Cassandra Bernard began serving as the marketing manager for St. Petersburg-based incubator spARK Labs by ARK Invest in November 2025.
Developing her own marketing firm has been a dream. The entrepreneur officially celebrated the launch of Cascio Creative Aug. 14 at an ARK Innovation Center event.
Bernard explained that the company focuses on four key components: social media, brand activation, event promotion and brand collateral. Additionally, the organization will oversee networking opportunities and community gatherings.
The goal was simple. She wanted to take the opportunity to channel her creative energy. After working a 9-to-5, Bernard recognized that there could be another path forward.
“I said ‘why not do it on my own and start my own company and help other brands that I see struggling,’” she explained. “Especially with marketing, I think there is a lot that can be done with having a small team that plugs into your existing team and can come in with fresh perspectives and processes.”
The journey has been far from easy. Connection has played an invaluable role in both Bernard’s academic and professional careers.
During her time in high school, Bernard was introduced to theSharkMakers program. The initiative, launched by Robyn Mussler in 2015, educates students about entrepreneurship. Participants collaborate with business mentors to develop real-world products and solutions.
“My role on my team was to market the product that we were building as well as create the business strategy,” she explained. “So, that’s when I initially realized ‘oh, there’s a job about marketing.’”
Bernard said that the experience taught her more about how to lead a team and how to have confidence with public speaking. It also provided her with a vast network of professionals.
After high school, Bernard began a marketing internship at a local startup. This allowed her to learn even more about the industry. In fact, it inspired Bernard to pursue a marketing degree at University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
Prior to launching Casico Creative, Bernard worked at Centroid Systems as a marketing project manager. The Michigan-based company provides managed cloud services, enterprise workload consulting and AI-driven transformation services.
However, Bernard’s experience as a contractor for spARK Labs by ARK Invest showed her the potential of developing her own firm. She explained that CEO and president Becca Brown entrusted her to completely run the organization’s social media platforms.
“That proved that I could do it and that there’s a future here,” Bernard said. “Everyone there has a startup or a founder’s story. I would ask around and members would say ‘I had a 9-to-5 job and wanted to leave.’ Even Becca has been such a big cheerleader and said ‘oh, you should do your own thing.’”
She added that one of the biggest challenges in launching Cascio Creative was moments of “self-doubt” in an era of emerging technologies. However, Bernard believes that artificial intelligence “has a place but people seem to really want to still use humans and creativity for marketing.”
Bernard hopes to launch her own series of internal Lunch and Learn events at spARK Labs by ARK Invest. The organization offers these gatherings to educate founders about technologies while providing them with an opportunity to engage with peers and mentors. She wants to teach members how to plan launch parties and build teams.
Bernard has also developed the Casico Collective initiative, which is a network of Tampa Bay area-based creatives. These include photographers, videographers and designers.
Currently, she hasformed partnerships with six organizations: HADJI Studios, Tampa Bay Photography, Roundhouse Creative Studio, Founders & Pho, Gno Media and The Feed Lab Studio.
“I was realizing that a marketing agency really can’t do it all,” Bernard said. “When I’m working with clients on a partnership level, I’m seeing that there are a lot of gaps. I believe that if I want to make social media work, companies need all of these other supporting factors. So, I want to have some people in the back who I can pull into projects.”
Eventually, she hopes to host a networking series for Cascio Collective partners. This could help representatives connect with other companies that may need their services.
“There’s not always a return on investment right away,” Bernard explained. “It’s a long-term investment. So, I want to be able to give creatives an opportunity to come up and say ‘hey, we had someone work with us on a video from a year ago and this is what happened a year later’ to kind of prove that ROI does happen.”
