Well to start off my last name is Lyttle so using “little” is a play on that.  

Okay, okay, but why “Little Duck”? Great question. My dad’s nickname for me growing up was “Ducks”. I loved wearing this one pink dress with a white duck on it when I was the age of two . And Ducks just stuck!

And as all 20 year olds do after spending two years at college in New York City (I don’t know if they do, but that’s what I did), I came home one summer announcing to my parents I wanted to get a tattoo. And I wanted the tattoo to be the exact duck on the dress I wore when I was two years old, knowing my mom had kept it in the attic all these years.

My mom’s response? A big old eye roll. (Spoiler alert: if I asked her to get a tattoo with me today she would be 100% in).  My dad’s response? “Great idea! I will get it, too.” 

So a few weeks later I walked into my house after spending the day at my summer job to see the duck dress lying on the kitchen table. In walked my dad who said, “Let’s go to the tattoo parlor tonight and just get it drawn up!.” 

Narrator: they would not in fact get the tattoo “just drawn up”. They would return home that evening with two matching father-daughter tattoos. {Pictured to the left}. I had no idea how much that tattoo would mean to me 2 years later. 

Because 2 years later my dad would pass away from cancer. 

I was actually going to just call my company Caitlin Lyttle Marketing and a good friend of mine said “no you should name it Little Duck Marketing, a play off your last name and your nickname”.

And here I am starting Little Duck Marketing 10 years after my dad passed away in the place he was actually born, Jersey City. 

As you can imagine, given the matching tattoos, my dad and I were incredibly close. He was always so proud of me, and my siblings, and would tell anyone who would listen. 

Anyone who has had a significant loss in their life knows, it takes a lot of strength and a lot of courage to just keep going. Anyone who has had a family member or friend battle cancer knows, it takes a lot of strength and a lot of courage to be present for that kind of suffering. 

And anyone who starts a business knows…it takes a lot of strength and a lot of courage! At least for me it did. 

So naming this business Little Duck Marketing felt right 10 years after we lost my dad. As a music teacher, my dad was a true community builder, leader, and creative. Which is exactly what I hope to be within Little Duck Marketing’s own community. Lifting small and startup businesses up, being a true partner, and helping them make an impact through growth!