District M Creative is located in Northern Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. Established in 2012, District M Creative started as a marketing, design, and web studio, successfully supporting and consulting to an extensive number of clients in a broad range of industries. In the fall of 2016, the company expanded its service offerings through work within the Department of Defense OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defense) providing high-level software development and SharePoint services, and has continued to gain new opportunities supporting a number of federal contracts.

In 2018 District M Creative received official certification as a WBE and federal Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) allowing for continued growth in the company's areas of practice. 

Today, District M Creative remains committed to providing our customers with exceptional support based on professional best practices and an
on-going commitment to seeing their businesses thrive. 

EST. 2012

THE  STORY

RACHEL MERKLE | PRESIDENT AND CEO   

OUR TEAM

Rachel Merkle founded District M Creative in 2012 to bridge a marketing gap she recognized small business owners faced and to pursue entrepreneurship. Today, District M Creative is a federally certified WOSB, supporting a broad range of clients from small businesses, to the Department of Defense.

Best known for her ability to think out-of-the-box, Rachel works with her clients to develop successful marketing and streamlined operational strategies by leveraging a broad range of technology and creative solutions. Through her unique approach to consulting, clients solve internal and external challenges in order to improve and achieve their marketing and business goals.

Rachel is often recognized for her ability to elevate brands, produce tangible results, and move businesses forward. Her expertise in marketing, business, and technology, combined with her formal design education makes her a power-house strategist behind every client District M Creative supports.

Rachel received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from James Madison University, and her passion is helping people succeed, while encouraging young professionals and women to pursue their career goals. Rachel currently resides with her family in Northern Virginia, but enjoys splitting her time between Arizona and Virginia. When she's not working, you'll find her hanging out with her family and brainstorming future business plans in true entrepreneurial form. 

Rachel Merkle founded District M Creative in 2012 to bridge a marketing gap she recognized small business owners faced when launching their businesses and to pursue entrepreneurship. Today, District M Creative is a federally certified WOSB, supporting a broad range of clients from small businesses, to the Department of Defense.

Best known for her ability to think out-of-the-box, Rachel works with her clients to develop successful marketing and streamlined operational strategies by leveraging a broad range of technology and creative solutions. Through her unique approach to consulting, clients solve internal and external challenges in order to improve and achieve their marketing and
business goals.

Rachel is often recognized for her ability to elevate brands, produce tangible results, and move businesses forward. Her expertise in marketing, business, and technology, combined with her formal design education makes her a power-house strategist behind every client District M Creative supports.

Rachel received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from James Madison University, and her passion is helping people succeed, while encouraging young professionals and women to pursue their career goals. Rachel currently resides with her family in Northern Virginia, but enjoys splitting her time between Arizona and Virginia. When she's not working, you'll find her hanging out with her family and brainstorming future business plans in true entrepreneurial form. 

MICHAEL HORBATAK | VP OF TECHNOLOGY

MICHAEL HORBATAK 

Mike joined District M Creative in 2016 as a software and web developer and currently serves as Vice President and the lead for technical strategies, platform identification and programming techniques. His vast experience developing websites and software applications has made him an integral resource to numerous federal agencies including the Department of Defense (Army and OSD) and the Department of the Interior. Mike is also recognized for his expertise in SharePoint and his ability to extend baseline SharePoint software functionality in order to automate, customize, and streamline organizational technical challenges, which has led to an extensive number of customizable and scalable applications, user interfaces, and dynamic web content solutions. Mike’s expertise of the SharePoint Application Programming Interface (API), JavaScript, and supporting frameworks, HTML5 and CSS3 makes him a highly sought-after resource for SharePoint and development projects. 

Mike received his Bachelor's from WVU and will complete his Master’s in Software Engineering in 2021. Mike possesses certifications in CompTIA Security + (2018) and Microsoft Office Specialist SharePoint 2013 (2019). 

Mike is an extremely dedicated Mountaineers fan. When he isn't working, you will find him with his family, watching WVU sports, hockey, or driving his Jeep.  

JULIE | MARKETING MANAGER

Julie joined District M Creative in 2019 as a marketing manager and currently serves as a point of contact for our clients while supporting their websites, brainstorming new ideas, creating content, and managing project timelines and tasks. Her amazing organizational skills, friendly demeanor, and excitement about seeing our clients succeed makes her an integral part of our team, and did we mention she is bilingual in Spanish?

Julie received her Bachelor's and Master's in Education from James Madison University and her passion is helping others. When she is not working on client projects, you will find her spending time with her husband and two kids, exercising, or enjoying visits to Loudoun's wineries with friends. 

GRETCHEN | SEO AND WEB SPECIALIST 

Gretchen has worked with District M Creative since 2018 in a technical role and serves as our SEO pro. Gretchen is known for her ability to optimize any post for placement and regularly supports our clients in their website and SEO services. Her technical knowledge and WordPress expertise is also called upon regularly as we develop, launch and maintain websites. As someone who backpacked all of Europe, she isn't intimidated by much, and is always ready to jump in and learn new things. 

Gretchen received her Bachelor's of Science from the University of Virginia and her passion is traveling. When she is not working on client projects, you will find her spending time with her friends and family, trying out a new restaurant, or hopping on a plane to go explore the world.

NATHAN | WEB SUPPORT 

Nathan has worked with District M Creative since 2012 and serves as our web hosting and web technical support. Nathan is responsible for maintaining our hosting server, keeping our websites working, and assisting with website questions as they arise. 

Nathan resides in sunny Florida, and when he is not working on web and hosting support, you will find him spending time with his family. 

VP OF TECHNOLOGY