Why I’ll Be Leaving 30 Years in Big Tech Behind to Help Small Businesses in New England

Amy Vosko · Farm at Fox Hill · Bernardston, Massachusetts

It's the Wednesday before Memorial Day weekend. Summer isn't knocking on the door. It's breaking it down. I'm on my seventh Zoom call of the day, helping market software for a big tech company. I've been doing this successfully for 30 years. And the only thing on my mind is somewhere else entirely. Western Mass. The Pioneer Valley, to be exact.

For the past five years, my husband and I have been spending every spare weekend getting to know the region. The shops, the farms, the culture, the people. We're working toward moving there permanently. For now, we have property, we have three-day weekends, and we have a lot of Instagram scrolling and local news tabs to keep us connected.

The decision that changed everything

About five years ago, we made a deal. Once our four kids finished school and my husband could retire from his school system, we'd leave the New York metro area and go back to our roots. Something quieter. Less congested. A slower life that actually felt like ours.

He grew up in New England. I grew up in upstate New York, right on the Massachusetts border. We both left home for college, married other people, divorced, and found each other well into our 40s. Now, in our 50s, the next chapter was impossible to ignore. Where do we see ourselves when the nest empties out?

After months of exploring properties, weighing what felt like us, what aligned with our values, our views, and honestly, our hearts, we found it. A wonderful family selling part of their 300-year-old farm in Bernardston, Massachusetts.

This was it. Small town. Local community values. Farm-to-table living. Hard-working people who care about where they are and what they build. (It didn't hurt that there's a great golf course and a brewery nearby for my husband.)

We started making plans. Plans to build. Plans to settle and put down real roots. Plans to retire. At least for him.

But what about me?

Retiring isn’t my path. Not yet, anyway. But did I want to keep working for someone else forever? No. I knew I wanted to start my own business. I just didn't know what shape it would take. Or how I could slowly untether from one world and evolve into the next.

I have an art degree. Thirty years of marketing and sales leadership. A career built inside the tech industry, and if you've ever seen a show about life at Silicon Valley start-ups, yes, that world is very real, even for an East Coast person like me. I've led revenue marketing teams, served as the Head of Marketing, spoken on stages and podcasts about tying marketing to actual business results. That part of my career taught me a tremendous amount.

But the thing that shifted my thinking wasn't Silicon Valley. It was Bernardston.

Five years of quiet observation

Over the past five years of visiting our future home, I've done something I didn't plan on doing. I fell in love with the local business community.

I've met farmers, artisans, shop owners, and food producers across the Pioneer Valley. I've sampled their crafts, tasted their food, listened to their dreams. These people are talented. They work harder than most executives I've known. And almost every one of them is struggling with the same thing: getting the word out. Marketing.

Not because they're bad at it. Because no one ever taught them a marketing system built for their kind of business. Everything out there is designed for tech startups, big brands, or online influencers. Not for someone running a farm stand in Franklin County.

I realized I could help. Not with dashboards, pipeline models, and quarterly business reviews. In the way you help a neighbor. You share what you know. You make it practical. You make it real-world.

So Farm at Fox Hill was born

The name comes from our property, Fox Hill Road in Bernardston. The mission comes from 30 years of experience and a deep belief that small businesses are the backbone of communities like ours.

Farm at Fox Hill is a marketing education and consulting company. Right now, it's two things:

The Fox Hill Marketing Academy: an online course that teaches real-world marketing to small business owners, one lesson per week, each under 30 minutes. It's built for people who are busy running a business and need a system, not a lecture.

Marketing Consulting: one-on-one strategic support for business owners of all sizes who want an expert in the trenches alongside them.

What this blog is for

This is the first post on the Farm at Fox Hill blog, and I want to be upfront about what you'll find here.

I'm going to teach you what I've learned in three decades of marketing, translated for the small business owner who doesn't have a marketing department, a big budget, or five hours a day to spend on social media. Every post will have something you can actually use. A concept explained clearly. A tool you should try. A step you can take this week.

If you run a small business in New England (or anywhere, really) and you've ever felt invisible online, overwhelmed by marketing advice that doesn't fit your world, or unsure where to start, this is for you.

And the property?

That adventure kicks into gear this year, too. We're developing the plan and looking for those local artisans to help make it a reality. Maybe you’ll end up seeing one or two of them featured on the blog. We have one more kid heading off to college, so there's time to cultivate this next chapter.

But Farm at Fox Hill isn't waiting. It's already here. My muse, my next branch to swing into, and a way to build something good. Not just for me, but for the community I'm growing to love so deeply.

Welcome. I'm glad you're here.

About Amy Vosko: Amy is the founder of Farm at Fox Hill, a marketing education and consulting company based in Bernardston, Massachusetts. She spent 30 years in Fortune 500 and big tech marketing, including roles as CMO and VP of Revenue Marketing, before turning that expertise toward helping small business owners across New England build marketing systems that actually work. Learn more at farmatfoxhill.com.