When referencing advertising agencies and public relation firms, even Mike Jesky can’t help but bring up the iconic television drama series “Mad Men.”

For those who haven’t tuned into the show, which stopped airing in 2015, there’s a lot to unpack. Here’s the gist: think well-dressed business men, the bustle of New York City and the transmuting, subversive rise of image creation and branding in the 20th century.

Jesky’s local operation, called Dekka Studios, isn’t as exhaustingly dramatic or linearly focused.

“Back in the days, an ad agency would help companies with their public relations, marketing, advertising,” Jesky said. “And then in the late ’90s and the 2000s the internet became really big, so a lot of that marketing transitioned to be digital.

“So nowadays, with my own company doing digital marketing, that encompasses everything from web development, search engine optimization, social media management, search marketing and then graphic design, photography and video production.”

Based in Palmerton, Dekka Studios might be considered a web design firm. But that’s not how Jesky defines it, and looking at what the company offers, that’s not what it is; the term fully integrated, digital marketing firm is more fitting.

Jesky looks and acts the part of a successful entrepreneur, armed with confidence and in-depth knowledge of not only the field his operation exists in, but how his business offers an essential service to other organizations.

Jesky grew up in Hazleton. After graduating from high school, he joined the Air Force. He was only in for a short time before receiving an entry-level separation for medical reasons.

“I had a bad back and bad knees, and basically I was too skinny and everything and never should have been in to begin with,” Jesky said with a chuckle.

Jesky found himself back at home and questioning his next move.

That’s when a friend invited Jesky to join him at Penn State campus in Hazleton. Jesky decided to study journalism.

In 1994, Jesky started an internship at the Hazleton Standard Speaker, where he was later hired on to the staff. During his time, Jesky saw the rise of a technology with the potential to alter the way organizations, businesses and even the world, operates: The internet. And he capitalized on its outset.

“I went directly to the owner (of the newspaper) and said ‘Hey, I can help you guys create your website,’” Jesky recalled.

“So I actually built and designed myself the first website for the Hazleton Standard Speaker. That kind of opened my eyes to the idea that there’s other ways to communicate other than through the old medium of print.”

After five years, Jesky left to join a multimedia marketing startup called Precision Design. He grew with the business, rising to the position of vice president.

“It was fun, and I enjoyed it, but then eventually I just got the bug to start my own business,” Jesky said. “And for three years now, that’s what I’ve been doing.”

Watching Jesky talk about web development, marketing and digital design, it’s clear he’s found his calling. But he has another passion that promises to light up his eyes, and it’s volunteering. Jesky has a history of volunteering with local organizations, including serving on Family Promise of Carbon County’s Board of Trustees.

“I grew up extremely poor,” Jesky said. “I know the social stigma of being poor, and now that I’ve worked long enough and hard enough, as soon as you start to get to the smallest position in life where you feel like you can look back and donate and give back, you have to do so.”

In October 2018, Dekka Studios won the Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley’s “Spirit of Volunteerism” award, sharing the stage with a number of large companies, including Air Products, Crayola and PPL Electric Utilities.

Amber Breiner, executive director of Carbon County Community Foundation, nominated the local business because Dekka Studios agreed to build the nonprofit organization’s website at a reduced rate that fit into its fixed budget. That was more than two years ago.

Breiner said that Dekka Studios has continued to voluntarily host and maintain the organization’s website.

“Mike Jesky came to mind immediately as somebody who has been instrumental for me in my first year of operating as the first executive director of the community foundation,” Breiner said. “He’s just felt like a trusted member of my team. I could always count on him for support.”

“When (Jesky) believes in a cause, he’s just willing to put himself out there and offer the resources that are desperately needed, but cost a nonprofit a significant amount of money,” Breiner added.

For Jesky, that’s a lesson life taught him, and it’s one he wants others to learn.

“More people need to volunteer,” Jesky said. “If you have money, give money. If you have time, give time. If you have talent, give talent. But you’ve got to find an organization that you believe in and that you care about and that you think is making a difference in the community and donate your time.

“It needs to be part of your life and part of who you are as a person, and you can make it part of who you are, just by making that decision (to volunteer),” he added.