Every passage to what comes next is a door.

Story powers you through it.

I’m Jean: brand strategist, creative director, mentor.

Whether it’s you, your organization, your team, getting from “here” to “there” requires knowing who you are, what sets you apart, and why that matters.

If your next chapter is beckoning, we should talk.

BOOK A VIRTUAL COFFEE*

*No pressure. No pitch. Just a great conversation.

“Jean is the real deal.”

— John Loken, EVP Marketing | Grammy Awards - The Recording Academy

No matter your door — big or small, familiar or foreign, inevitable or long planned-for — I’m here to help you answer the questions it asks of you.

  • How will you meet the moment?

  • What will be different on the other side?

  • What are you taking with you? What must be left behind?

  • Who's coming along, and who must be convinced? And how will you get everyone on the same page?

  • Brand Story for Design, Creative, and Professional Service Firms

    At key moments in a firm’s evolution, deep visioning and strategic dexterity are critical. I don’t impose story. I engage and guide founders and leadership teams through the process of naming and claiming who they are, and the impact they seek to make. This foundational work strengthens cultures, and sets us up to develop positioning, brand architecture, and stories that resonate across diverse audiences.

  • Fractional Brand & Creative Strategist

    Your brand is a living, breathing asset that holds up your marketing, communications, and culture. My expertise-for-hire removes the need for a full-time, in-house brand strategist. I assess the brand from the ground up, and tackle the essentials: How strong is your strategy and positioning? Is your story relevant for all audiences? Does your team have the tools and understanding to keep it running day to day?

    Our work together gets you to “yes” on all counts, and sets you up for growth.

  • Strategic Storytelling

    Moving your organization into its next chapter takes more than new boilerplate. Freshening up the bullet-points won’t help you stand out from the crowd. I guide leaders and teams to a breakthrough understanding of what sets your firm apart, and build a story that clinches the argument for it. From there, I create messaging and communications platforms that make the message consistent, portable, adaptable, and powerful.

  • Executive Thought Leadership & Ghostwriting

    It’s a noisy world out there. It takes care to get yourself heard. AI may be able to synthesize your ideas into word count, but it can’t transform your experience and insight into compelling and magnetizing story. I’m here to help you dig deep and create an engaging and enduring body of work. All-you, all-human, and 100% slop-free.

“Jean changed the course of my life in the most interesting way. She's magic, with the extraordinary superpower that gives people back themselves.”

— Cat Lindsay, Founder, Cat Lindsay Designs

We don’t change you into something new. We simply give voice to who you’ve been all along.

Most organizations I've worked with already had a perfectly good story; they just couldn't hear it themselves. One client called me "a magician — a great puller-outer of information."

On the other side, you will

Shed Imposter Syndrome
No more corporate ventriloquism and cookie cutter narrative. Your story will come straight from your direct experience, your relationships, your unique POV and creative DNA — not from AI, a thesaurus, or guesswork.

Make It Loud and Clear
Generic labels and corporate-lingo-as-usual are a ticket to invisibility. We will dig deep to uncover fresh language, insights, and themes that bring to life just what sets you apart. 

Skip to the Good Part
We all know that hit-and-miss feeling of “explaining” what we do. The door to genuine connection opens when you focus on the deeper impact of your work, and what you can do for others.

Save Your Breath (And Time)
With a well-structured, clear narrative to frame the argument, creating content, communications, presentations doesn’t require constant reinvention of the wheel.

Choose Yourself
A solid story keeps you honest. It helps you to align your choices with your goals, to engage people who share your vision, and to say “no” to opportunities that just aren’t a good fit.

Be Your Own Expert
Our identities and stories aren’t carved in granite: there’s’ always yet another door. This work is designed to be a repeatable experiment — one you can conduct on your own — so your story can evolve as you do.

  • The way Jean can titrate a conundrum down to the heart of the matter is breathtaking ...and makes you feel like it can be that easy for you, as well. She helped me see how to approach a new role I'd just begun. One where strategy and design intertwined in successful business outcomes. It was a great help and inspiration.

    Barbara Buenz | Creative Director/Design Ambassador

  • Jean recognized that for us the task was not so much about reinvention as it was refocusing: taking the raw materials and putting a knife-sharp edge on them...she gained the trust of our whole team by listening before talking, respecting everyone’s input and eventually guiding us expertly to an outcome that was rational, honest and self-evident.

    Gerry Jue | Founder/Managing Principal, BAMO

  • Jean is a genius strategist who helped me clarify my story and how I go about telling it. It nails the essence of what I do. Working with Jean was pure pleasure. I felt the time was sacred. She’s brilliant and insightful and will help you see what you can’t see in yourself.

    Cat Lindsay | Founder, Cat Lindsay Designs

  • Jean supported teams throughout the organization, giving time and space for different perspectives, bringing leadership together ...We are stronger, more focused, and more alive in our purpose because of Jean’s talents and hard work.

    Amy Stanfield | Chief Operating Officer, Vitamin Angels

  • For six years at J.M. Smucker, I relied on Jean to lead brainstorms and facilitate complicated discussions. She consistently guided our teams to new ideas or more thoughtful, productive outcomes. Even when I thought the assignment was akin to squeezing blood from a turnip, Jean found a way to elicit new ideas.

    Sarah Miller | Consumer Strategy, San Francisco

  • Jean is one of the most critical and poetic thinkers I have met. It was really amazing to see her at work. I am better for it; we all are. I am so grateful to her for pushing KSP on really thinking about, and finding the right words for, who we are and what we want to be.

    Sara Lundgren | Partner, Krueck Sexton Partners

  • The branding and messaging framework Jean helped us to develop is holding up beautifully. I use the work we did literally every day, and I especially appreciate the process that she went through more as time goes by.

    Jennifer Reik | Director of Marketing, Cal Performances

Just to be clear.

Purpose is your connection to something greater than yourself.

It’s not a banner hung over the door; it’s a truth written on your heart. Purpose is your personal sonar. You know when you’ve hit something juicy, because you can feel it deep in your bones. And getting to know it gives you the power to live into it.

let's discover yours

“Jean has this uncanny ability to draw you out, and to find little nuggets of truth. Sure, she’s a great writer, but it’s about how she engages you. She helped us to discover what is important to us, and to appreciate what we're actually doing.”

-Nick Ericson, Ericson + Co. | Skåne, Sweden“