Brand strategy that speaks human.

The best brand teams never forget who they’re designing for. Not consumers. Not segments. People. The ones living full, complicated, human lives that no persona document will ever fully capture.

I've spent fifteen years doing this work across agencies, categories, and continents — from global CPG brands to arts institutions to the United Nations. The strategy that lasts isn't the cleverest one in the room. It's the one that's true. Clear enough for a creative team to build from. Honest enough that the people it's designed for actually feel it.

Good strategy makes people feel heard. Everything else follows.

-OR-

I'm a brand strategy director with 15+ years helping consumer brands figure out what they stand for and how to express it in the world. I work at the intersection of research, narrative, and design — turning complexity into clear strategic direction that creative teams and leadership can actually use.

Before launching Make Thoughts Things, I led strategy at Interact Brands, ThoughtMatter, and RoAndCo, and freelanced at Pearlfisher. I've partnered with founders, executives, and design teams across CPG, food and beverage, beauty, and retail — from high-growth startups to major global brands

  • Ramen Brand

    A top-ten U.S. grocery brand facing a category that had moved on without it. We led a full repositioning grounded in large-scale quantitative research and qualitative depth, then translated what we found into a new cultural positioning, brand foundations, and a flavor-experience-led portfolio architecture. Now guiding an all-SKU packaging redesign and the brand's next chapter.

    Brand Strategy · Tone of Voice · Portfolio Architecture

  • Olyra

    Five generations of Greek grain heritage and a product that earned its place on any shelf. I led brand strategy for a full refresh of the brand’s identity, helping define the strategic foundation that would guide how the brand's heritage, ingredients, and personality came to life on pack. The rebrand earned Olyra acceptance into Target for national distribution and won the NOSH 2025 Award for Best Packaging Design.

    Brand Strategy

  • High Desert

    High Desert is a cactus vodka distilled from prickly pear in the highlands of San Luis Potosi. A spirit genuinely unlike anything else in the category. I led a fast-paced strategy sprint to sharpen the brand's positioning and give the creative team a clear, evocative direction to work from ahead of a major identity refresh and expansion into new markets.

    Brand Sprint

  • Long Weekend

    Sumitomo had a proven freeze-dried soup innovation in Japan that they wanted to bring to the US market. I led a team of strategists through a full new-to-world brand build including upfront consumer research, positioning, brand foundations, naming, and tone of voice, establishing the strategic platform the entire identity system was built on.

    Brand Strategy · Naming · Tone of Voice

  • ü Snacks

    Grüns had built real momentum around a single product. The challenge was how to grow into a full portfolio of functional gummies across immunity, hydration, protein, and more, without losing the brand equity they'd already earned. I led the portfolio architecture work, developing multiple structural scenarios that gave the brand a scalable system for product expansion, collabs, and LTOs, with clear design implications for each.

    Brand & Portfolio Architecture

  • Rally

    The recovery category was crowded with tools that led with power and performance. Rally believed that recovery could be both effective and gentle. Working as strategic lead, I helped define the brand's positioning, develop its name, and build the verbal system that gave the brand its voice.

    Brand Strategy · Naming · Tone of Voice

Research & Insight Development

  • Qualitative research design & moderation
  • Quantitative study design & partner management  
  • Audience segmentation & persona development  
  • Category & competitive analysis

Brand Strategy & Architecture

  • Brand positioning development
  • Brand narrative & tone of voice
  • Brand & portfolio architecture
  • Naming strategy & messaging frameworks

Creative & Concept Development

  • Creative brief development
  • Creative territory exploration
  • Workshop design & facilitation
  • Concept testing & validation

American Craft Council

Brooklyn Business Center

BUILT 

Calbee

Canadian Club

Del Monte

Diamond Crystal

Downtown Music

Egglife

Grüns

Hewlett Packard

High Desert

MAC Cosmetics

Select Clients

Mars Petcare

Maruchan

Misfits Market

NBA 2K League

Neumann Kaffee Gruppe

New York Public Radio

Olyra

P&G Innovation

Poland Spring

PROMIX

Public Wise

Rally

Salt & Straw

Smarty Pants

Spacemilk

Sumitomo

Tacoma Arts Live

Target (Private Label)

Truvia

United Nations Development Programme

Waterboy

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Yes You Can!

Yoplait

Let's make thoughts things

✴︎

Let's make thoughts things

✴︎

Let's make thoughts things ✴︎ Let's make thoughts things ✴︎