Welcome.

Prior to agency life, I was a marketing and advertising professional in media and for arts and cultural organizations. I believe much of what I learned in those formative years has shaped my worldview and “workview” to this day.

I began my career as the first-ever marketing and promotions director at The Stranger, Seattle’s seminal alternative weekly newspaper, which helped define the culture and character of the city in the 90s and early aughts.

I was at the paper for nearly ten transformative years, where I had a hand in shaping The Stranger’s enviable signature brand. What I learned about my trade in those years is this: what matters most about building and sustaining great brands is that people want to feel part of something special. Inspiration, loyalty, and action are ignited by an individual’s sense of belonging to a community of fellow travelers with a common point of view, purpose, and aspirations, and by the conviction that your brand understands them, fulfills their needs, and shares their values.

Since entering agency life, I’ve worked with two of the Pacific Northwest’s most respected branding shops—Pyramid Communications and Phinney Bischoff—where I worked exclusively with mission-forward, purpose-driven clients. In 2013, I joined Strategies 360, where I was part of a team brought on to build and run a brand, advertising, and marketing practice within one of the West Coast’s largest public affairs firms.

Throughout these years, I’ve been a partner to more than 80 businesses, non-profits, and public institutions, helping them tap the power of storytelling to elevate brand experiences, connect with and inspire audiences, and meet unique, specific business goals.

• I helped position AgWest Farm Credit as providing dedicated care for the ag producers and rural communities they serve through dependable credit, risk management tools, and business resources—because ag producers care for the world by keeping food on the table.

• I helped KUOW, Washington State’s largest NPR affiliate, carve out a unique space in a crowded and fast-changing media market by tapping into their essence of “sound”—sound journalistic storytelling and the intimate power of the human voice.

• For more than a decade, I worked with Bristol Bay Native Corporation, as part of a team who was both architect and steward of the company’s award-winning brand.

• I worked with Burnham Center for Community Advancement to build a brand from the ground up, introducing the organization as a “civic collaboratory”—a new model for partnership to drive meaningful progress and address the most pressing issues facing the San Diego/Tijuana binational region.

• I helped position the Starbucks Roastery and Reserve brands to evoke discernment, invitation, and revelation, while providing a path back to Starbucks master brand and the journey of discovery inherent in the coffee giant’s origin story.

• I helped position LifeWise Health Plan of Washington—the health care exchange offering from Premera Blue Cross—as an “empowerment engine” that affords customers more control over their health care decisions.

• Through an unprecedented joint brand storytelling campaign, I helped position University of Washington and Washington State University as indispensable institutions—and the value of a public college education as a worthwhile investment—at a time when that value was being questioned.