In this episode of The Stories That Form Us, I sit down with Kayla Dean, the founder of The Literary Co and a copywriter and messaging strategist for creative founders and service providers. We talk about something we’ve both been thinking about a lot — what it actually means to say the thing in your […]

Most brands try to be easy. Clear packages.Clean promises.Predictable language that feels safe and familiar. That approach sounds smart.It also makes brands invisible. Your work does not fit neatly into a box.Trying to make it convenient flattens the very thing clients remember. Clients Do Not Remember Ease. They Remember Impact. People do not tell stories […]

In this episode of The Stories That Form Us, I sit down with Zoie Callihan, the founder and lead copywriter at Lexicon Copy Co. We talk about something we’re both obsessed with—the power of story to shape brands, connect people, and reveal what’s already alive in the work. Zoie is a creative copywriter, brand voice […]

You already know this, even if you have not named it yet. This is the problem most service based businesses face when brand messaging vs services are misaligned. Your work changes people.Not just the outcome.Not just the deliverable. People leave different than they arrived. But when someone lands on your website, reads your bio, or […]

You already know this, even if you’ve never said it out loud. The difference between brand transformation vs services is something most creative business owners feel intuitively, even if they haven’t put words to it yet. What you offer is deeper than what you deliver. What you offer is deeper than what you deliver. If […]

Brand Strategy for Creative Entrepreneurs Who Refuse to Be Broken When I was working as a wrangler in Wyoming, I fell in love with the underdog of the ranch. It ended up teaching me more about brand strategy for creative entrepreneurs than any marketing book ever could. His name was Biscuit. An opinionated, borderline pony […]

Identity-led brand strategy begins with lived experience, not aesthetics. I’ve lived a lot of lives. Firefighter.Ranch hand.Mechanic.Ski patroller.Backcountry guide.Designer.Storyteller.Entrepreneur.Facilitator. At the time, each identity felt like the next right thing. The next doorway. The next version of myself I was meant to grow into. But looking back, those chapters weren’t random. They were apprenticeships. Not […]

There are moments that stay with you long after a conference ends, not because they were loud or clever, but because something in you recognizes the truth inside them. For me, it was this question from Jen of Tonic Site Shop: When did you decide it wasn’t profitable to be who you are? It landed […]

I normally never fly Southwest. But this time, the experience unexpectedly taught me more about archetypes in branding than any book or workshop has in months. I only book Southwest when the timing works or I’m traveling more than usual. The no-seat-assignments frenzy and the one-snack-for-all situation have never been my thing. But on this […]

Last week, right in the middle of my workday, I did something that would make no sense to anyone walking by. And yet it became one of the clearest reminders I’ve had about creative brand strategy and design in a long time. I shut my laptop.Drove home.Turned the music way up.And had a spontaneous, full-body […]