The Work I Love
This isn't about choosing fonts or designing logos. That comes later—and honestly, designers do it better.
This is about clarity that changes everything:
Strategic clarity that reveals exactly where you win or where your unique impact lives—and why stakeholders should choose you.
Messaging clarity that gives your entire team one powerful story to tell—whether they're closing deals or securing grants.
Positioning clarity that makes price objections or funding competition less relevant because you're no longer competing on features or comparing apples to apples.
When you get this foundation right, everything downstream gets easier:
For for-profit companies:
→ Sales cycles shorten because prospects arrive educated
→ You attract better talent who understand your vision
→ You can charge premium pricing based on value, not features
→ You stop competing on specs and start competing on vision
For mission-driven organizations:
→ Funding conversations accelerate because fit is immediately clear
→ You attract aligned partners who amplify your work
→ You can scale programs without losing mission integrity
→ You stop competing for the same dollars and start owning distinctive territory
That transformation—watching organizations step from fog into clarity—that's what drives me.
Why This Matters to Me
Brand Isn't Fluffy—It's Infrastructure
Treating brand as "nice to have" marketing fluff will let opportunities slip to competitors or other organizations with clearer positioning.
Strategic brand foundation directly impacts revenue, funding, talent attraction, and market perception. This isn't decorative work. This is foundational infrastructure that determines whether you compete on price or on value, whether you scale with integrity or experience mission drift.
Strategy Without Execution Is Useless
Imagine receiving a beautiful PowerPoint deck full of strategic recommendations—then realizing you have no idea how to implement any of it.
I don't hand you frameworks and disappear. I deliver messaging playbooks, content strategies, and implementation roadmaps you use the day after handoff. I can also manage the execution for you if you need help. Theory is worthless. Execution is everything.
Great Brands Start With Clarity
Envision spending $50,000 on logo design and brand identity—then realizing you still can't explain what makes you different or why your impact pathway works.
Before you worry about visual identity, you need to answer fundamental questions: Who are you for? What makes you different? Why should anyone care? Get those answers right first. The logo follows naturally after that.
The Best Work Happens Collaboratively
Consultants who say, "Trust me, I'm the expert" without understanding your business, your customers, your beneficiaries, your competitive threats, or your mission will not help you grow. That is not how transformation happens.
I facilitate brand strategies back by 20 years of strategic expertise. You provide insights only you have about your market, stakeholders, and reality. Together, we build something neither of us could create alone.
Growth-Stage Organizations Deserve Strategic Rigor
Picture being told, "Come back when you're a $100M company—then we can help with brand strategy."
Why should you wait? Why should clear positioning be reserved for enterprises?
Whether you're a for-profit company competing against well-positioned competitors or a nonprofit seeking funding from sophisticated foundations—you need strategic clarity today, not in five years.
I bring enterprise-quality thinking to growth-stage budgets and timelines. For nonprofits, I remove additional barriers through 10% mission-driven discount.
“Kate and I have worked closely together for over 5 years…on Microsoft Tech for Social Impact's Global Demand Center. Together, we (and the extended team) have built out a globally scalable lead acquisition and nurture engine designed to serve our nonprofit customers and deliver business outcomes. I have loved working with Kate and consider the program we built together and resulting impact as a highlight in my career. Kate [has] a keen ability to manage all the details while keeping an eye towards the end goal and outcomes. She has been a trusted advisor to me and someone that I knew I could always count on. Kate was the glue that held the team together and kept everyone marching to the beat of the same drum. And, she's really, really fun to work with!
I bring the strategic thinking of enterprise program management, user-centered approach to product leadership, the creative problem-solving of brand strategy, and understanding of both for-profit and nonprofit contexts—all in one engagement.
You're not just hiring a brand consultant. You're partnering with someone who understands:
→ How to build strategy that scales
→ How to create frameworks teams actually use
→ How to measure what matters
→ How to serve both market opportunity and mission
20 years of experience that informs this work
Deep Expertise Across Diverse Sectors
Microsoft
I lead global programs across multiple organizations—coordinating teams across continents, driving process transformations that improved velocity 60%, producing executive communications that influenced product strategy.
What this taught me:
→ How to think systematically about complex problems
→ How to drive alignment across diverse stakeholders
→ How to communicate strategy that actually changes behavior
→ How large organizations maintain consistency at scale
T-Mobile
Product/Program Manager for web strategy and eCommerce—increasing mobile sales 25% through strategic UX improvements, elevating customer satisfaction scores (JD Power rankings), leading agile teams.
What this taught me:
→ How user experience impacts business outcomes
→ How to balance customer needs with business goals
→ How to iterate quickly based on data and feedback
→ How digital presence drives revenue
BECU
Partnered on digital transformation initiatives—reducing user friction 30% through strategic improvements, implementing AI Virtual Assistant and biometric authentication, partnering with product and engineering on high-impact projects.
What this taught me:
→ How to modernize while maintaining trust
→ How to implement technology strategically, not tactically
→ How to measure what matters and ignore vanity metrics
→ How financial institutions balance innovation and security
Professional Services & Consulting
Nielsen Vaughan: Complete brand foundation strategy and digital presence transformation for a professional services firm
projekt202: Built research programs uncovering $5M+ opportunities through strategic insights for enterprise clients
KO Consulting: Saved client $1.5M through strategic repositioning and process optimization
Creative Agencies
Developed strategic frameworks, positioning, and messaging for organizations balancing purpose and sustainability.
Lead the design and production of award-winning digital experiences (that also provided the clients with record-breaking sales numbers).
Where I cut my teeth on the true meaning and importance of strategic branding.
What This Means for You
I bring the strategic thinking of enterprise program management, the user-centered approach of product leadership, the creative problem-solving of brand strategy, and understanding of both for-profit and nonprofit contexts—all in one engagement.
You're not just hiring a brand consultant. You're partnering with someone who understands:
→ How to build strategy that scales (Microsoft)
→ How to balance rigor with speed (T-Mobile)
→ How to create frameworks teams actually use (BECU)
→ How to measure what matters (All of it)
→ How to serve both market opportunity and mission (Varied sectors)
Credentials
Education & Certifications:
Bachelor of Business, University of Phoenix
Architecture, UC Berkeley
Certified Scrum Product Owner, SolutionsIQ
Technical Writing Certificate, Bellevue College
Generative AI Certificate, LinkedIn Learning
Teaching Experience:
Content Strategy Master Class, University of Washington Masters of Communication in Digital Media (2011)
When I'm not helping organizations discover their competitive advantage or amplify their impact:
I'm exploring the Pacific Northwest and the world—but I love being home in Seattle. I’m an urban hiker appreciating the way this area balances innovation with natural beauty.
I am an artist working in large-scale acrylic canvases and murals. Check out my work at KOArtworks.com. My brain and the way I see things is different - and this is a good thing. Innovation doesn’t come from the usual.
I'm also increasingly drawn to mission-driven work. After 20 years helping companies sell products, I'm reorienting toward organizations solving problems—healthcare access, educational equity, environmental protection, social justice.
If your company is building a sustainable business while creating jobs and solving real problems, I want to help you grow.
If your organization is addressing systemic challenges and changing lives, I want to help you amplify your impact so you get the recognition you deserve and you can do more good works.
Either way—if you're creating meaningful value in the world—let's talk.