A WORD FROM THE FOUNDER

The seed for Brand Evangelist was planted in the summer of 1998 while I was working for my family’s first entrepreneur – my grandmother. She gave me my first education in business, servant leadership and how to build clientele and I was amazed. That small catering company took us to church parking lots, colleges, festivals, block parties, family reunions and school functions and more importantly, made a significant dent in our vicious cycle of poverty. After trying to take a traditional route with nursing, then social work,  things came full-circle in 2012 and I was ready to take my leap into entrepreneurship as well. Unfortunately, these were the days of websites before Squarespace, Wix, Weebly and in the early days of WordPress themes and plugins (for public use). Committed to my consulting business, I took a leap of faith to design it myself. My business plan and design work earned me Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, a coveted spot in 40 Under Forty, nomination for a leadership cohort and countless press interviews and business opportunities. By 2014, I transitioned the business from its tourism development niche to doing design + creative strategy work full-time to meet the increasing demand of people wanting me to do for them what I had achieved for my business. I served as freelancer to some, fractional CMO roles (Communications, Community Relations & Engagement Coordinator) for others – always staying committed to continuous improvement. Over the years, I became frustrated by workplace culture, mainstream media and marketing industry norms. The dishonesty, exploitation and race for more money, fame or attention made me more compelled to be people-first and see business as loving action. Brand Evangelist™ is the result of 10+ years of preparation and I’m excited about what the next 10+ years will look like, doing good works, advocating for better business practices and strategies, celebrating purpose, and having a direct role in the increase of in-demand, purpose-driven brands around the world. We can. Above all, we are servants first, and in all things.