About Me
If a brand decision is expensive, political, or hard to reverse, that’s my game.
Over the last 15+ years I've helped founders and marketing professionals launch startups, raise over $10M in funding, build brand equity, merge, acquire, go public, and win multiple awards.
I founded my brand agency Backroom in 2014 with a core people-first mission. I think marketing shouldn’t feel so hard, that gate-keeping playbooks helps no one, and we should all stick together.
I’ve worked on brands you've never heard of to household names like Hellmann’s, StubHub, Pepsi, and the U.S. Department of State.
The common thread = brands that are hyper focused on delivering value for people.
What is Brands Under Pressure?
A weekly edition on all things brand strategy, leadership, and the messy reality of what it takes to build a brand that performs.
I write for founders, marketers, and operators who want practical application along with theory so they can get out of “know your audience” type education and into “what to do on Monday morning to connect with them.”
In other words: I write the kind of content that translates brand theory into something you can use tomorrow at work.
What I write about
I decode trust collapse and institutional breakdown through brand decisions.
You’ll see observations on what’s breaking in corporate brands and the decisions that caused it. I cover:
Why nobody trusts brands anymore (and the decisions that killed trust)
The systems breaking down
Cultural shifts revealed through brand strategy
Brand mechanics that work vs. what we pretend works
The gap between what your metrics say and what your brand equity is doing
High-stakes brand decisions: M&A, rebrands, GTM resets, leadership changes—the expensive, political, hard-to-reverse calls
What you can expect
Free readers get:
A weekly essay
Brand strategy insights grounded in real work
Breakdowns of current trends and how they actually impact decision-making
Paid subscribers get:
Everything above
Templates I use with clients
Weekly question prompt
Real client examples
Access to the full archive of posts
Chat access
Places you can find me:
