Laura Bates, Founder & Chief Strategist
Laura Bates is a brand strategist, storyteller and experience designer who helps organizations uncover what makes them truly distinctive and transform that insight into brands people remember and choose.
A former brand executive with Marriott International, Procter & Gamble and Domino’s Pizza, Laura brings the perspective of both an operator and an advisor. Over the past two decades, she has guided Fortune 500 companies, emerging brands and entrepreneurial ventures through brand positioning, identity development and customer experience strategy that drives long-term business value.
Her work spans hospitality, healthcare, consumer products, financial services, technology and travel. She has led brand strategy and experience design engagements for organizations including Marriott International, GE, Sanofi, Starbucks, Synchrony Financial, Gallo and the U.S. Travel Association. Her hospitality work has been recognized with a Gold Key Award from Boutique Design New York and featured by Condé Nast Traveler.
Laura is a faculty member for the Association of National Advertisers and serves as a guest lecturer on brand positioning at NYU, where she shares practical approaches to building brands that create both emotional connection and measurable business results.
She earned her MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business as a recipient of the Unilever Scholarship and holds a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University. Laura grew up in Alabama and now lives in Washington, D.C.
Karen McSteen, Branding & Business Strategist
Karen is a results-driven and accomplished branding and business strategist. She has spent her career developing distinctive brands and working with organizations to strengthen their competitive position and increase customer engagement.
Karen focuses on developing an organization-wide, brand-centered approach for her clients, a highly effective strategy she honed in her leadership roles as AOL’s Senior Vice President of Brand Strategy and Brand Vice President at Marriott International. Karen’s experience as a senior brand executive has profoundly influenced her philosophy of consulting.
She is a hands-on collaborative partner to every client, and she believes that each engagement should be directly and inextricably linked to business goals.
As a consultant, Karen has developed positioning strategies for clients across a broad range of industries including travel, hospitality, education, media and technology; facilitated brand and business planning processes for corporate and association clients; and created innovative product and service strategies to bring brands to life.
Karen earned her bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University. She is a member of the International Society of Hotel Consultants and an opinion columnist for Hotel News Now.
Matthew Hirschmann, Creative Director
Matt is a creative director with 25 years of diverse design and communication experience in brand identity development and the tactical process of translating visual identity and brand positioning into the myriad requisite internal and customer touchpoints.
His professional experience ranges from creative agencies to the corporate world including AOLTimeWarner, where he served as the company’s first Experience Director.
Matt has taught senior level design students at American University in Washington DC, with a focus on bringing creative ideas to functional, real-world implementation.
Amongst other agency honors, Matt is a winner of the AIGA50 Award, given biennially to only 50 recipients by the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
Kate Noonan, Copy Director
Kate Noonan is an award-winning copywriter with nearly two decades of experience leading brand messaging and creative campaigns for some of the best-known names in residential, hospitality, healthcare, financial services, and insurance.
She has led the social strategy and social media copywriting for numerous hospitality brands, including Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Honors, and Curio. She served as the Creative Director, Copy for Marriott’s Diary of the Craft video series, and for the full rebrand and launch campaign of Marriott’s supplier diversity program, now known as Exchanges.
She has also played a role in the launch of more than 100 residential communities across the country, for clients like the Monogram Collection, Greystar, Avalon Bay, and JAG Management company.
Also an accomplished art writer, her work has been featured in the pages of Art in America, Art Papers, and public and private art collections around the country.