BRAND STRATEGY + NARRATIVE

Our first priority was making Cintrifuse easier to understand. I led a comprehensive brand strategy that clarified our audiences, value propositions, brand architecture, voice, and relationship between Cintrifuse, StartupCincy, and Cintrifuse Capital. I also established a clearer organizational narrative that connected individual initiatives back to one mission rather than communicating each as a standalone effort.

The strategy gave our team a shared framework for making decisions about what we communicated, to whom, and why.

The work included:

• Defined priority audiences and ICPs across founders, investors, corporations, donors, and ecosystem partners.

• Clarified positioning and messaging across three interconnected brands.

• Built messaging frameworks that connected individual programs to broader organizational outcomes.

• Led creative direction and copy across three new websites, campaigns, social, press, executive communications, and evergreen content.

• Shifted communications from a high volume of disconnected updates toward fewer, clearer stories about organizational progress and impact.

The result was not just a stronger visual brand. It was a clearer organization, with strategy directly informing how Cintrifuse looked, sounded, and communicated.

PROGRAM STRATEGY + DESIGN

Brand clarity also exposed a larger opportunity: our programs needed to tell a cohesive story. Programs had often been created to solve specific needs, but without a consistent framework connecting them. I worked across teams to identify those connections, refine how programs were positioned, and design a clearer experience across the founder journey.

This meant approaching program development as both an organizational and brand challenge: understanding the audience, defining the problem, designing the right offering, and determining how each initiative advanced Cintrifuse’s larger strategy.

The work included:

• Helped shape program concepts, positioning, audiences, and go-to-market strategies alongside program and investment teams.

• Created distinct program brands while maintaining a clear connection to Cintrifuse.

• Connected programs across talent, founder development, capital, community, and ecosystem access into a more cohesive organizational story.

• Built marketing and communications strategies around the founder journey rather than treating each program as an isolated campaign.

• Translated strategy into program naming, identity, messaging, websites, recruitment campaigns, collateral, and participant communications.

This approach made individual programs stronger while also increasing the value of the portfolio as a whole.

DONOR + STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

A clearer story only mattered if our stakeholders understood it. When I stepped into this work, many important relationships with board members, corporate partners, donors, and ecosystem leaders were passive, transactional, or dissipating. I developed a stakeholder communications and engagement strategy designed to consistently show where Cintrifuse was headed, what was changing, and what their support was making possible.

Instead of communicating every activity, we focused on synthesizing the work into a clear picture of organizational progress and measurable impact.

The work included:

• Established annual and quarterly stakeholder reporting across investment activity, startup growth, jobs, program outcomes, and founder milestones.

• Rebuilt board and donor communications around organizational priorities, progress, and opportunities for involvement.

• Developed stewardship strategies and experiences connecting funders directly with founders, portfolio companies, and funded initiatives.

• Created executive communications and thought leadership that gave leadership a consistent platform for articulating Cintrifuse’s strategy.

• Led grant, sponsorship, and fundraising communications that helped raise $5.5M+ and contributed to a 257% increase in donor support.

The shift was measurable: board engagement increased, more partners sought deeper involvement with Cintrifuse, and donor support grew significantly. Communications became a strategic tool for rebuilding trust, creating alignment, and turning passive stakeholders into active partners.