I started out as a writer. Between a journalism degree and an editor position at a bio clinical trials magazine, asking questions and learning about new things at a considerable depth and in a very short amount of time, was my baseline. It turns out, this is also the baseline for defining a brand.

Listening is the most critical role that I play.

In the years to come, I’d work both agency and client side, launching and managing brands and their respective marketing touchpoints. From Vogue and Nike to pre-seed startups, I learned how powerful a brand was in the success or failure of a company and its initiatives.

A brand is the beating heart of a business. You know when that’s missing.

In 2015, I started Martha because something was missing. Hiring an agency meant big dollars and handing over an integral part of the business to an outside team, while bringing on freelancers meant hiring, onboarding, and managing people you only needed temporarily (and you may not have the expertise to manage). I built Martha to bridge that gap.

We’re a trusted, executive-level extension to your team.

Martha was also a selfish act. I wanted to focus my efforts on fewer clients. I wanted to work with clients that I knew would be able to carry out great work even after we parted. And I wanted to work with teams that weren’t just on the project for salary’s sake.

I wanted (us all) to have fun doing this work.

While I thought I was offering a slightly different business model, I would come to learn that I was actually offering a completely different experience for clients who were developing their brands.

One that’s grounded in listening, heart, trust, and fun.