Hi, I'm Lee.
My career shifted in 2018, when a good friend reached out to me. Knowing I had spent my entire career in marketing, he wanted my opinion on an agency pitching him to help scale his startup.
I quickly discovered this agency was just flashy branding, but had no real experience or expertise to build and execute a strategy. I told him I would help him instead, free of charge.
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And there, theoryDNA. was born.
After a career spent working with big agencies and big brands, I discovered my love for getting hands-on with businesses and people I believed in, helping them solve their most pressing challenges in order to achieve the growth they deserved. ​
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Today, I work as a Contract CMO, helping brands organize and accelerate their marketing efforts with executive-level support on the flexible terms they need.
As my face confirms, yes - that's a real bear.
I didn't set out to be a marketer...
...but a documentary filmmaker. I loved finding the angles and capturing the magic behind real-life stories.
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After getting my B.A. in Strategic Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I began interning at a content marketing agency in Chicago. I quickly learned I had a knack for this type of storytelling with brands.
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In 2014, only 4 years into my career, I won a Digiday Award for Best New Product Launch for a campaign I developed and executed for Kraft. I was loving the work I was doing, but felt ready for a new challenge. So, I joined a young social content startup as the first hire in Chicago to lead development of that market, where I remained through our acquisition by Twitter.
I wanted to be more hands-on...
Eager to work in the gritty world of startups again, I joined a business incubator in Los Angeles that specialized in building and launching celebrity-founded ventures. Here, I was able to bring all of my skills together, from initial brand concepts through product development and go-to-market strategies, and own my work.
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As the VP of Marketing, I also supported our corporate clients, working with global marketing teams to develop new products, services, and revenue lines.
After that fateful call in 2018, I made the decision to go fully independent as a Contract CMO so I could work 1-on-1 with brands and businesses I believed in.
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Vans Park Series Championship event in Huntington Beach, CA.
Every business has a story. I help them tell it.
Great marketing should tell a story, combining art and science to deliver a compelling message to the right audience via the right medium.
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Art
Science
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Context is the DNA of compelling communication.
Most brands neglect context because they:
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Don’t understand the culture they want to infiltrate.
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Don’t understand the truths about their own brand.
I specialize in uncovering a brand’s true place in the life of their consumer through an understanding of the lifestyle of that consumer and the culture they inhabit.
Discipline means executing on these truths to deliver a powerful message through a sound strategy.
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Too often, strategy and creative are separate. Good creative comes from sound strategy, and sound strategy is useless without effectively bringing it to life.
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This isn't about awards, or personal artistic endeavors - the best work produces results and speaks for itself.
