EG.

I didn’t really set out to build a career this way. Most people pick a lane and stay in it. Brand. Sales. Nonprofit. Corporate.

​

I just kept leaning into the kind of work where you set the north star, then build from scratch to reach it. The kind where things aren’t fully figured out yet, and you’ve got to work through it before it starts to click.

​

I started in places where the playbook was tight. SC Johnson, Wrigley, Diageo. Big brands, real structure, high expectations. That’s where I learned how to build something the right way. Insight first, then strategy, then execution. No shortcuts.

​

But after a while, I wanted to see what happened without the guardrails.

 

That led me to Endless West. Different kind of challenge. Not just building a brand, but rethinking what a spirits company could even be. It forced me to connect things differently. Technology, storytelling, commercialization. If one part didn’t move, none of it did.

​

Then I made a turn that caught some people off guard. I went nonprofit.

​

At United Way of Greater Cincinnati, the work hit different. You’re not just building a brand, you’re building trust. You’re asking people to believe in something bigger than themselves and actually show up for it. That changes how you think about the work.

​

And somewhere in all of that, something clicked. Doesn’t matter the industry. Doesn’t matter the structure. You’re trying to get people to care.

 

I took that into Hard Truth Distilling. Early-stage brand, big ambition. We weren’t just selling whiskey. We were building a story people could step into—from the bottle, to the bar, to the experience. When it works, you don’t just see the results. You can feel it.

​

Around that same time, I started building something of my own–Echofa. A place to take everything I’ve learned and help other brands figure it out. Not the polished version. The real version. The one that actually connects.

 

And after all of that, here’s where I’ve landed…

 

It was never really about the category. Or the title. Or the size of the company. It’s about whether people connect with what you’re building.

That’s it.

​

Get that right…and everything else has a way of falling into place.