If you know you need to “put yourself out there” more but immediately picture LinkedIn humble brags, performative personal branding, or constantly talking about yourself, this conversation is for you.

Raquel is joined by Katie Radel, founder and CEO of Ripple Consulting Group, to talk about what visibility can look like when it’s built around real expertise, useful ideas, and stories that actually sound like you.

Katie works with executives, founders, and organizations to raise their profiles and become more visible to the audiences who matter. A big part of that work is helping accomplished, often multi-passionate leaders identify what she calls their “zone of genius”: the expertise, perspective, and experiences they can build thought leadership around.

Raquel and Katie talk about why so many smart, successful people resist becoming the face of their business, and why visibility doesn’t have to mean performing, oversharing, or turning every accomplishment into a LinkedIn post.

They also dig into storytelling and PR, including how seemingly small personal details can become some of the most interesting parts of a leader’s story, why the stories closest to us are often the ones we overlook, and how visibility creates a ripple effect that can lead to media coverage, podcast appearances, stronger relationships, credibility, and new business opportunities.

Katie also shares her own unconventional story of growing up in her family’s funeral home, building a career in corporate PR and marketing, and eventually realizing she wanted to approach both work and life differently.

In this episode:

Why accomplished founders and executives still resist visibility

How to build a personal brand without feeling self-promotional

What Katie means by finding your “zone of genius”

How to decide what you want to be known for

The relationship between visibility, thought leadership, PR, and personal branding

Why authentic storytelling creates stronger connections

How to find stories in experiences you might otherwise overlook

Why leaders don’t have to share everything to be relatable

How LinkedIn can support executive visibility and thought leadership

Why PR and visibility are long games that compound over time

How to start becoming more visible without trying to do everything at once

Why getting your messaging right comes before simply posting more

Connect with Katie Radel:

On LinkedIn

Visit the Ripple Consulting Group website

Connect with Raquel:

Website: vignettebrandstudio.com

Instagram: @raquel.furman

Book a discovery call with Raquel 

In this episode, Krista Patterson, CEO and co-founder of Positioning Collective, joins me, Raquel, to talk about why clarity is the foundation every founder skips, and what it costs them when they do.

Krista has spent over 20 years helping founders, leaders, and executives clarify what makes them different and turn it into growth. She built Positioning Collective in 2020 after years of watching companies chase logos and taglines before they'd done the harder work of defining their position.

In this conversation, we cover:

Connect with Krista Patterson at positioningcollective.com or on LinkedIn.

Connect with Raquel on Instagram @raquel.furman

 Book a call with Raquel here.

Holiday marketing prep starts in summer, not November. Learn why sales are a lagging indicator and what to fix before your business gets busy.

If you're thinking about holiday marketing prep, Black Friday promotions, or just wondering why your marketing doesn't seem to be working, this episode is your sign to start now instead of waiting until things feel urgent.

Your sales today aren't a reflection of what you're doing today. They're the result of the marketing and branding you've been building for weeks, months, even a year. Raquel calls this "sales are a lagging indicator," and once you understand it, it changes how you time every promotion, launch, and campaign you'll ever run, holiday or not.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Who this episode is for: Small business owners, creative entrepreneurs, product-based brands, and service providers who want to build momentum before the holiday season, or at any point in the year.

Key takeaway: Marketing has a ramp-up time. Whatever result you want in November, or next quarter, or three months from now, starts with what you fix and refine today.

Mentioned in this episode:

Timestamps:

What if your most valuable marketing strategy isn't another messaging framework or copywriting exercise?

In this episode of The Vignette Effect, I'm sharing why your business data deserves just as much attention as your branding and creative direction.

Too many founders invest in beautiful websites, professional photography, visual branding, social media, and advertising without taking the time to uncover what their business is already telling them. Your analytics aren't just reports. They're a window into how real people think, what captures their attention, what creates hesitation, and what inspires them to take action.

We talk about why data is really about people, not numbers, and how paying attention to website analytics, email engagement, customer feedback, testimonials, inquiries, and conversations can completely change the way you approach your marketing.

Whether you're building a personal brand, growing a small business, or refining your marketing strategy, this episode will help you make smarter marketing decisions with more confidence and less guessing.

Connect with me on Instagram:
@raquel.furman

Learn more about brand coaching:
https://vignettebrandstudio.com

Book a Discovery Call HERE

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you'd subscribe, leave a review, or share it with another founder who's trying to make marketing decisions with more confidence.

Brand strategy, marketing strategy, branding for small business, marketing analytics, business analytics, customer insights, brand messaging, marketing communication, founder marketing, small business marketing, website analytics, Google Analytics, customer behavior, ideal client research, marketing data, creative direction, brand coach, marketing decisions, business growth, The Vignette Effect.

Should you have an email list? Is social media still worth it? Do you really need a blog for SEO? What about Instagram ads?

These are some of the most common marketing questions I hear from founders, and the answer is probably different than you think.

In this episode of The Vignette Effect, I explain why no single marketing channel is required, but marketing your business absolutely is. Rather than asking whether you "have to" use Instagram, email marketing, blogging, or paid ads, the better question is how those channels work together to help people discover, trust, and eventually buy from you.

Using a real coaching conversation as an example, I break down why email marketing and Instagram ads aren't competing strategies, why paid advertising works best when it's supporting an existing marketing system, and how to choose marketing activities that fit both your business goals and your actual capacity.

Whether you're a service provider, creative entrepreneur, or founder trying to simplify your marketing strategy, this episode will help you think beyond individual tactics and build a sustainable marketing plan.

If you're looking for brand strategy, creative direction, and practical marketing guidance that helps you make better marketing decisions, I'd love to connect.

Book a discovery call or connect with me on Instagram to continue the conversation.

Building a successful business doesn't have to mean building it the same way everyone else does.

In this episode of The Vignette Effect, I'm joined by intuitive business mentor and former BossBabe COO Marissa Liesenfelt for a conversation about human design, business strategy, authenticity, and creating a business that actually fits the way you're wired to work.

After helping lead multiple eight-figure companies, Marissa realized that the business model she knew how to build wasn't the one she wanted to run. That realization led her deep into human design and eventually into helping founders understand how their natural strengths can shape everything from visibility and marketing to leadership and decision-making.

We talk about why so many entrepreneurs end up following business advice that isn't actually designed for them, how to recognize when you're working against yourself, and why self-awareness isn't separate from business strategy. It's one of the most valuable tools you can have.

If you've ever felt burned out by marketing, struggled with consistency, questioned whether you're building the right business, or wondered why certain strategies seem to work for everyone except you, this episode will give you a different way to think about growth.

Connect with Raquel:

If this conversation helped you think differently about your business, I'd love it if you'd subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with another founder who's trying to build a business that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside.

Showing up on camera isn't just a content strategy. For many founders, it's a mindset shift.

In this episode of The Vignette Effect, I'm taking you behind the scenes of my own visibility experiment after committing to posting face-to-camera videos every day for 75 days as part of The Close Up Experience with Mike Ganino.

People have been asking what inspired the shift, whether I'm participating in the Yap Challenge, and what it's actually been like to suddenly become much more visible online. So I'm sharing the real story.

We explore why I chose a coaching program focused on becoming a better communicator instead of another content marketing course, what I've learned about the psychology of visibility, and why so much of showing up has less to do with algorithms and more to do with being willing to let people actually see you.

Whether you're a founder, creative entrepreneur, coach, or service provider, this episode is for anyone who knows they have valuable ideas to share but hesitates every time they hit record.

What if, instead of spending time trying to improve our weaknesses, the bigger opportunity is understanding and developing our strengths?

This week, I'm joined by Cara Nance, founder of Tutum Leadership Coaching and a Gallup Certified CliftonStrengths Coach. We talk about how self-awareness shapes better leadership, why strengths-based coaching helps teams communicate more effectively, and how founders can use these insights to build businesses that align more closely with who they are.

We also discuss why assessments like CliftonStrengths should be used for development rather than diagnosis, how understanding your natural tendencies can reduce burnout, and why creating a shared language around strengths leads to healthier, more collaborative teams.

Connect with Cara:
Tutum Leadership Coaching Website

3 Science-Backed Ways to Unlock Your Creativity (Even If You Don't Think You're Creative)

A lot of people walk around convinced they're not creative. Raquel hears it constantly, especially from corporate clients who desperately need new ideas but somehow believe they're not the ones who get to have them. This episode pushes back on that, and gets into the brain science behind why your best ideas tend to show up in the shower, on a walk, or mid-daydream instead of when you're staring at the problem head-on.

In this episode, you'll learn:

:
Connect with Raquel:

Also mentioned in this episode

If you've ever hired an agency, been frustrated by one, or thought about building one yourself, you're going to want to hit play on this conversation.

Jared Harman is the CEO and co-founder of One Group Agency, a full-service marketing agency based in Canada with 16 full-time, in-house team members. He's spent over two decades building brands across hospitality, sports, broadcasting, and now agency life, and he's here with Raquel on The Vignette Effect to talk about what's actually underneath a business built on long-term client relationships.

In this episode, Raquel and Jared cover:

The mindset shift that stuck:

Jared talks about a hard-earned truth that most marketers don't arrive at until years in: you're not always the audience. When clients are too attached to their brand to see it from the outside, your job is to help them get to 30,000 feet. And the only way to do that is to get there yourself first.

Connect with Raquel:

Connect with Jared: