That attraction first manifested in my work as speaker coach and producer of TEDx conferences, and later in my work supporting technology companies and nonprofits with capital raising efforts. I recognized early on that for many, communication is the limiting factor to selling a vision, and my work as a strategic communicator has molded itself around alleviating this obstacle for organizations and people whose work inspires me and feels meaningful.

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That journey began as a small strategy and design consultancy, and after nearly a decade, has evolved into a full-service marketing and communications firm called Notable. Today, I’m proud to employ a team of world-class marketers, designers, and digital strategists who make my primary occupation – leading the firm – feel incredibly rewarding and challenging everyday.

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I dropped out of college, twice (to the disappointment of my Indian grandparents), but I’ve received at least three graduate degrees worth of knowledge in my experience building a company from nothing, closing six-figure contracts, learning to mentor staff twice my age, and getting to work with a group of clients whose expertise spans industries that I never thought we’d be touching when I chose to pursue a creative path. This field complements my insatiable curiosity and academic inclinations, and I like to credit it for the learning agility it’s equipped me to bring to my advisory clients. 

 

I once heard someone say that when you work in-house at a company, you learn your industry, but when you work for an agency, you learn the world. I've always wanted to learn the world.

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Like any story, mine has had its plot twists. At one point, I had an idea for a technology company and decided to join a startup accelerator program to bring it to life, while running my services business in parallel. In retrospect, my idea was subpar, but somehow I made it through because of my ability to pitch and design good decks. I suppose that validated that I was onto something.

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When I graduated Founder Institute, the relationships I built in the startup community began attracting technology companies who needed help making decades of lab research or technology development meaningful to investors – enough that they’d cut checks to fund them. In the time since, I’ve built dozens of capital cases and deck for founders and funds both raising and deploying capital.

 

While most people see the process of building decks as a simple task, I see it as an art form – one which, if done tactfully with the right integration of reason, trust, and emotion, can result in a narrative that influences transformative outcomes. This work is a labor of love for me, and the more I believe in a story, the more energized I am am to help uncover and tell it.

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This work is deeply personal to me.

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The inspiration for Voco Insights arose during a group meditation led by my life-changing coach and friend Juan Alvarez (who, ironically, I met while coaching him as a TEDx speaker years ago). In my work with Juan and the community he has formed, I’ve discovered a completely new paradigm for what is possible when clients like his – conscious, deeply mindful entrepreneurs – embed purpose into how they run their companies and use their wealth. 

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I’m not talking about the “Conscious Capitalism” movement, whose founder sold Whole Foods to Amazon, a company whose staff works full time without benefits or the privilege of a bathroom break. I’m talking about those who loathe this walking contradiction that is often so prevalent in entrepreneurs-turned-philanthropists, and who hold themselves – as leaders – to a higher standard of moral accountability, so that their efforts in business are regenerative, not extractive.

 

This is the model of business I aspire to everyday, and my intention is to lend my expertise to those who share this vision, in whatever shade and color that looks like for them.

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Voco isn't designed to scale. At least not today.

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Somewhere along the way of building Notable, as well as spinning off a small real estate investing company of my own, my duties heavily shifted from creative direction to management, and I found myself starting to develop a longing to reinsert myself into the creative process, to roll up my sleeves again in a way that wouldn’t limit my company’s growth or distract from our firm's niche focus. 

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Voco Insights is a supplement to my running my own companies, which is why I'm very intentional about taking on a handful of clients at a time who value the insights lent by my wide, nonlinear journey as a career storyteller, as much as I value the work they’re doing, and the way in which they’re doing it. My experiencing owning P+L’s, starting my own real estate investing firm, and helping build capital cases for dozens of founders and funds have cultivated a fluency in brand strategy and balance sheets that – as my clients tell me – is tough to come by.

 

If you think I could be of service to your vision, then I’d love to chat. First coffee is always on me.