Olga Pontes is a branding expert and founder of Branding Collective, a boutique design & branding studio. After a successful career in science, I am now a designer and brand storyteller, specialised in working with visionaries and innovators, the world-shifters, building brands from the bottom up until they take on a visual heartbeat of their own and make a global impact.
At Branding Collective, we’ll create a custom branding strategy centered around your requirements, which can include, brand identity design, content marketing, social media, and more. We believe that your brand should be unapologetically and boldly you. We work together, using the Branding Collective signature system combining creativity & logic to create smart brand story concepts, to elevate your unique brand voice and enable you to stand out and connect directly with your audience.
Great to have you, Olga, can you introduce yourself to us?
I am originally from Portugal and moved to the USA 16 years ago with all my family (including our two dogs) and a backpack filled with kid’s clothes and shoes (mine, of course). We’ve been travelling the world for work, Europe, USA, Asia but now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, the land of enchantment. I am a biologist turned designer, an ambivert, a lover of beauty, nature, life, deep connection, and personal branding.
Can you tell us about you how and why you launched The Branding Collective?
Growing up, I always loved art, crafting, writing, but my love for life, and revealing its secrets lead me to a career in science as a plant cell biologist. In a way, I also put some art on it, as a microscopist. While I loved what I was doing and achieve a certain level of success, something felt off inside, misaligned, not quite there yet, I was craving something else. I was so anxious all the time, the discomfort was unbrav\ble, I had no choice other than digging dip and learn more about what it meant. At the time, I was not set up to quit my job or create a business, but the universe showed me the way… personal branding. It literally felt on my lap, it felt like I was meant to do this my whole life but didn’t know it. And, then the branding collective was born.
What are your marketing methods, and what platforms are you using to promote The Branding Collective and gain new clients?
Everything here is based on visual connection and story, so Instagram and Pinterest are a must, so much fun. I love these platforms; first, they are so us and allows us to be bossiness-like and share our personality, too, the best of social media and branding. But, most of all, it’s all about intimate and deep connection. We start conversations that evolve to business partnerships, friendships, and clients. We are beginning a bi-weekly newsletter, growing our email list is a big step for us now, linked with our Live Your Art Blog, the intention is to create a safe place for people to connect and a community.
You have an impressive portfolio of clients, what methods do you use to measure the success that they have received since working with you? (i.e., business growth, more sales leads/conversions, raised brand awareness)
Personal branding is an inside out job, it starts with you (natural gifts, story), creating a business aligned with you, vision and purpose, and then build a brand identity (visuals, logo, patterns, fonts, website, and so on) that is the authentic manifestation of that. The first most significant measure of success is that then you’ll have to show up, living your beautiful, messy art of being human, to create brand awareness to connect with your tribe
What is a typical assessment process you go through when selecting which clients to work with?
I am a great believer in intuitive guidance. We must connect deeply, I need to understand their vision and feel that I am a good fit. The majority of my clients are game-changers, world-shifters, building a life, business, movement, with significant impact. Branding is such a creative, two-way process, I need to immerse in that form head to toe, and they need to trust me and be open-minded.
Who is the most influential female branding powerhouse that you admire, and why?
Love, love, and love, Danielle Laporte!!!!!! At the start of my entrepreneur journey, her books and non-sense approach to spirituality and living life, in general, helped me enormously just to show up. And, she walks her talk, which is so needed for a relatable and trustable brand.
The best lesson learned while business branding so far?
Never stop learning, but ultimately you already have everything you need inside of you, do you, and bring your unique way to everything you do, unapologetically and boldly. Never, ever cut corners here and always listen to your intuition, non-negotiable!
In which areas are you looking to grow and expand The Branding Collective within the next 3-5 years?
Continue to improve our current services, creating beautiful and meaningful experiences for our clients. I would love to create physical products and courses to support more people in their journeys.
Instagram: olgap_brandcollective
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/10fingersfordesign/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olga-pontes-ph-d/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/olgapontes/
Website: https://branding-collective.com
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