About
Hello, I'm Michelle.
Marketing and brand voice leader. I find the story an organization is already living, lead the team that tells it, and prove it in results.
- 16+ years
- Leading marketing, up to the executive team as Chief Marketing & Development Officer
- Team of 10
- My largest team: designers, copywriters, campaign, events, client services and digital media staff
- B2B + B2C
- Professional services: financial services, architecture, public finance and nonprofits
- $1.5M
- Largest single program I owned, a tradeshow program rebuilt around cost per lead
I dig into the data until the real story surfaces, then tell it in a way no one saw coming.
A credit union's limiting name became its hook. A bank's ad budget became a small-business outreach that earned national press. A firm's proposals stopped describing the firm and started speaking in the client's terms.
None of these skills live in isolation. Brand voice, data-based positioning, and systems for professional services were each proven on their own over a long practice, then brought together at Ruhnau Clarke Architects, where I led marketing and directed the proposal practice: formal proposals grew from 29 to 74 a year with 58% won or advanced to interview, and all proposals together from 63 to 161 a year at about 76% success, with no added staff.
I don't design brands. I define how a brand speaks and how it feels to experience, then direct the designers, writers and producers who bring it to life. At Ruhnau Clarke that meant trading corporate identity branding for experiential branding, and teaching my whole team what that meant and how to execute it.
What I do design is systems. I envisioned, built and implemented the CRM and marketing automation behind my teams: Connections at Firefighters Community Credit Union, SmartDocs at NBS, SharpSpring at National Merchants Association, and HubSpot and Airtable at Ruhnau Clarke. Each one existed for the same reason, to make the team more efficient and more effective.
I'm drawn to the questions others overlook. I work from Menifee, California, with teams wherever they are.
My own brand
Two halves, one story.
- Top left · Navy
- The analyst
- Bottom right · Magenta to purple
- The storyteller
I'm half analyst and half creative storyteller, and my mark says so before I do.
I envisioned the split M, its brand values and its color palette, then directed AI design tools to draw it, the same way I work with designers on every brand expression effort I lead.
The M is split by a single slash. The solid navy half at the top left is the analyst: the birth-rate data, the proposal win rates, the assessments that come before any creative work. The bottom right half shifts from magenta to purple. That's the storyteller, the side that turns those findings into something people remember.
The slash doesn't break the letter. It shows how the two halves fit, and each needs the other. Data on its own doesn't persuade anyone, and a story that can't be proven is just a story. My work happens where the two meet.
Stories can be told in all sorts of ways, and my work shows it: a radio spot, a billboard, a proposal, a TEDx talk, a CRM pipeline. The medium changes. The thinking underneath it stays the same.
I write on my own time too: a short story and a forgotten piece of history. Read my writing.
From my editor
“She showed the very unique ability to bring both highly creative concepts and insightful strategic focus to any situation. … In regard to her writing skills, I’m always impressed by her ability to put herself into the shoes of her reader.”
Navy
The foundation. Trust, rigor, and strategy that holds up under scrutiny.
Cobalt
Clarity and insight. Seeing what the numbers are really saying.
Purple
Imagination. Where the evidence becomes an idea worth telling.
Magenta
Progress and impact. The story people remember and act on.
How I work
One method.
- 01
Assess
Where is the business in its growth, and how well does each part of its marketing work for it? Ten areas, rated and worked through with leadership.
- 02
Aim
Effort goes to what matters most and the people who need to hear it, with predictive demography to choose where to compete.
- 03
Speak
One voice, in the client’s terms, in every proposal, presentation, and elevator pitch. The language that wins becomes a library.
- 04
Prove
Results, counted honestly. Systems that let a small team carry far more, so the story keeps paying off.
Jun 2019 –
Oct 2026Marketing Director
Ruhnau Clarke Architects
Riverside, CAIn-office
Led marketing and directed the proposal practice: client-first strategy, vetting, go/no-go decisions, interview strategy, and coaching. Replaced corporate identity branding with experiential branding, taught the team to execute it, and grew formal proposals from 29 to 74 decided a year (58% won or advanced to interview) and all proposals, including CRM-supported letter and fee proposals, from 63 to 161 at about 76% success, with no added staff.
2015 –
PresentFounder and Owner
Stewart Marketing Solutions
Menifee, CARemote
Active consulting and fractional marketing leadership for clients from international nonprofits to local businesses, startups, and turnarounds, B2C and B2B. Benchmarked each against competitors and category, found opportunities through demographic insight, and built strategies and ROI measures around them. Volunteered with the Murrieta Innovation Center helping launch technology startups.
Oct 2017 –
Jan 2019Campaign Director
National Merchants Association
Temecula, CAHybrid
Set campaign strategy and success measures across four business lines. Six buyer personas and a mapped buyer journey, lead nurturing that lifted marketing-qualified leads 79.4%, and a $1.5M tradeshow program reframed around performance: cost per lead fell from $901 to $224.
Feb 2016 –
May 2017Marketing Manager
NBS Government Finance Group
Temecula, CAHybrid
Retained to define the brand voice, streamline proposals, and build a digital lead funnel. A website redesign generated $846K in warm leads within six months, and automated proposal operations cut estimated annual labor from $86K to $28K while raising the win rate 32%.
Sep 2013 –
Nov 2014Senior Client Services Director
DOMOREGOOD / CSK
Colorado Springs, CORemote
Led a 10-person team for a nonprofit client that had lost 41% of its revenue in ten years. Found the Millennial market it had overlooked and built segmented, interactive content to reach it. Millennial digital engagement rose 28%.
Nov 2010 –
Oct 2013Chief Marketing & Development Officer
Firefighters Community Credit Union
Cleveland, OHIn-office
Turned a limiting name into the hook: “not just for firefighters.” A 5:1 earnings ratio on a $300K promotional budget, and two credit unions merged in within two months.
Earlier
Marketing Director
Croghan Colonial Bank
Fremont, OHIn-office
Spent the ad budget on the customer: a small-business reinvention scholarship that grew commercial deposits 22% in six months and earned national press.
Capabilities
- Brand Voice & Messaging
- Narrative Development
- Data-Based Positioning
- Campaign Strategy
- Proposal Strategy & Interview Coaching
- Marketing Assessment
- Marketing Systems & Automation
- Public Speaking
On stage and in print
Predicting the future, without a crystal ball.
Closing speaker at TEDxTemecula on using U.S. birth rates to predict consumer trends, followed by a feature in Inland Empire magazine. I've also spoken at InSoCal CONNECT, and the credit union rebrand was featured in a CUContent webinar and Credit Union Business magazine.
