We were lucky to catch up with Jacquelyn Berney recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jacquelyn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

VI Marketing and Branding was already an agency when I joined as a temp receptionist in 2000. It wasn’t my business in the traditional founder sense, but I’ve built my leadership journey from the ground up within the company. In many ways, I grew up with VI.

When I became President in 2022, I inherited a team with immense talent and heart, but also a legacy culture that needed transformation. So while I didn’t recruit the original team, one of the biggest and most meaningful “recruiting” moments of my leadership came when we decided to rebuild our culture from within.

Our old culture was marked by fear—fear of making mistakes, fear of stepping on toes, and fear of speaking up. People were polite, but not always honest. It kept things safe, but it also kept us small. The new goal was to build a culture rooted in ownership, candor and clarity—a place where people felt safe enough to challenge ideas, bring forward problems and lead from wherever they were. That meant embracing discomfort because that’s often where growth lives.

We didn’t replace people. Instead, we asked our existing team members to lead differently. That meant reshaping our standards, retraining on communication and feedback, and helping people unlearn fear-based habits. The transformation started with radical candor, calling out what wasn’t working and why. Leadership became less about control and more about coaching. And we made it clear: candor is a form of care. Feedback is a gift.

If I were starting from scratch today, I’d focus even earlier on cultural clarity—because the people you build with can only grow if the environment does too. Start by telling the truth and showing up consistently. Be the culture you’re asking others to embrace, and celebrate progress, not just outcomes.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I developed my work ethic out of both necessity and personal drive. Growing up with limited resources meant navigating frequent moves, instability and moments when even basic needs, like food or electricity, weren’t guaranteed. Those early experiences instilled in me a deep commitment to excellence. Even when circumstances were hard, I held myself to high standards. I believed then, as I do now, that doing your best matters—no matter what you’re working with.

That mindset has shaped every chapter of my career. I joined VI Marketing and Branding in 2000 as a temp receptionist. Over the years, I carved out a leadership path by asking the right questions, pushing for better outcomes, and staying committed to the people around me. I grew as the agency grew, and in 2022, I became President.

Today, I lead a multi-million-dollar independent agency known for behavior-change marketing—work that doesn’t just win awards but delivers results that improve lives. We’ve helped parents talk to their kids about vaping, elevated tourism across Oklahoma, and helped food and beverage brands meet modern consumers where they are. Our work is rooted in empathy, powered by data, and relentlessly focused on impact.

If there’s one thing I want people to know about me and our agency, it’s this: we are deeply committed to soulful, human-centered marketing. In an industry increasingly driven by automation, we hold firm to the belief that the best work comes from real people, with real stories, solving real problems. We don’t outsource our heart to algorithms. We lean into connection, creativity, and clarity to make our marketing matter.

I’m also deeply proud of the culture we’ve built. It’s one where people feel empowered to lead from wherever they are, and where honesty, ownership and innovation are more than values. They’re daily practices.

Ultimately, VI is a place where bold ideas come to life, where integrity drives decisions, and where results that matter are the only kind that count. Our mission is simple: to create work that resonates—and drives real, lasting change

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

One of my favorite marketing stories started with a show no one was watching. It was a tourism campaign for Oklahoma, and the state had invested in a once-a-week legacy media product that aired on traditional television.

The show was called Discover Oklahoma, and while well-intentioned, it lacked the viewership, relevance and creative spark to make an impact. The talent wasn’t strong, and it didn’t reflect the dynamic identity Oklahoma was trying to cultivate. So, we proposed creating something radically different: a cinematic, streaming-first series that would showcase the unexpected sides of Oklahoma—the food, music, Route 66 and the aerospace industry.

With this vision, we asked our team to do something that, on paper, felt borderline unattainable. It was fearless, high-concept marketing with no guaranteed return. There was no proven reason the client should have signed off on it, it hadn’t been done before, but they did. And we delivered.

The team created and produced four episodes, each a love letter to a different side of Oklahoma. It was beautifully shot, emotionally resonant, and completely unexpected from a state tourism brand. The show found its audience and began reshaping perceptions of the state, spotlighting Oklahoma’s creative class and cultural energy. It positively impacted tourism and proved that bold risks, when grounded in truth and executed with heart, can make a real difference. And the ROI? Over 80:1.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

One of the defining moments of my career, and a true test of resilience, came during a time when we lost a large client and had to replace thousands of dollars in revenue virtually overnight. That kind of gap can shake any organization, and many would have responded with fear-based decisions and reactive pivots. But that’s not the route we took.

Instead, I got crystal clear on what mattered most: protecting the integrity of our team, our culture and our client relationships. We made tough choices but didn’t panic. We moved strategically, like a surgeon. We didn’t just survive, we rebuilt. Some people doubted we’d come back from it. But I knew better. I knew the team, and I knew they were waiting for me to show up with belief and clarity. That’s what I did, and their response blew me away.

We came back stronger, smarter and faster. The team rose to the occasion in ways I’m still in awe of today. They didn’t just hold the line, they advanced it. And through it all, we kept the fun. Fun is a seriously underrated part of resilience. When people feel connected and energized, they do their best thinking, even in pressure-filled moments.

We also stayed great client partners, even with the one who initiated the shift—and we still work with them today. We didn’t let the moment fracture trust; we deepened it.

When I look back on that season, I don’t just feel proud of myself—I feel proud of us and the team. That chapter taught me that resilience isn’t just about surviving hard things. It’s about how you carry yourself through them, and who you become on the other side.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vimarketingandbranding.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevibrand/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelynlamar/