Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Leah Messina. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Leah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

When I first set out to launch my business in January 2006, the very first step I took was to write an email announcing the launch of my business and send out an Evite to all my friends, family and past colleagues.

I was 24 years old at the time so I wouldn’t say that the list was particularly long, but the Evite was my way of hosting a virtual “party” to commemorate the opening of doors Sinuate Media. This was pre-Zoom, pre-webinar days, so it truly served as a symbolic opening. Nonetheless, it worked to get my point across. I was open for business.

In the email, I asked everyone if they had any marketing projects that aligned with my skills to please send people my way. I was lucky enough to actually get some responses to that email, but the very first one was a former professor that I had in college at Carnegie Mellon University, Sharon Dilworth.

Sharon led the Carnegie Mellon University Press at the time, and I had worked with her as a student doing book layout and design.

At the time I had launched Sinuate Media, she was getting ready to publish four fiction books, and asked me if I would help market them. My responsibility, which was my area of expertise, was to get online publicity for entertainment and media products, so this fit right within my skill set.

It’s was truly because of the relationship that I had developed with Sharon Dilworth over my years as a student that she was willing to take a chance on me as a brand new agency owner.

From that same email, two other former coworkers who had moved on to other businesses then brought me some projects with some great brands, including Virgin Mobile and a cross-promotion between Twix (candy bars) and Major League Baseball. After that happened, I said, Oh, maybe this will work out. And here we are 20 years later.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got my start in marketing back in college, working for an online magazine and running promotions with record labels. That experience led me to a job at a marketing agency, where I was basically doing what we’d now call influencer marketing — sparking online conversations, getting media mentions, sending out product samples, and building excitement around brands.

When I started Sinuate Media, my goal was simple: I wanted to create an agency that not only came up with great creative ideas but also used the latest marketing tools and technologies in a way that was smart and well-organized. I’ve always been drawn to helping businesses take advantage of new platforms, but making sure they’re using them in ways that actually move the needle. I enjoy the fun, promotional side of marketing, but I also love building the systems behind it — the strategy, the planning, and making sure everything works together to deliver results.

Perhaps what makes me a little different is that I am pretty equally right-brained and left-brained. I have the creative side that loves storytelling and design, and the tech side that loves figuring out how to make systems and strategies run efficiently. I also love building partnership marketing efforts where both brands win, seeing clients get press because of our outreach, and most of all, watching their sales go up as a result of our work.

Over time, Sinuate Media has focused more on lead generation and tracking, which is so rewarding because you can see the direct impact on growth. That focus also inspired me to expand deeper into the food and beverage space. In 2023, I launched the Recipe to Revenue podcast, which interviews experts in the food & beverage industry about what makes their brands successful. That turned into a platform to help restaurants and CPG brands scale through eCommerce as a way to create new, sustainable revenue sources. Now I’m in the process of doing something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time: I am launching a functional food and beverage brand, which will be released in 2026.

What I’m most proud of is how all of this has come together into an ecosystem: agency work, education, and now a consumer brand. It really combines everything I love about marketing: strategy, creativity, partnerships, technology, and results. More than anything, I want people to know that whether it’s through Sinuate Media or Recipe to Revenue, my mission is to help brands grow in ways that are sustainable, smart, and meaningful.

Conversations about M&A are often focused on multibillion dollar transactions – but M&A can be an important part of a small or medium business owner’s journey. We’d love to hear about your experience with selling businesses.

Yes, I have sold a business. It was built around a digital platform and community, and to be honest, the process was much messier and more expensive than I anticipated. I wasn’t fully prepared for what it takes to sell a business and didn’t have the right resources in place to guide me. Looking back, I made a few mistakes: I wasn’t strategic about where I listed the business for sale, my financial reports weren’t as strong as they should have been to attract more sophisticated buyers, and I allowed the buyer to set their home state as the jurisdiction for disputes. That decision came back to haunt me when I had to hire an attorney several states away who wasn’t a great fit.

That experience, while difficult, gave me valuable lessons I carry with me today — especially now that I’ve also been involved on the acquisition side. I’ve since talked to brokers, attorneys, and other business owners who have bought and sold companies, and I see the process much more clearly.

If you’re thinking about selling, here are a few key things I learned:

Get your numbers clean. Have at least 3–5 years of financials ready, including EBITDA, SDE, and a clear sense of the multiple you’re aiming for.

Get your data in order. That means contracts, customer lists, email lists, logins, even documented business processes. You’d be surprised how many businesses can’t produce basic client contracts.

Protect yourself legally. Pay attention to details like jurisdiction clauses. They can become very costly mistakes later. Hire an attorney who has extensive experience in this area. They will know what to look for and what questions to ask.

And if you’re on the buying side, the opposite is true: if a business can’t furnish these things, expect a messy transaction — and be cautious about what you’re actually getting.

In short, selling a business isn’t just about finding a buyer; it’s about preparing your business so it’s easy to buy. That’s where the real value and smoother deals happen.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think my reputation was built on a mix of consistency, trust, and visibility. From the beginning, I focused on not just delivering creative campaigns but also backing them up with transparency and measurable results. Clients learned they could count on me not only for ideas but for outcomes that actually moved their business forward. I really have tried to live by setting proper expectations and providing communication along the way so we are always on the same page.

But in the early years, I did a ton of speaking engagements, as many as I could find, for anyone who would have me. My goal was to get in front of new audiences and show people who didn’t know me yet what I could bring to the table. My “trick” was to speak on topics people didn’t know much about but could use right away to grow their own knowledge — which primarily was about Organic Marketing, a term I trademarked in 2008. I became a go-to person to speak on social media and growing digital marketing trends, and that helped secure a strong reputation.

I kept my talks real, gave practical takeaways, and made sure people knew I was a resource they could turn to later. Alongside that, I scheduled as many in-person meetings as I could, which resulted in way too much coffee consumption for me but was great for relationship building.

I also put out a steady stream of our own content to reinforce our position as a leader and to share knowledge freely, which helped build credibility. And one piece that I think has been an unexpected but positive is that I have always tried to treat my staff, from interns on up, with respect, and approached leadership from a position of collaboration, not a dictatorship. The surprise for me is that this has been a great business move too, because so many referrals over the years have come from former team members. This makes me so happy when this happens.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sinuatemedia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sinuatemedia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sinuatemedia/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahmessina/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thesinuatemedia/
• Other: https://recipetorevenue.co/