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

Ash, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

The idea for my business wasn’t one big aha moment, but more of a slow unraveling of all the ways traditional brand work was broken.

As an in-house VP of Marketing, I would pay hundreds of thousands for brand strategy decks—only to receive beautiful 50-page PDFs that didn’t help with the real decisions: What should this email say? How do we show up on social? Why does this messaging feel off? I knew there had to be a better way—one that was strategic, simple, and useful.

AND I felt that the corporate world was missing some fundamental *feeling* (feelings that I always felt gaslit and “too much” for expressing).

So I created Brand Therapy.

It’s not just brand strategy—it’s soul work meets business clarity (read: self trust for founders). I believe brand is the heartbeat of a business. In a world where everything is a commodity, the only true differentiator is your brand: your purpose, the humans behind the business, the values you live by, and the impact you want to have. That’s what creates loyalty, resonance, and momentum. That is brand.

To me, brand isn’t a marketing function—it’s a business foundation. It should guide your messaging, your product decisions, your partnerships, your team culture. I always say: a business without a brand is like a person without a personality. No one remembers them, dates them, or buys from them. You *have* to know who you are.

That’s why I love using the Golden Circle model—it brings you back to your WHY, not just your WHAT. It creates an intuitive, actionable compass for everything else. (Businesses operate from their WHAT, BRANDS operate from their WHY)

Today, I work with high-impact women and female founded companies to build brands that feel as good as they look—and drive real growth because of it. I offer brand strategy for women owned businesses and personal brand strategy for female founders, thoughts leaders, execs.

I am a highly sensitive person who values connection, joy, competency, accountability. (Not to mention was tired of being gaslit as a female exec in tech – a mom of two who knew her purpose was to be more.)

MY WHY is to connect with others and help them reconnect with themselves, so every person feels seen, worthy, and loved – and I do that through Brand Therapy:)

Ash, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi, I’m Ash Schroeder—Brand Therapist and strategic brand leader for high-capacity women and purpose-driven companies.

I spent over a decade building and leading brands in the creative agency and tech worlds—from Walmart to scrappy startups to Pinterest to cannabis tech. But behind the big titles and big budgets was a deep frustration: brand was constantly misunderstood, made fluffy, or treated as just a logo or tagline. I found myself in rooms where I was responsible for everything but had control over nothing. It didn’t matter how smart or strategic I was—if no one understood the WHY behind the business, the brand work never stuck.

After becoming a mom x2 (and leaving a toxic leadership role), I realized I didn’t want to keep patching broken systems. I wanted to build something honest, actionable, and aligned with my values. So I started my own business.

Now, I offer a unique service called Brand Therapy—a strategic, soul-grounded experience that helps founders, thought leaders, and marketing teams define who they are and how to communicate it. I also take on select fractional brand leadership work, helping companies bring heart and clarity to their marketing, messaging, and growth strategy.

A business without a brand is like a person without a personality. No one remembers them, dates them, or buys from them. Brand is not just logos or color palettes—it’s the heartbeat of your business. It should guide everything: your priorities, your product, your positioning, your people. If you don’t know your WHY, your WHAT does not matter.

What sets my work apart is how I blend emotional intelligence with strategic clarity. I use frameworks like Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle to help clients define their purpose (WHY) and values (HOW)—and then turn that into a BUSINESS via the right messaging, marketing, and content that actually moves people. Whether you’re a founder building a personal brand or a company trying to find your edge, I help you articulate your magic in a way that’s deeply human and wildly effective.

I’m most proud of the way my clients feel after working with me: more seen, more energized, more clear. I don’t just hand over a deck and disappear—I help them reconnect to why they started in the first place and implement a strategy that activates that purpose.

Have you ever had to pivot?

One of the biggest pivots in my life happened when I walked away from the career I had spent over a decade building.

For years, I believed that becoming a CMO for someone else was the ultimate dream: prestige, stability, success. I had done the work—built brands across industries at creative agencies, sharpened my strategic muscle as a product manager in tech, and spent five years at Pinterest leading creator marketing during a pivotal time for the platform.

But after having my first child during the pandemic, everything shifted. I had earned that maternity leave, and in that space, I reconnected with myself—my creativity, my values, my why. When I was set to return, I knew I couldn’t go back. I started exploring a new path and was eventually recruited to lead marketing at a cannabis tech company focused on building a more inclusive, consumer-facing brand. It felt like the dream. I poured everything into it.

But as the economy turned, so did the company’s priorities. They pivoted back to B2B and slowly excluded me from key conversations. I became the scapegoat—the only female executive, the only mother, and the head of brand. Around the same time, I found out I was pregnant again. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. And for the first time in my career, I didn’t try to fix it. I chose myself.

I left that role on International Women’s Day, 2023—unacknowledged, unthanked, but completely clear.

In the months that followed, I stepped fully into my work as a Brand Therapist™, helping women-led brands and businesses connect back to who they are and why they exist. Not just for marketing clarity, but for deeper self-trust and more sustainable success. Because branding isn’t just business—it’s emotional. And too often, women are taught to ignore what they feel, to silence their intuition, to mold themselves into what others want.

That pivot at 33 (now almost 36!) reshaped everything. I no longer chase someone else’s definition of success. I’ve built something that feels human, honest, and deeply fulfilling. I’m a better mother, a better partner, and a better guide to the women I serve—because I’m no longer trying to be someone I’m not.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Yes—my creative journey is fueled by two intertwined missions: one personal, one professional.

First and foremost, my mission is personal: I believe that women—especially founders, leaders, and creatives—deserve to feel connected to who they are. We live in a world that has conditioned us to doubt ourselves, to shrink, to contort into shapes that make others more comfortable. But I believe that our deepest self-trust, intuition, and emotional awareness are our greatest sources of power.

Through my work, I want to help women reconnect with themselves—to feel seen, worthy, and deeply understood. I want to validate the full spectrum of their experience: the mom who has her best business ideas while playing with her kids, the founder who doesn’t want to grind at 11 p.m. but wakes up buzzing with creativity at 4 a.m. We’ve been sold the myth of work-life balance when what we need is work-life integration—and a culture that respects the way women naturally move through the world. I want every woman I work with to remember who she is, what she values, and how she wants to show up—because the most sustainable businesses and fulfilling lives are built from that foundation.

Professionally, my mission is to rebrand “brand.”

Too many businesses operate from their WHAT—what they sell, what they offer, what they do—without ever defining their WHY. I’m on a mission to change that. Brand is not your logo or your color palette. It’s not a 60-page PDF that looks beautiful but doesn’t help you write a social post or decide who to partner with. Brand is your soul. Your personality. The emotional imprint you leave behind. In a world where almost everything is a commodity, the only thing that truly differentiates you is why you do what you do—and the impact you want to have.

That’s why I created Brand Therapy—to help people and companies start with their WHY and build outward from there. My approach is rooted in strategic clarity and deep emotional intelligence. I use frameworks like Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle not just to inform marketing, but to guide product decisions, partnerships, culture, hiring—everything.

So yes, I offer brand strategy, marketing, messaging—but at the heart of it, my work is about helping people return to themselves and build something unforgettable from that place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ashschroeder.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashschroeder/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schroederashley/

Image Credits

Samantha Josette: https://www.instagram.com/samantha.josette/