Catherine Carr has 20+ years of leadership-level experience in branding, marketing, and product development at Microsoft, Cranium, and Haiku Deck. As Cranium’s Keeper of the Flame, she led brand expression and global content development. Following Cranium’s acquisition by Hasbro, Catherine founded Vitamin C Creative, a Seattle-based brand and content consultancy. She now offers strategic direction and creative inspiration for clients ranging from local startups and nonprofits to global brands including Brooks Running, Mumm Napa, and Kohler.
Why did you decide to partner with The Swing Shift as a guest speaker?
When I go to a networking event, I consider it a success if I connect with one great person—and at a Women In Bio event a couple of years ago, that person was Nancy! I was immediately drawn to her passion and energy as she described the program, so when she invited me to do a guest session on personal branding, I jumped at the chance.
What’s your favorite part about working with The Swing Shift cohorts?
Consulting can be a bit isolating, and it’s so energizing to mix things up while sharing a topic I’m passionate about. And it has been a fun creative challenge to adapt the branding process and tools I use with my clients to a completely new audience, and to the context of personal branding.
What’s your biggest takeaway from these women?
The mutual support and idea sharing in the room is powerful. It’s awesome to see the participants coach each other on their strengths. And their great questions inspire me to keep evolving my material (and my own personal brand).
When Nancy first proposed the personal branding topic, my immediate reaction was that someone else might be more qualified, because it’s not the main focus of my work. But pushing myself to think about the topic in a new way has been really rewarding. I think this applies to the spirit of The Swing Shift —you might be more qualified than you think to do something new!
Twitter: @mamatweeta
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/catherinefishercarr/
Vitamin C Creative: vitaminccreative.co
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