Empathy Reveals Your Strategic Opportunity.

Thought leadership and GTM strategy aren’t separate – they’re driven by shared, human understanding.

Starting with the founder story.

I partner with early-stage founders to connect lived experience, intent, and audience behavior, creating positioning and messaging that drives adoption and builds credibility.

YOUR STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITY

ask yourself:

1

“Does the founder’s lived experience create something your audience can feel — not just understand?”

2

“Does your positioning help the right people decide this is for them?”

3

“Is your go-to-market designed so people act with intention, rather than hope they do?”

Empathy-as-Strategy:

Market Signals Beneath Standard GTM Funnels

Most growth teams map the buyer journey. I map the currents beneath it — the emotional, identity, and behavioral forces that drive adoption, trust and growth.

01
Individual Truth

(Thought Leadership)

02
Market Meaning

(Positioning)

03
Route to Market

(Foundational GTM Architecture)

04
Adoption Behavior

(The “WHY” of Behavior)

05
Revenue & Scale

(The “WHY” of Growth)

  • "71% of people will lose trust in a brand forever if they perceive it as putting profit over people."

    —Edelman Trust Barometer

  • "68% of customers will spend more money with a brand that understands them."

    —Salesforce Consumer Report

  • "Only 38% of consumers believe brands truly understand their needs."

    —PwC

  • "61% of people will pay for a brand that genuinely cares."

    —Harvard Business Review

for founders.

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for founders. 𖦹

Whose lived experience is inseparable from what they’re building.

I work directly with founders as a strategic thought partner during moments of growth — particularly around positioning, behavioral GTM, and the decisions that set long-term direction and drive adoption.

Empathy is built for translation. Especially when decisions affect people you may never meet. Empathy helps leaders translate intent into strategy that drives adoption and growth — grounded in lived experience — so others can feel it, trust it, and respond.

    • Strategic Sprint – Focused guidance on 1–2 key initiatives to clarify positioning, narrative, and go-to-market strategy.

    • Fractional Advisory – Ongoing partnership to refine thought leadership, adoption strategy, and market alignment.

    • Advisory Retainer – Full strategic partnership across multiple initiatives, integrating frameworks and guidance into your business execution.

    • 90-Minute Strategic Advisory Call – Short-form consultation to surface insights, evaluate positioning, and align next steps.

for agencies.

𖦹

for agencies. 𖦹

PR and communications teams supporting purpose-driven founders.

I partner with agencies to strengthen client positioning, thought leadership, and go-to-market strategy through and emotion- and behavior-led lens.

Empathy is built from audience behavior. Friction points, hesitation, and communication gaps are signals. I help teams translate insights into actionable frameworks and messaging architecture that connect founder stories to market impact.

    • Strategic Sprint – Focused guidance on client initiatives to strengthen founder positioning, messaging, and GTM strategy.

    • Fractional Advisory – Ongoing partnership to advise on client campaigns, narrative evolution, and adoption-driven strategies.

    • Advisory Retainer – Comprehensive support for multiple client initiatives, integrating behavioral insight into positioning, thought leadership, and GTM.

    • 90-Minute Strategic Advisory Call – Quick consultation for specific client challenges with actionable follow-up and insight.

emotional cues method.

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines.

    C-ONTEXT

    Audit + Embedded Observation.

    I start by auditing how the business is currently showing up — positioning, messaging, customer touch points, and internal assumptions.

    This surfaces the emotional, behavioral, and strategic signals shaping how people experience the company today.

    Outcome: clarity on what’s working, what’s misaligned, and where opportunity actually lives.

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and half circle lines.

    U-NIFY

    Founder + Stakeholder Lived Experience.

    Through founder and key stakeholder interviews, I surface the emotional through line behind the business — what people believe they’re building, why it matters, and where that intent gets lost in translation.

    This creates a shared internal narrative teams can actually align around — and reuse across strategy, content, and decision-making.

    Outcome: internal alignment and a grounded point of view the business can stand on.

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and circle lines.

    E-XECUTE

    Positioning + Messaging Frameworks.

    Insights are translated into clear positioning and messaging frameworks that connect the founder’s “why” to the audience’s “why".

    This is where strategy gains substance and where story becomes usable, grounded in human understanding.

    Outcome: sharper positioning and messaging that supports engagement and adoption.

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines.

    S-TRENGTHEN

    Integration Across Teams.

    I help integrate the new strategy so teams can execute, refine, and make decisions with clarity.

    This ensures the work doesn’t live in a deck — it shows up consistently across functions as the company grows. And that your team is connected to the process.

    Outcome: sustainable execution and strategic continuity over time.

case study.

CUE: Consulting | Impact Tech, Equity

See how CUE shifted an Impact Tech company’s positioning in support of the humans it serves.

The Catalyst Uncovered

While researching a Impact Tech company, I discovered something the market hadn’t highlighted: the connection between founder feeling and the feeling of their targeted audience. The founder’s catalyst moment was watching his 16-year-old son absorb racist, biased outputs and realizing the machine was rewriting history for the next generation.

On Twitter and X, people laughed. AI leaders stayed silent.

For this particular founder, this was his son. It was also his legacy.

Most AI companies lead with technical specs: faster models, more parameters, better performance. This company had the same challenge every ethical tech company faces. How do you differentiate when the big players could fix the problem…. but won’t?

Positioning Opportunity

The answer was in what the founder felt, not what he built.

The emotional through line:

  • Lived experience: A father sees the existential threat to how his child understands himself

  • Market insight: Big players know about the bias. They’re not fixing it.

  • Value proposition: Not “better AI” — a historical corrective that refuses to let machines erase humanity

  • Behavior change: Users learn to interrogate AI instead of accepting it as truth

The company competed on accuracy, empathy, and cultural preservation.

The Founder Lesson

This Impact Tech company’s success is about leading with what only you can offer: the emotional reality of what’s at stake.

When your positioning is rooted in lived experience:

  1. You don’t compete on the someone else’s terms

  2. You attract the audience someone else overlooks

  3. You create a category they won’t build

  4. Your founder story becomes your competitive advantage

How do we make people feel why this matters?

This is the Empathy-as-Strategy approach.

testimonials.

“Carly’s strategic process is like therapy for your business. It brings out your true voice and transforms your story. It felt like a true partnership.”

Keenan Artis

“I was struggling to bridge the gap between my lived experience, my unique value, and how I communicated that to my audience. Having space to deeply reflect on my story, strengths, and the ‘why’ behind my work was incredibly clarifying.”

Kyler Thompson

“Carly really walked me through the customer's emotional potential. I appreciate all her thoughtfulness. She’s my go-to strategist.”

Krista Marrero

let’s connect.

Tell me about what you’re facing.

I typically respond within 48 hours.

faqs.

  • I believe that humanity is the throughline and variable in any business challenge. Understanding how actions affect feelings ultimately drive responses on an internal and systematic level. Additionally, my lived experience with systemic barriers informs my big-picture thinking to identify connection points and gaps that others miss.

  • Results vary, but questioning limiting beliefs typically unlocks measurable improvements. For example, I helped one client across an 8-week project increase premium brand consumption by 50% and weekly whole-food intake by 70%, starting by challenging their core belief.

  • I work with founders and organizations genuinely focused on authentic impact, whether for-profit or nonprofit.

    If you're primarily concerned with market fit rather than mission alignment, traditional brand consultants may be better suited for your needs.

  • First, fill out the form on my contact page and share more about where you’re at.

    I’m happy to set up a 15-min. discovery call to see if we’re a good match.

    When working together, I investigate disconnects between stated goals and actual outcomes and identify limiting beliefs driving those gaps.

    Then, I develop alternative approaches based on what would actually serve your audience. (The CUES framework.)

    Processes range from 8-week sprints to 6-month embedded sessions depending on needs. You also have the option to book a 60-minute 1:1 Strategy Sprint Call.

  • Most consultants optimize existing strategies. I question whether your fundamental approach creates the problems you're trying to solve.

    Emotions provide information tied to challenges and solutions — addressing root causes means understanding impactful moments and the emotional response attached to them.

  • Strategic positioning work requires challenging assumptions that may feel foundational to your identity.

    I present evidence and alternative frameworks, but you decide what to implement. The goal is better outcomes, not being right.

  • I work with impact-focused leaders open to discovering their current approach might undermine their mission.

    This work requires intimacy, trust, and willingness to take a new approach that may feel a little foreign. If you're not prepared for that level of strategic challenge, we're not a good fit.

  • My approach combines strategic analysis with nearly a decade in impact-driven spaces as well as corporate communications and strategy.

    From grassroots organizations to corporate social responsibility initiatives for global brands to fieldwork worldwide, I blend my y background with over 500+ hours of behavioral psychology-informed work to implement and embody an empathy-as-strategy approach.

  • Investment varies based on scope and engagement type. I'm happy to discuss options during our initial conversation.

    Regardless of investment, my work uses empathy to challenge fundamental assumptions.

  • I'm Carly Q.

    My experiences navigating barriers have shaped how I think about strategy — I know what it feels like when well-intentioned approaches don't account for real-world constraints. This drives my commitment to use empathic insight to challenge assumptions that might undermine the impact you're trying to create.

    I bring both analytical rigor and genuine care to this work because I've seen how much difference it makes when strategies actually align with people's lived realities.

    My first business concept (at 19!) was a pay-what-you-can cultural fusion buffet, inspired by my time spent in Sydney, Australia and a desire to positively impact my hometown community.

    I'm the founder of CUE: Consulting and am currently based in Los Angeles, CA.