Karen McSteen, Principal
I founded brandMatters in 2003 because I believe that strong brands underpin strong businesses. I fell in love with the importance of brands as I built my career. Since then, it has been my passion and purpose to help clients build their brands to deliver impactful and long-lasting business results. My “first date” with brands was when I worked as an assistant manager at a small burger joint in Winnetka, Illinois. It was there that I learned the influence a customer experience can have on a brand.
After graduating from Michigan State University, I continued working in hospitality across the US, climbing the ranks from catering to sales to marketing to eventually working at Marriott headquarters in brand management. I decided to transition from brand vice president at Marriott International to a completely different industry at the intersection of high-tech and new media. As AOL’s senior vice president of brand strategy, combined with my time at Marriott, I learned important lessons about collaboration, culture, customers and brand investments.
Through these experiences, I came to appreciate the power of brands. No matter what the industry, learning about my clients’ business, their challenges and working alongside them to get to a strategy that delivers results is what I treasure most. I have enjoyed seeing the brands we have worked on win—whether helping smaller companies to compete against large industry incumbents, or helping large brands to build an agile competitive edge.
I live in Arizona with my husband where we hike the beautiful mountains and enjoy following our favorite baseball teams. And even though they don’t live nearby, we relish spending time with our two grown children.
More about Karen:
Karen is a member of the International Society of Hotel Consultants and an opinion columnist for Hotel News Now.
Her work supporting women-owned businesses was recognized when she was awarded the Presidents’ Award by the Women Presidents’ Educational Organization (WPEO).
She is a member of Charter 100, a network for women leaders in Arizona.