Stephanie Kochorek is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Daughter Creative, a company that helps businesses connect through various mediums, developing and overseeing communication strategies. Stephanie’s journey is marked by a relentless pursuit of excellence, drawing from her extensive experience working with Fortune 500 brands across Canada and the US. With a global perspective ingrained in their approach to branding, Stephanie and her team craft transformative narratives that resonate on an international scale.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- What is Daughter Creative, and what services do they offer?
- How Daughter helps companies rebrand themselves
- Stephanie Kochorek explains how her copywriter experience benefited her business
- What inspired Stephanie to establish Daughter Creative?
- Strategies for being a good leader
- Identifying the true passions and interests of your employees
- Stephanie’s top business and leadership resources
- Methods for developing effective teams
In this episode…
A successful organization is shaped by the intricate interplay between branding, leadership, and team dynamics. As these elements intertwine, they form a tapestry of influence that drives businesses forward. How can these foundational pillars align to sculpt the future of industries worldwide?
Branding entrepreneur Stephanie Kochorek believes in the transformative power of bold branding. She recounts her experience rebranding a business, which breathed new life into the brand, streamlined the hiring process, and ultimately led to the company’s acquisition. This highlights the immense impact that branding can have on a company’s identity and overall success. Drawing from the insights of Jungian archetypes, Stephanie highlights how they not only aid in crafting brand personalities for clients but also help in understanding and navigating interpersonal dynamics within the office environment. Stephanie stresses the significance of utilizing diverse talents and promoting harmonious teamwork to steer organizational success. To harness the full potential of your branding strategy, it’s essential to deeply understand the personas that resonate with your target audience and align with your brand values. This ensures a cohesive and impactful brand narrative that drives connection and engagement.
In this episode of the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Stephanie Kochorek, the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Daughter Creative, to talk about effective branding and leadership. Stephanie discusses helping companies rebrand, what it takes to be a good leader, and how to create effective teams.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- EO Calgary
- EO Accelerator
- Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)
- Dr. Jeremy Weisz on LinkedIn
- Rise25
- Stephanie Kochorek on LinkedIn
- Daughter Creative
- CultureSmith
- Design Thinking Classes
- MasterClass
- Long View
- “Driving Success Through Innovative Compensation Plans” with Verne Harnish on the Top Business Leaders Show
- “How to Sell More And Save Time with Robert Hartline of Absolute Wireless” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
- “[Top Agency Series] Most Valuable Advice When Selling Your Agency With Todd Taskey of Potomac Business Capital” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
- “[Top Agency Series] Navigating a Merger and Becoming an End-to-End Digital Partner With Kevin Hourigan of Spinutech” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
Sponsor for this episode…
At Rise25, we’re committed to helping you connect with your Dream 100 referral partners, clients, and strategic partners through our done-for-you podcast solution.
We’re a professional podcast production agency that makes creating a podcast effortless. Since 2009, our proven system has helped thousands of B2B businesses build strong relationships with referral partners, clients, and audiences without doing the hard work.
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The Rise25 podcasting solution is designed to help you build a profitable podcast. This requires a specific strategy, and we’ve got that down pat. We focus on making sure you have a direct path to ROI, which is the most important component. Plus, our podcast production company takes any heavy lifting of production and distribution off your plate.
We make distribution easy.
We’ll distribute each episode across more than 11 unique channels, including iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. We’ll also create copy for each episode and promote your show across social media.
Co-founders Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran credit podcasting as being the best thing they have ever done for their businesses. Podcasting connected them with the founders/CEOs of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, Rx Bars, YPO, EO, Lending Tree, FreshBooks, and many more.
The relationships you form through podcasting run deep. Jeremy and John became business partners through podcasting. They have even gone on family vacations and attended weddings of guests who have been on the podcast.
Podcast production has a lot of moving parts and is a big commitment on our end; we only want to work with people who are committed to their business and to cultivating amazing relationships.
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Rise25 Co-founders, Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran, have been podcasting and advising about podcasting since 2008.
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:03
Welcome to the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast where we feature top founders and entrepreneurs and their journey. Now let’s get started with the show.
Jeremy Weisz 0:12
Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, founder of inspiredinsider.com, where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders today is no different. I have Stephanie, who is the founder of Daughter Creative. And Stephanie, before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes, people should check out the podcast. It was a couple of series I’ve done. This is part of the Top Agency series. So I’ll mention a couple interesting ones from the agency side, but also Stephanie, along with me are in the EO entrepreneurs organization. And so there’s a really good one with Verne Harnish, who started EO and so that was a really interesting episode. Also, Robert Hartline who’s in EO Nashville, talked about how I built up a company to nine figures, and then ended up selling it and he has a separate software business as well. So that was an interesting kind of hearing of his journey. And some of the Top Agency ones. There’s a really interesting one, Stephanie, Todd Taskey, who basically pairs private equity with agencies and helps sell agencies and he’s got the second by podcast. So he found that sometimes people sell more on the second bite than they do on the first because when they sell the private equity, the private equity sells again, they roll some of that equity into the whole private equity fund. So super interesting on the kind of landscape of the agency world. Another interesting one was Kevin Hourigan Spinutech, who started his agency in 1995. So it was interesting to hear the landscape of business, the internet and agency life for all those times. So that was a good one as well and check out more on inspiredinsider.com. This episode is brought to you by Rise25, Rise25 we help businesses give to and connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. And how do we do that, we do that by helping you run your podcast, we’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast we do the strategy, that kind of building the full execution stuff, and we call ourselves kind of the magic elves that run in the background and make it look easy for the host. So they can create amazing content, create amazing relationships, but focus on running their business. So for me, the number one thing in my life is relationships. And I’m always looking for ways to give to my best relationships. And I found no better way over the past decade to profile the people and companies I most admire and share with the world with their work. So if you think about podcasting, you should if you have questions, go to rise25.com or email us at support@rise25.com and I’m excited to introduce Stephanie Kochorek and she’s the Co-Founder and Creative Director at Daughter, you can find them at daughtercreative.com. And they’re one of Calgary’s top creative and design agencies. Daughter has been widely recognized by a number of publications, Strategy Magazine’s Small and Design Agency of the Year Awards, Strategy Magazine’s 2023 Credit Report Card and the Institute of Canadian Agencies. I actually had Scott Knox on the podcast, who’s shared some interesting insight as well. Her global approach to branding and their team’s global approach has been honed for years spent working on fortune 500 brands, for some of the most progressive agencies in Canada and US. They’ve worked with companies like the Alberta Cancer Foundation, Calgary Foundation, Own Cancer, and many, many more. Stephanie, thanks for joining me.
Stephanie Kochorek 3:39
Thanks for having me.
Jeremy Weisz 3:41
So just start off and talk about Daughter Creative and what you do. And if you’re listening to the audio, there’s a video portion and I’m gonna pull up their website.
Stephanie Kochorek 3:52
Yeah, so we’re first and foremost a branding agency. Really, where we specialize is in helping companies understand their identity, and then communicate that to whatever their customers might be. You know, identity is a complicated thing. You know, and it’s no different when it comes to brands. You know, we used to talk about consistency, that used to be the golden rule of branding that everything had to look the same, it had to be exactly the same. But now because we’re so connected to our audiences, what we look for is congruence. See, people want to feel the energy, the idea, they want to know what a brand stands for. And that’s the work we do is helping those organizations really understand in a concrete way who they are and then we help them communicate that through often visual identities, a lot of naming and a lot of content creation on their behalf.
Jeremy Weisz 4:54
What identity for a second, and then what point do they usually come to you that they need to rebrand?
Stephanie Kochorek 5:02
Yeah, it’s always different. You know, in the beginning, we worked with a lot of startups like tech startups, which is a lot more straightforward. It’s harder when you have these legacy companies, we worked with TransAlta, you know, a billion dollar business, and they came to us and you know, they just didn’t feel like their identity was aligned with who they really were. But there’s a lot of work that goes into figuring out okay, what is the story? We’re going to tell? You know, to me, it’s always a strategy.
We have deep conversations, interviews, and a lot of stakeholders look at the landscape. But really, we’re telling the truth, like there’s no, I know that they’re like, sometimes advertising branding. It’s like, Ah, you guys are a bunch of liars. that customers are so savvy, and I feel like we’re really quick to be like, Nah, that doesn’t seem right. So, so much of our upfront work is really deep listening. And usually, the answers show up there, this is, this is who you are. And this is also going to resonate with your audience. And this is a story that we can help you tell.
Jeremy Weisz 6:13
Do you remember Stephanie’s example? You know, people’s perception of themselves may be different from how other people perceive them. An example were you interview the stakeholders, maybe customers, maybe partners, whatever, you came back to the company, and you shared some of that deep listening, and maybe they were taken aback, maybe they’re surprised. I don’t know, maybe there is not a time where they’re surprised.
Stephanie Kochorek 6:40
I know, definitely out of a few of those. It’s funny, because what you have on screen right now is a company called Radical. And Radical love is actually the mind of a seed. So it’s how a plant thinks, but also this notion of being radical. When that company came to us, it was a merger between, I’m gonna call it five different organizations, all with very similar acronyms. So it was like CCSI CGSI. And it was every iteration of the climate smart group. Oh, um, and, you know, they had a really charismatic CEO at the time, obviously, a very complicated stakeholder environment, because you have all these people coming together. I work with an amazing strategist named Claudia. And, you know, she did some really, like she does a lot of that work for us, like the deep listening, and really came back and said, like, people are done now with pessimism, they want optimism. And basically, the role of radical or this merger of organizations is to help companies monetize, like the good things they do for the environment. So they help you sell carbon credits, they’ll also advise you on, you know, these are good ways to do it in a cost effective way. So it was really
Jeremy Weisz 8:00
Is this Radical right here?
Stephanie Kochorek 8:02
Yeah, this is Radical.
Jeremy Weisz 8:03
Okay, so we’re looking at a kind of a body of water, and then kind of large ears. I don’t know what he talked about him, like yoga balls, I picture huge, brown balls, like, so anyways, keep going.
Stephanie Kochorek 8:16
Yeah. Anyway, so we came back to them. And they wanted us to rename them, you know, and at the time, it’s like, they’re like, Climate Smart Group is where they’re at. And we’re like, your name is gonna be Radical. And then we tell them this beautiful story of, you know, the mind of a seed. And it’s also you’re doing something radical, you know, prior to that, it was like, Oh, we have to choose, we’re either environmentalists or we’re here to make money. And we’re like, nope, here’s a radical notion, you can do both. Like, both those things are not misaligned. Those things are aligned. Radical will help you get there. And they were,
Jeremy Weisz 8:50
This is Radical right here.
Stephanie Kochorek 8:52
This is Radical. You know, and I think they looked at us like, we were kind of a little crazy. Like, that just felt like a lot, you know, and different people had different notions. Anyways, the CEO ended up, you know, just like a Wednesday, he’s like, I need to come down to the office, like, I need to look into your eyes. And I was like, okay, yeah, for sure. And came down and he said, like, Am I really going to do this? Like, am I going to call my company Radical? And I was like, you know, I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t tell you the future. But this makes sense. It’s true. And it’s brave. And people love bravery. We want to see people stand out. And we want to see brands stand out for good reasons. And he went for it. I really, I was like, you know, you don’t have to like I understand it’s a lot. We have some softer, easier names, blah, blah, blah. And he’s like, No, I’m gonna do it. And they did it. It was massively successful. I think some of the best comments were like, my kids think I’m cool. Now. You know. They said they had credibility with their young kids because this is, you know, it’s not a stuffy brand like coral was their main brand color. Actually, it was disappearing coral, it was Pantone color of the year because it’s a color found in nature that there’s a chance we’re not going to see anymore. So, you know, these were bold decisions, especially for Calgary, you know, corporate Calgary, like can be quite stiff. But they, you know, they initially couldn’t quit, they’re like, oh God, are we really going to? Are we going to do this, and then they did it, they were so proud of themselves. You know, it made hiring easier, they ended up getting acquired. And the power of the brand was actually, you know, something that they cited in the acquisition because it was a strong brand, the total strong story and they saw value in that, which was, you know, a really, from the sort of look me in the eyes and tell me, this isn’t a horrible decision, moment to you know, the way that whole company just embraced it and felt proud. And, you know, there was some pep in the step because this was true for them. This was real.
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