Personal Brand Book · 2026
Kate
Defined.
Director of Digital · Builder · Daily Shipper · Systems Thinker · Beekeeper
Career · Executive Presence Side Consulting Board Positioning Nonprofit Leadership

What I stand for

I build the systems, teams, and strategies that turn complexity into clarity — and I do it with rigor, imagination, and a long view.

At my core, I’m a builder who thinks in systems. I’m drawn to the intersection of data, technology, and human behavior — the places where the right framework unlocks exponential impact. I lead with curiosity, compete with integrity, and hold myself to a standard most people don’t bother setting.


Core Values

Mastery

Deep expertise earns the right to lead. I invest in understanding before I claim authority.

Integrity

My word is a commitment. My work reflects my name. No shortcuts, no credit theft.

Ambition with roots

Building toward VP and board seats while farming, raising kids, and staying grounded in what’s real.


Positioning Statement

“I help organizations turn digital complexity into strategic advantage — by building the data infrastructure, operational rigor, and people systems that scale.”


CliftonStrengths · Top 5

01
Learner

The process of growth energizes me as much as the destination. I never stop building expertise.

02
Futurist

I see where things are going before others do — and I build the bridge to get there.

03
Competition

I measure against the best — and I bring the people around me along for the win.

04
Focus

I prioritize ruthlessly and execute with precision. Noise doesn’t move me.

05
Maximizer

Good enough isn’t a stopping point — it’s a signal to push further. I elevate everything I touch.

Colors, type & tone

A palette drawn from the land — deep forest greens, warm bone, the amber of late-afternoon light, and the rust of dried terracotta. Sophisticated but alive. Organic without being rustic.


Primary Palette

Pine
#1a2421
Fern
#2E4A3E
Sage
#536B5E
Bone
#FAF8F5
Linen
#F0EDE8

Accent Palette

Mustard
#C4882A
Amber
#D4A04A
Rust
#A84832
Terracotta
#C0614A

Typography Pairings

Display / Headers

Cormorant Garamond

Elegant, editorial, authoritative. Headlines, pull quotes, big statements.

Body / Supporting

Outfit · Warm & Modern

Readable, professional, human. Body text, bios, conversational content.

Labels / Technical

DM MONO · PRECISE

Data-forward and sharp. Metadata, labels, dates, callouts, nav elements.


Nav Logo Standard

All sites use DM Mono uppercase for the top-left nav logo. Pattern: KATE: SITE NAME

SiteNav Logo
katehaan.devKATE: PORTFOLIO
brand-book.katehaan.devKATE: BRAND BOOK
release-playbook.katehaan.devKATE: APP BUILD PLAYBOOK
Any toolKATE: [TOOL NAME]

Favicon Standard

Every site gets a custom favicon generated at favicon.io/favicon-generator. Never ship the default gray globe.

SiteTextBackgroundFont Color
katehaan.devKH#1a2421 (pine)#FAF8F5 (bone)
brand-book.katehaan.devKH#1a2421 (pine)#FAF8F5 (bone)
release-playbook.katehaan.dev{}#1a2421 (pine)#C4882A (mustard)
escalation-advisor#1a2421 (pine)#C4882A (mustard)
voice-tone-shifter~#1a2421 (pine)#C4882A (mustard)
Any new tool1-2 char symbol#1a2421 (pine)#C4882A (mustard)

Rule: Brand properties (portfolio, brand book, playbook) → KH in bone. Tools → short symbol in mustard. Background always pine.

Install for plain HTML: Drop favicon.ico in root, add <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico"> in <head>.

Install for Next.js: Drop favicon.ico in app/ folder. Next.js picks it up automatically.


Visual Personality

The visual language should feel like walking into a farmhouse where someone very organized lives — there are beautiful things, nothing is fussy, and everything has a reason for being where it is.

Does feel like

Editorial warmth · Natural texture · Structured depth · Generous space · Precision with soul

Doesn’t feel like

Corporate-generic · Cold minimalism · Loud clutter · Tech-bro gradient aesthetic

The story I tell

My career is a through-line of building things that didn’t exist before — data products, operating systems, centers of excellence — in industries that don’t always know they need them yet.


Short Bio (3 sentences · LinkedIn / speaker intro)

Kate is Director of Digital at Herbalife, where she leads a cross-functional team spanning analytics, measurement, campaign operations, and communications ops. With a career built at the intersection of data strategy, digital product, and enterprise operations — across Gap Inc., Vera Bradley, and Amway — she specializes in building the infrastructure that turns data into decisions at scale. Outside of work, she farms, raises three kids in West Michigan, builds AI agents, and is working toward nonprofit board service and executive leadership.

Medium Bio (Conference · Board Application · Speaking)

Kate is a digital and data strategy leader with over 16 years of experience transforming how organizations use information to grow. As Director of Digital at Herbalife, she oversees strategy, analytics, measurement, and campaign operations for a global team, and is currently building the Commercial Realization Engine — a connected operating system where measurement and experience delivery work as one.

Her track record spans building a BI Center of Excellence at Gap Inc. (5,000+ weekly active users across a $16B portfolio), owning enterprise customer data strategy, and standing up complex cross-functional operating systems that actually stick. She moves fluidly between the technical and the strategic — equally comfortable in a data architecture conversation and a C-suite stakeholder meeting.

Outside work, Kate is a certified Pilates instructor, a beekeeper, and the builder of a personal AI agent system called OpenClaw that runs her household. Based in West Michigan, she farms, raises three kids, and brings long-horizon thinking to every room she’s in.

Career Arc

2024 – Present
Director of Digital · Herbalife

Built the global digital performance org from scratch. Measurement, campaign ops, and communications platform. Near-term Chief of Staff scope.

2021 – 2024
Senior Manager, Enterprise Data Products · Gap Inc.

Built BI Center of Excellence. 5,000+ weekly active users across $16B brand portfolio (Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, Athleta).

2020 – 2021
Senior Digital Strategist · Amway Global

Digital product strategy for $8.9B CPG organization. Board and executive-level presentations.

2016 – 2020
Digital Analytics Manager → Senior Product Owner · Vera Bradley

Built analytics function from zero during full site re-platform. Led agile product delivery for mobile and web.

Earlier
Victoria’s Secret · Meijer · Rösler Metal Finishing

Digital analytics, product, and strategy roles across retail and manufacturing.

Near-term
Board Member · Young Farmers (application in progress)

First nonprofit board seat. Expanding into community leadership.

2035 Goal
VP or C-Suite · Paid Board Seats

Executive scope expanding into commercial planning, operations, and supply chain.

How I communicate

Direct, precise, and genuinely warm. I say what I mean without softening it into mush — and I bring people along rather than leaving them behind.


Tone Spectrum

Formal
Conversational
Reserved
Direct
Abstract
Concrete
Serious
Witty
Deferential
Confident

What to do · What to avoid

Do

  • Lead with the point, support it after
  • Use concrete examples and data
  • Vary sentence length — short punches, longer context
  • Acknowledge complexity without drowning in it
  • Own the opinion, invite the dialogue
  • Use wit to disarm, not to deflect

Don’t

  • Over-hedge or death-by-caveat
  • Use jargon as a substitute for thinking
  • Pad with filler (“As mentioned above...”)
  • Apologize before making a point
  • Match aggression with aggression
  • Be warm in a way that undermines authority

Communication by Context

Executives & Board Members

Concise, structured, confident. Lead with business impact. Frame trade-offs clearly. Don’t over-explain the methodology unless asked.

Peers & Cross-functional partners

Collaborative and direct. Share thinking, invite co-creation. Use humor to build trust. Be the person who moves things forward.

Team Members

Clear expectations, honest feedback, genuine recognition. Give context. Let people own their work. Be the leader you wished you’d had.

External (Board, consulting clients)

Credible and grounded. Bring the corporate rigor without the corporate stiffness. Let the farm and the analytics coexist — that’s the interesting part.

How I build with AI

The skill of management is increasingly the skill of AI. I’m positioning myself accordingly — not just recommending AI to my org, but running it daily in production.

I heard Claire Vo describe her personal AI setup on Lenny’s Podcast and couldn’t stop thinking about it. A few months later I had a named agent team running my household. I ship AI tools almost every day — not as a job requirement, but because I genuinely can’t stop.


OpenClaw — Personal AI Operating System

A system of named agents handling the operational weight of a full life. The concept that unlocked it: this is the first time I’ve been able to afford to employ the number of people I actually need.

🌿 Heidi — Home Chief of Staff

Daily Ops

Morning briefings, email triage, calendar, meal planning, farm operations, family CRM. Runs daily in production.

🌿 Sage — Health Coach

Health & Fitness

Monitors Oura Ring data via API, adjusts fitness plan based on readiness, writes weekly nutrition guidelines for Heidi.

💲 Finn — Finance Agent

Financial Ops

Daily spending snapshot, budget monitoring, pattern flagging. Proactive not reactive.

🧭 Norah — Executive Coach

Career Planning

Career plan, relationship map, high-stakes conversation prep, positioning language.

⚙️ Frank — Ops Agent

Session Management

Resets Heidi’s session nightly, re-injects only needed context. Keeps costs at $5–15/session instead of $150+/week.

👔 Kristen — Work Ops

Professional Chief of Staff

Morning briefs, 1:1 prep, comms drafting, meeting notes to actions. The work equivalent of Heidi.


Live Tools

Escalation Advisor

Should you handle it, escalate it, or skip a level? Answer in 30 seconds.

escalation-advisor.katehaan.dev →

Voice Tone Shifter

Speak raw. Get back a version that sounds like your actual professional voice.

voice-tone-shifter.katehaan.dev →

Full Stack

AI & Agents: Anthropic API · Claude Code · OpenAI API · Gemini · Perplexity · LangChain · Cursor

Data & Analytics: SQL · Python · Power BI · Tableau · Looker · Amplitude · Heap · Google Analytics · Adobe Analytics · Snowflake · BigQuery · Databricks

Marketing & Experience: Salesforce Marketing Cloud · Salesforce CRM · Braze · Adobe Experience Platform · Tealium · Adobe Launch · Adobe Target · Optimizely

Engineering & Delivery: Azure DevOps · AWS · GitHub Actions · Git · Vercel · VS Code · Cursor

Automation: Make.com · Zapier · Power Automate · Power Apps · Google APIs · Telegram Bot API

Showing up online

LinkedIn is your primary professional surface. The goal: be findable, credible, and human — in that order. You’re not building a personal brand for its own sake; you’re building a body of work that makes the right people say “we should talk to her.”


Profile Principles

Headline

Go beyond job title. Signal both current authority and future direction. Include the AI angle — it’s a differentiator.

About Section

3–4 short paragraphs. Open with positioning statement. Include superpower, industry lens, and one memorable line. The farm-to-boardroom-to-AI-agent angle is real — use it.

Featured Section

Link to katehaan.dev, the escalation-advisor tool, and the brand book. Make the work findable.

Experience

Lead with strategic context, not job description. What did you build? What changed? Use numbers where honest.


Content Strategy

What to post

Frameworks you’ve used. Lessons from the work. Takes on AI in enterprise. The occasional farming analogy that actually lands.

Frequency

1–2x per month is plenty if the quality is high. You’re an expert with opinions, not a content creator.

Tone

Direct, considered, a little wry. No performative humility. No vague inspiration. Make a point.

Where I’m going

The 10-year arc is clear: VP or executive title, paid board seats, and a consulting practice that works on my terms. Everything between here and there is a deliberate step.


Goal Horizons

Build authority at Herbalife. Land the Young Farmers board seat.

Deliver the Commercial Realization Engine. Establish Chief of Staff–level credibility. Stay remote until 2029.

Expand scope. Begin board portfolio. Activate side consulting.

Move toward commercial planning and operations adjacencies. Take on 1–2 paid consulting engagements. Add a second board seat.

VP or C-suite title. 2–3 paid board seats. Established practice.

Executive scope spanning digital, data, commercial, and potentially operations/supply chain. Kids in school. Farm thriving. Fully on your terms.


Target Audience Map

Primary · Career path

Who: CIOs, CDOs, VPs at mid-to-large consumer brands.

What they need: Digital leaders who can own analytics, operations, and strategy without hand-holding.

Show them: Impact, range, operating maturity, and AI fluency.

Secondary · Board & Nonprofit

Who: Exec directors of ag/food/rural orgs, board placement networks.

What they need: Leaders who bring corporate rigor and community credibility.

Show them: The farm. The data expertise. The long-game orientation.

Tertiary · Consulting clients

Who: Mid-market companies needing fractional digital analytics or AI expertise.
Show them: Concrete deliverables, fast ramp, been-there experience.

Tertiary · Builder community

Who: Peers building AI tools and personal infrastructure.
Show them: OpenClaw, the playbook, the GitHub. That you’re in it.


“The most strategic thing I can do is be entirely, specifically myself — and make sure the right people can find that.”