Our agency delivers highly customizable primary market research projects, ux testing, and consulting engagements that maximize insights and immerse our clients in understanding their customers’ hearts and minds. We are a values-based insights agency, founded in June 2024, that puts impact before profits. We are your go to for custom qualitative and quantitative primary market research in the health, wellness, pharma, biotech, tech, finance, beauty, aesthetics, and CPG spaces. We also provide strategic insight consulting and fractional insights role backfilling. Our expertise is brand and product launches, including solutions that serve the entire lifecycle of a brand from inception to post launch. Our team is comprised of methodological and therapeutic area experts across decades of experience.Having conducted hundreds of interviews and fielded projects in various therapeutic areas, we bring a depth of expertise unlike other research partners with diverse perspectives.

DRFT is a new business concept that is being incubated out of the Hightide Salon and Suites. I am a co-founder and substantial equity investor in the business. We believe scalp health is essential and new frontier in the beauty and hair care industry. We launched the service offering as part of Hightide and it quickly became a stand-alone business after going viral on Instagram (>600,000 views), >1k on the waitlist, and booking out 9 months' worth of appointments in a few weeks. The studio team of now 6 providers, specializes in providing scalp facial services and deep relaxation to guests. The service methodology is unique and custom to DRFT, perfected by master stylist Maggie Leonhardt. Clients leave with a treatment regimen for their scalp and a healthier head of hair.

The Hightide Salon aims to provide a supportive environment for beauty artists to explore their art, make a life not just a living, and bleed the edge of industry norms. Hightide is downtown Raleigh's first hybrid and largest chair (>8,000 square feet) and suite rental salon which prioritizes collaboration over competition. I am a co-founder and substantial equity investor in the business. Our team is comprised of 35+ independent beauty businesses that have grown and flourished under our educational model. We are green circle certified, and 95% zero waste. We also partner with clean and ethical beauty brands that are organic, vegan and cruelty free. A number of our team members will spin out into separate salons and spas in the coming years, establishing Hightide as a beauty business incubator. We are coworking for beauty artists.

In partnership with several family members, I serve on the advisory board to help guide the future of LPS. The business operates in the southeastern US with 3 locations. It is a major player in the fire protection industry as a fabricator and distributor of quality couplings, fittings, valves, and pipe for commercial fire suppression systems. Leonhardt Pipe & Supply, Inc. is a multi-generational, family-owned and operated. My role is mostly focused on strategic financial guidance and growth plans. I was heavily involved in a recent financing round and expansion in prior years to GA with a new branch opening.

Vivisum provided facilitated discovery using market research methodologies and critical thinking processes as a boutique market research firm up until it's acquisition in January 2024 by ZoomRx. We exceled at generating actionable insights that enabled clients to maximize returns on their investments. Over the years I developed expertise in several therapeutic areas including rare disease. As a senior research director, I led product launch research programs for various pharma and tech clients for nearly 7 years and managed a 7-figure list of accounts. As hire #4 back in 2016, I was responsible for growing the financial operations, systems, processes, IT, and compliance activities from the ground up. I also grew my client list over that time from 6 to 7 figures per year overseeing multiple product launches in the pharma space.

At Nourish International, we want our young people to grow and flourish as leaders and responsible members of their communities. This means developing emotional intelligence, curiosity, healthy communication, entrepreneurship and leadership skills. It means hard skills like financial literacy and business plan development, and soft skills like self-awareness and team management.Nourish is a community of students, alumni, and professionals working and learning together through hands-on experience and a guided curriculum. We empower and mentor student-run chapters to develop leadership skills and gain experience by engaging in philanthropic ventures for community partners.