LaCosteWorks Consulting
Work Samples

Results you've likely seen or experienced.

Brie's multidimensional portfolio spans tech, sports, healthcare, retail, CPG, education, and more. She's an industry thought leader with a refined creative lens, recognized for solving some of your favorite brands' most complex challenges.

Experience across leading brands
  • P&G
  • Target
  • Honda
  • AT&T
  • Jack Daniel's
  • NBA
  • Merck
  • Frito-Lay
  • SC Johnson
  • Dow
  • Novartis Gene Therapies

CMSDC

Strategic Leadership Communications Through Organizational Change
NonprofitLeadership transitionLaCosteWorks client

Context & Tension

During a period of organizational transition, the Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council (CMSDC) engaged LaCosteWorks Consulting for strategic communications support. The moment required discipline, clarity, and a calibrated approach to how leadership communications showed up. The challenge was navigating change in a way that reinforced credibility, balancing internal alignment with external perception, without introducing unnecessary risk.

My Role

As Principal Consultant, I served as a strategic advisor to leadership, providing counsel and execution support across internal, external, and digital communications. My role also encompassed leadership transition support, including exit plan communications – reflective and positioning content to ensure continuity beyond immediate changes.

The approach and the work

The Approach

My work prioritized readiness and sequencing over premature visibility. Rather than rushing communications, decisions were guided by a focus on message clarity, thoughtful pacing, and leadership alignment. This meant advising not only on what to say, but on timing, tone, and restraint to ensure communications reinforced stability. The approach also recognized that leadership transitions extend beyond announcements, requiring thoughtful introductions, closures, and forward-looking positioning to support continuity on both ends of change.

The Work

  • Executive counsel on messaging, tone, and sequencing
  • Development of internal and external messaging frameworks
  • Drafting leadership announcements, stakeholder communications, and talking points
  • Social content strategy and execution for key moments
  • Media counsel focused on readiness, timing, and framing
  • Creation of communications governance tools and recommendations
  • Leadership transition support, including reflective communications and executive positioning content

Impact & Implications

13.6K+
combined impressions and engagements

The work brought clarity and steadiness to how the organization communicated during a period of change, reinforcing alignment and intention across leadership decisions. Leadership announcement content delivered one of CMSDC's strongest recent digital performance periods, generating 13.6K+ combined impressions and engagements, while strengthening message consistency and readiness for continued engagement.

This engagement reflects a disciplined, long-term approach to communications – prioritizing credibility and infrastructure over momentary visibility.

Gillette Skinguard

Culturally Fluent Engagement for Product Reintroduction
CPGMulticulturalExperiential

Context & Tension

Gillette aimed to reintroduce its Skinguard product by building trust within a key multicultural audience. The challenge was overcoming deep-seated skepticism towards grooming brands among Black men, requiring a strategy rooted in authentic dialogue and cultural sensitivity, rather than traditional marketing.

My Role

As the senior agency lead, I shaped integrated communications efforts for the product relaunch. My role encompassed advising on audience insight, influencer partnerships, experiential design, media engagement, and creative authenticity, bridging brand objectives with community and cultural realities. A major component to the relaunch strategy included a media and influencer showcase, where I personally orchestrated a pivotal roundtable discussion, briefing and managing participants including Damon Jones (CCO of P&G), Joel Bervell (“The Medical Mythbuster”) and celebrity barber, Denny Moe.

The approach and the work

The Approach

Our strategy centered on a respectful and credible engagement model. Recognizing the nuanced relationship the target audience had with grooming products, the approach positioned grooming as an extension of wellness and identity. Key strategic decisions included centering authentic cultural spaces, partnering with trusted community voices and influencers, and advising on creative elements to ensure genuine representation and dialogue.

I personally orchestrated an exclusive showcase and roundtable, mirroring HBO's The Shop, at a renowned Harlem barbershop. This involved securing and briefing P&G's CCO (Damon Jones as moderator), Joel Bervell (“the Medical Mythbuster”), celebrity barbers John Cotton and Denny Moe, and ensuring an experience that educated on the “art and science” of shaving while exploring grooming, wellness, and self-care for Black men. The intent was real dialogue, not just promotion.

The Work

  • Leadership of the integrated communications program for Gillette Skinguard's reintroduction
  • Cultural insight development and audience framing
  • Influencer and Key Opinion Leader (KOL) strategy and partnerships with culturally credible voices
  • Creative counsel on television commercial (TVC) and social content authenticity
  • Conception, execution, and direct oversight of a pivotal integrated media & influencer roundtable (mirroring HBO's The Shop), including comprehensive discussion guide development
  • Direct management of high-profile participants (e.g., P&G CCO, Joel Bervell, celebrity barbers) and event vendors
  • Earned media strategy and engagement across program phases

Impact & Implications

The integrated program generated strong storytelling and social engagement, successfully reframing the product conversation toward credibility and cultural relevance. The work facilitated a more authentic dialogue between the brand and a historically discerning audience than it ever had – demonstrating the power of culturally informed strategy to foster deeper brand connection and trust.

This engagement reflects an approach grounded in cultural fluency, strategic orchestration of nuanced experiential activation, and an unwavering commitment to authentic stakeholder dialogue.

Target

Integrated Stakeholder, Equity & Community Communications Leadership
RetailExecutive communications~3 years

Context & Tension

During a period of expanded visibility and evolving public expectations, Target was deepening its commitments to representation, supplier diversity, and community investments. Challenges over the course of approximately three years required sustained communications leadership across stakeholder engagement, multicultural initiatives, enterprise social impact work, and high-visibility brand activations.

The work demanded strategic discipline to balance evolving public sentiment, internal alignment, founder and community partnerships, and executive visibility – all while protecting brand integrity at scale.

My Role

As Vice President and senior agency lead supporting stakeholder, equity and community engagement communications, I partnered directly with executive leadership – including the Chief Equity Officer, Chief Stakeholder Engagement Officer, and the Chief Legal and Risk Officer.

I led strategic messaging across enterprise social impact initiatives, multicultural programming, supplier storytelling, and high-profile cultural activations. I managed executive communications, media and influencer strategy, issues and crisis, and cross-functional alignment across internal teams and external partners.

The approach and the work

The Approach

The work centered on cohesion. Rather than treating initiatives as standalone campaigns, communications were structured within a broader narrative architecture grounded in stakeholder awareness of the organization's commitments to its diverse consumers.

Enterprise social impact and stakeholder initiatives required disciplined executive alignment and external posture. Multicultural and founder-focused work demanded human storytelling that honored real entrepreneurs seeing their products on shelves – in some cases, for the first time.

Across heritage month collections, flagship activations, and executive storytelling, communications were intentionally integrated across earned, owned, internal, and experiential channels to ensure cohesion from what leadership said to customers' actual experience.

The Work

  • Led communications strategy for enterprise stakeholder and social impact initiatives, partnering with a cross-functional leadership committee to align executive messaging and enterprise narrative
  • Directed communications for Target's R.E.A.C.H. program, ensuring alignment across executive leadership, internal stakeholders, and external audiences
  • Developed founder and supplier storytelling for product collections and diverse-owned brand partnerships, supporting earned media, social amplification, and in-store events
  • Provided executive communications support to C-Suite leaders across stakeholder engagement, legal, and community functions
  • Led messaging and experiential narrative development for Target's inaugural Essence Festival sponsorship, shaping surround-sound storytelling, including influencer and social content strategy to increase year-over-year engagement
  • Operationalized real-time monitoring and narrative assessment systems to inform disciplined media strategy and response for high-stakes issues management

Impact & Implications

My work strengthened Target's ability to communicate enterprise-level commitments with discipline and cultural awareness during a complex and highly visible period. Social engagement and owned storytelling increased across key activations, while executive communications was strategically calibrated.

Beyond metrics, my work demonstrated cross-functional leadership at scale – integrating executive counsel, external stakeholder engagement, cultural fluency, and internal communications within a highly scrutinized retail environment.

It also reflects leadership in navigating complexity without fragmentation to ensure mission, vision, and values were aligned and communicated with intention across a significant body of employee and external-facing work.

Jack Daniel's

Multi-Brand Cultural Program Leadership & Integrated Audience Engagement
SpiritsMulti-brandMulti-year

Context & Tension

Jack Daniel's sought to continuously deepen engagement with multicultural audiences and maintain the cultural relevance of its family of brands. The ongoing challenge was to consistently deliver high-impact, authentic experiences and communications across multiple sub-brands and programs, ensuring sustained resonance, national media attention, and flawless event execution.

My Role

As the client lead for the Jack Daniel's agency account for several years, I provided comprehensive strategic oversight, program leadership and execution. I spearheaded multicultural strategy, account management, and program development across a number of sub-brands. I directly led two flagship programs, Gentleman Jack Real to Reel and Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey Art, Beats + Lyrics (AB+L), in addition to developing and managing multicultural “Friends of Jack” influencer programming. My role encompassed event management and end-to-end media relations – including management of celebrity spokespeople such as: Omari Hardwick, Robert Townsend, Lance Gross, Mack Wilds, Malik Yoba, Mannie Fresh, D Smoke, Little Brother and several others.

The approach and the work

The Approach

My approach centered on embedding cultural authenticity and dynamic engagement across all brand initiatives, from overarching strategy to bespoke program execution. This involved designing comprehensive, multi-year plans that continually revitalized brand relevance and fostered emotional connections with target audiences. I prioritized cultivating earned media and nurturing influencer relationships through unique, compelling narratives and unforgettable experiences. This strategy consistently ensured that all communications were strategically aligned across the agency's brand portfolio.

The Work

  • Developed and led the overarching multicultural strategy and program development across sub-brands
  • Directed “Friends of Jack” multicultural influencer programming
  • Executed intricate national media relations, including direct collaboration with major celebrities and Jack Daniel's national brand ambassador, ET
  • Conceptualized and managed media tours at the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee
  • Cultivated ongoing earned media relationships and paid partnership opportunities over several years
  • Led comprehensive event management for flagship programs – including activations at high-profile events such as the American Black Film Festival, Art Basel Miami and NBA All-Star Weekends in Charlotte and Chicago
  • Planned and managed a first-ever national media/influencer immersion activation for a 15-year client program

Impact & Implications

Under my multi-year leadership, the Jack Daniel's family of brands consistently achieved significant national media coverage and sustained audience engagement through unique lifestyle and cultural experiences – deepening connections with key multicultural audiences. Flagship programs such as AB+L delivered the strongest media and influencer engagement in the program's history, while newer initiatives scaled quickly – reinforcing brand loyalty and sustained cultural relevance across the portfolio.

This engagement reflects an approach distinguished by multi-brand account leadership, expertise in integrated multicultural strategy and program development, and a proven talent for executing complex national experiential and media campaigns that consistently amplify culturally resonant brand platforms.

Merck

Strategic Equity Counsel in a Highly Regulated Environment
HealthcareRegulated categoryCross-agency

Context & Tension

Operating within a highly regulated and scientifically complex category, Merck required communications that balanced accuracy and compliance with cultural awareness. The challenge was not introducing equity as a strategy, but integrating it consistently across marketing and advertising initiatives while coordinating multiple agency partners and aligning work to broader business priorities without redundancy or dilution.

My Role

As a Vice President on Merck's agency team, I served as a strategic advisor and integrator, directly collaborating with Health Equity leadership and cross-functional stakeholders. My role focused on guiding equity and cultural counsel across marketing and advertising work, while helping align agency partners and initiatives to shared strategic priorities.

The approach and the work

The Approach

The work approached equity as an operational lens rather than a parallel workstream. Instead of treating cultural consultation as additive, the focus was on mapping how equity-informed guidance connected to business unit priorities, agency capabilities, and execution workflows.

This required translating strategic intent into clear, actionable direction — ensuring equity considerations were embedded early, aligned across partners, and implemented efficiently within regulated processes. The approach emphasized clarity, coordination, and optimization to reduce redundancy and support more cohesive delivery.

The Work

  • Strategic counsel on integrating equity and cultural awareness across marketing and advertising initiatives
  • Alignment of cultural consultation work to overarching business and health equity priorities
  • Cross-agency coordination to support cohesive execution and reduce duplicative efforts
  • Cultural advisement to ensure messaging remained inclusive, accurate, and compliant
  • Collaboration with Health Equity and media partners to translate strategy into practical execution

Impact & Implications

The engagement strengthened how equity considerations were integrated into Merck's marketing and advertising work, supporting more culturally resonant communications without compromising scientific integrity. Integrated agency collaboration improved alignment and execution across complex initiatives.

This work reflects an approach grounded in disciplined cultural counsel, cross-functional leadership, and the ability to operationalize equity thoughtfully within highly regulated industries.

Honda

Sustaining and Elevating a National Cultural Platform
AutoHBCU culture4 years

Context & Tension

Honda Battle of the Bands (HBOB) is one of the most recognized national platforms celebrating HBCU marching band culture. By 2016, the program had already established a 15-year legacy and attracted nearly 60,000 attendees annually in Atlanta.

The challenge was not to build awareness from scratch, but to sustain cultural credibility while evolving the program for a digitally connected and socially engaged audience. Growth needed to feel authentic, and engagement needed to feel participatory.

My Role

Over a four-year period, I led agency communications strategy and execution for HBOB programming. I oversaw integrated media relations, social media strategy, community management, on-site event communications, stakeholder engagement, and creative direction for supporting content.

I served as a central strategic lead, ensuring alignment across paid, earned, and experiential efforts while maintaining the cultural integrity of the program.

The approach and the work

The Approach

The strategy focused on elevating HBOB as a live event and a year-round cultural touchpoint. Rather than relying solely on event-day visibility, we positioned the program as an ongoing investment in HBCU excellence. This meant:

  • Grounding messaging in cultural context and audience insight
  • Expanding social-first storytelling rooted in human interest narratives
  • Amplifying Honda's long-term commitment to HBCUs
  • Integrating media outreach with digital engagement and live event momentum

Research underscored the high digital engagement of Black millennial audiences, informing a strategy that prioritized social as an amplifier and community hub.

The Work

  • Integrated communications strategy
  • Media relations across national, multi-market local, entertainment, and HBCU-focused outlets
  • Social strategy and day-to-day community management across platforms
  • Paid media agency partnership and content development
  • Creative direction for digital storytelling
  • On-site communications and stakeholder coordination
  • Facilitation between Honda corporate leadership, HBCU partners, media, and event teams

Impact & Implications

~20%
above target for social community growth in key years

Under my leadership, the program experienced sustained growth in visibility and engagement. Social community growth exceeded targets by nearly 20% in key years, and the annual showcase trended nationally on Twitter for consecutive years, while top-tier placements expanded cultural visibility beyond core audiences.

Importantly, the work reinforced Honda's long-term investment in HBCUs as credible and sustained, which strengthened trust while expanding national recognition.

This engagement reflects multi-year program leadership, integrated strategy across channels, and the ability to steward a major cultural platform with discipline and respect.

Strategic communication that works.

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