Birth of The Brand Bunker – Our Founder’s Story

Heather started a pay-when-and-if-you-can marketing consultancy in March 2020, when the pandemic took hold. With a background in environment, health, safety, and risk communications, she knew the coronavirus would have vast, sweeping effects in every aspect of society, and wanted to make a difference. Hence, the birth of The Brand Bunker.

She focuses on small businesses, solopreneurs, and startups that need immediate marketing strategies to survive and thrive during and beyond the global pandemic. Her view from the start is that COVID-19 is pushing us into an era – not a singular event. It’s a warm-up for something much bigger as the virus evolves. So now is the time to investing in new business capability and employee skills essential in the AI-driven Digital Age.

Her clients include health and wellness studios, pet health, residential contractors, mental health and digital health as they moved to greater customization, personalization, and digital solutions such as direct-to-consumer home delivery and virtual interaction. Through LinkedIn with no paid advertising, she connected to startup entrepreneurs and tech accelerators who were looking for fast help.

Through The Brand Bunker, she co-founded and became Chief Marketing Officer at ChompAI that was initially one of her clients. A new pet health tech startup, she established the master brand and product brand strategy, brand architecture, value propositions, customer segmentation, go-to-market, and communications plan to build partnerships and end-customer pilots.

ChompAI used artificial intelligence and advanced technology solutions to enrich the lives of cats and dogs – literally by learning their behaviors to give them a choice and voice in rating and selecting their preferred foods. Since feeding behavior is the #1 indicator of pet health, distress or disease, the AI software and cloud-based data services provide early disease detection and warnings to both pet parents and veterinarians.

It was here, she mastered several new digital marketing automations, CRM (customer relationship management) systems, five different website platforms, and affordable graphic and video software that give her clients a leg up without spending a ton of money.

Her lean, outsourced model enables Heather to focus most on marketing strategy, measurement, and software automation that grow new customers while saving time and money for her clients time. That’s why her mantra is purpose and profits – and helping her small business clients KEEP more of the money they earn.

Before the birth of the Brand Bunker, she was the Director of Growth Marketing at Vacasa – the #1 North America vacation property management company. There, she led the homeowner and real estate marketing team to acquire and retain new vacation homeowners. Through strong emotional and financial messages, the team persuaded homeowners to rent home and earn greater income than through self-management or other property management companies. With the rise of AI, she has also developed corporate messaging to translate the benefits of AI into transformative health solutions for three different start-ups.

During the 2020-2022 school years, she was also a substitute teacher for the Lake Pend Oreille and Coeur d’Alene School Districts in Idaho. Both put out a call to Master’s level professionals when schools reopened – to keep them opened. She loved teaching social studies, history, and English. However, she holds a special love for Music Education with elementary school children. Recruiting more substitutes from the community enabled full-time teachers and students to continue learning while following all safety protocols.

She has deep and broad experience in big business with 30 years at both Intel and Dow Chemical. She held several leadership positions in marketing, communications, community relations, human resources, workplace culture, and employer brand for almost two decades at Intel. She was recruited into the prestigious Communicator Development Program (CDP) at Dow Chemical where she was formally trained in world-class public affairs, press relations, customer communications, and global marketing. She worked in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, leading global teams for Dow Chemical. There, she honed her deep experience in emergency response, crisis and risk communications including the industry’s very first public report on sustainable development in 1998. As tech savvy as she is, Heather tells great stories about carrying a beeper for 10 years and the thrill of her first Motorola brick phone.

Heather has a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Science in Communications from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing from Central Michigan University. She was also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Portland where she taught Integrated Brand Marketing at the Pamplin School of Business.

Job #1 is family and education. She enjoys lake time with her husband and three active children in North Idaho with spy novels and historical fiction. She also volunteers in the community on the Youth Accountability Board (YAB) – a diversion program for first-time juvenile offenders with low-level crimes. With the birth of The Brand Bunker, she is also working on build the YAB brand regionally after 36 years of making a positive difference in the community.