MARIE EDWARDS
VP Brand Creative
Marie.Andresen@gmail.com | 704-502-5538 | maedwards.com/pepper | maedwards.com | linkedin.com/in/marieaedwards
SUMMARY
VP-level brand and creative leader building high-growth DTC engines across apparel and lifestyle. Translate merchandising and product vision into narratives that drive demand, conversion, and loyalty. Operator-minded and data-literate, with deep experience aligning cross-functional teams, scaling creative speed, and protecting brand cohesion across launches, ecommerce journeys, and lifecycle.
CORE SKILLS
Brand Strategy and Architecture, Creative Direction, Product Storytelling, Merchandising to Narrative, Ecommerce Journey Design, PDP Optimization, Launch and Seasonal Campaigns, Lifecycle Storytelling, Performance Creative Collaboration, Customer Insight and VOC, Messaging Systems and Brand Voice, Creative Operations, Cross-Functional Leadership, Team Leadership, Go-to-Market Strategy.
SELECTED IMPACT
· Launched 400+ live product experiences in 6 months; increased social sales 47% and improved ROAS 32% through rapid narrative iteration.
· Improved conversion rate 41% and reduced overall costs 23% by tightening creative operations and workflow efficiency.
· Enabled 40% of brand revenue through partnerships and activations; grew partnerships 167% YoY with collaborations including Google One, Target, and Brené Brown.
· Increased AOV 78% YoY and boosted welcome series revenue 471% YoY by aligning storytelling across lifecycle, content, and performance.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
ILLUME | CMO/COO Hybrid, Lead Brand Strategist
Dec 2024 - Present | San Francisco, CA
• Facilitate brand strategy workshops and long-range planning sprints, leveraging market research and audience testing to uncover new brand territories and drive measurable client growth.
• Orchestrate multi-disciplinary teams through collaborative research and innovation labs, mapping consumer behavior, prototyping brand concepts, and translating insights into go-to-market frameworks.
• Transform executive thought leadership programs by facilitating narrative workshops and content strategy frameworks, resulting in +1,700% growth in LinkedIn impressions and elevated C-suite visibility.
• Act as a strategic facilitator between Product, Sales, and Comms teams to co-design integrated launch plans that accelerate distribution and unlock new revenue channels.
• Led and managed agency and vendor partners, setting scope, timelines, and quality standards while keeping delivery on track across multiple concurrent workstreams.
TRUSTWORTHY | Director, Brand Partnerships and Community Development (Contract)
Jan 2024 - Dec 2024 | Remote
• Drove cross-functional alignment workshops to orchestrate the launch of a new fintech product, utilizing brand storytelling and strategic partnerships to attract fiduciary collaborators and increase user adoption.
• Designed and scaled a partner enablement framework, achieving +80% program growth in 9 months through narrative alignment, automated onboarding, and shared value design.
• Led co-creation sessions with cross-disciplinary stakeholders to identify partnership opportunities, leveraging test-and-learn frameworks to guide customer-led innovation.
• Activated trust-building feedback loops and digital storytelling strategies that strengthened brand credibility and deepened community engagement.
RAKUTEN, KONMARI MEDIA INC. | Senior Director, Brand Strategy and Partnerships
Dec 2021 - Dec 2023 | San Francisco, CA
• Led cross-functional brand alignment initiatives and created executive workshops to define global brand strategy and unify narrative pillars.
• Enabled +40% brand revenue growth by rearchitecting partnership frameworks and leading strategy sessions that connected creative storytelling to business outcomes.
• Achieved +314% awareness and +78% AOV YoY by aligning creative, content, and performance teams through guided sprints that unified brand storytelling and actionable brand strategies.
• Orchestrated partnership reinvention sessions, increasing partnerships +167% YoY with collaborations including Google One, Target, Stasher, Cariuma, Chani Nicolas, and Brené Brown.
BETABRAND | VP, Live Social Commerce, Creative, and Apparel Design
Apr 2019 - Dec 2021 | San Francisco, CA
• Built and led a 25-person cross-functional organization spanning creative, design, marketing, and product.
• Led daily creative stand-ups and ideation sessions across design, marketing, and product teams, launching 400+ live product experiences and cultivating a highly engaged customer community.
• Architected and developed a daily rapid-launch operating model with a 25-person cross-functional team, enabling daily e-commerce drops aligned to storytelling strategy via live social commerce.
• Achieved +47% social sales growth and +30% email CTR in 3 months through collaborative creative testing and narrative iteration.
• Improved CVR +41% and reduced costs by 23% by leading retrospectives that identified workflow efficiencies and creative resource alignment, specifically within apparel design.
NATUREBOX | Creative Director
Jan 2015 - Feb 2017 | San Francisco, CA
· Helped scale NatureBox into a $100M omnichannel brand by aligning creative, data, and storytelling across DTC, retail, and B2B channels.
· Developed retail storytelling and brand presentations that supported partnerships with Target and Safeway.
· Led brand and creative direction across site, email, paid, and social, translating product strategy into customer-first storytelling that drove demand and conversion
· Owned ecommerce creative and onsite storytelling, partnering with Growth and Ecommerce to optimize the customer journey from landing page to PDP to checkout
· Built a repeatable launch and seasonal campaign system with clear briefs, asset frameworks, and channel playbooks to increase velocity and reduce creative drift
· Directed photoshoots and content production for both brand and performance needs, ensuring assets were optimized for conversion and consistency across touchpoints
· Implemented a test-and-learn approach to creative, iterating on narrative angles, page modules, and lifecycle messaging based on performance insights
EDUCATION
North Carolina State University, School of Design | Bachelor of Art and Design, magna cum laude