Toast: Scaling a Category-Defining Brand

Mission: Lead and scale the Toast brand and creative organization through a period of hyper-growth and public market transition.

Impact: Transformed the creative team from a tactical resource into a strategic powerhouse. Managed the brand’s evolution across all channels, integrated data-informed creative processes, and navigated the complexities of scaling a multidisciplinary team in a fast-paced environment.

Story:

Leading Through Hyper-Growth: My time at Toast has been defined by the challenge of "building the plane while flying it." I’ve managed the creative organization through scaling, transitioning our focus from short-term tactical wins to long-term strategic brand building. I led the team in developing a cohesive visual and verbal identity that could scale from small independent restaurants to large enterprise accounts, including retail, international, and emerging markets.

Operational Excellence & Scaling: I didn't just lead a creative team–I architected a creative engine. This involved building a culture of collaboration and mentorship that allows our team to tackle complex, high-stakes initiatives while maintaining the agility to pivot as business priorities shift. I successfully managed the balance between internal talent and an ecosystem of external agency partners to ensure velocity and brand consistency.

Data-Driven Brand Stewardship: I bridged the gap between "gut-feeling" creative and data-driven performance. We used A/B testing and data insights within our creative workflow, ensuring that our brand experiments were measurable and directly contributed to business ROI. This ensured that our creative wasn't just beautiful, but strategically bulletproof.

C-Suite & Cross-Functional Alignment: Managing a brand at this scale requires relentless alignment. I serve as the primary bridge between the creative floor and high-level marketing and product executives, ensuring that every touchpoint—from digital ads to product interfaces—lives up to Toast’s brand promise.

Toast Brand Evolution

Core Focus: Brand Transformation, Agency Management, Team Leadership

Challenge: As Toast accelerated from a high-growth startup toward its IPO, the brand identity faced a critical inflection point. The existing visual and verbal system needed to evolve beyond its early-stage roots to establish the credibility required for enterprise-level clients and public market investors, all while maintaining the brand's deep, restaurant-first soul for independent owners.

Strategy: I directed a comprehensive brand evolution that streamlined our identity across every customer touchpoint. This involved:

Scaling the Engine: Hiring and scaling a multidisciplinary internal team to handle the increased complexity of a public-facing brand.
Strategic Alignment: Partnering with executive stakeholders to align the brand vision with shifting business priorities and a rapidly expanding product suite.
External Partnerships: Managing and guiding high-level creative agencies to augment our internal capabilities for major brand milestones.
Data-Informed Creative: Integrating data and performance metrics into our ideation to ensure the evolved identity moved the needle on customer sentiment and market awareness.

Impact: The result was a category-defining brand that successfully navigated a high-stakes IPO and became the industry standard for restaurant technology. Under my leadership, we maintained a relentless bar for brand excellence, ensuring that as the company grew, the brand remained consistent, human, and strategically aligned with our mission to empower the restaurant community.

The Story:

Leading Through Hyper-Growth: My time at Toast has been defined by the challenge of "building the plane while flying it." I’ve managed the creative organization through scaling, transitioning our focus from short-term tactical wins to long-term strategic brand building. I led the team in developing a cohesive visual and verbal identity that could scale from small independent restaurants to large enterprise accounts, including retail, international, and emerging markets.

Operational Excellence & Scaling: I didn't just lead a creative team–I architected a creative engine. This involved building a culture of collaboration and mentorship that allows our team to tackle complex, high-stakes initiatives while maintaining the agility to pivot as business priorities shift. I successfully managed the balance between internal talent and a diverse ecosystem of external agency partners to ensure maximum output and brand consistency.

Data-Driven Brand Stewardship: I bridged the gap between "gut-feeling" creative and data-driven performance. We used A/B testing and data insights within our creative workflow, ensuring that our brand experiments were measurable and directly contributed to business ROI. This ensured that our creative wasn't just beautiful, but strategically bulletproof.

C-Suite & Cross-Functional Alignment: Managing a brand at this scale requires relentless alignment. I serve as the primary bridge between the creative floor and high-level marketing and product executives, ensuring that every touchpoint—from digital ads to product interfaces—lives up to Toast’s brand promise.

Toast: Creating and Scaling a Category Defining Brand

The Mission: Lead and scale the Toast brand and creative organization through a period of hyper-growth and public market transition.

The Impact: Transformed the creative team from a tactical resource into a strategic powerhouse. Managed the brand’s evolution across all channels, integrated data-informed creative processes, and navigated the complexities of scaling a multidisciplinary team in a fast-paced environment.