The Eco-Business Spotlight is Nadi Marketing’s monthly series highlighting businesses and entrepreneurs leading the way with sustainable practices and making a lasting impact.

I want to introduce you to Ashlee Sang, brand strategist, consultant, and collaborator. I digitally met Ashlee on Instagram when I started my business in 2020, and we connected over VIP Days. Ashlee has been killing it as a speaker, featured in over 20 podcasts and numerous events, as she brings a fresh perspective on all things marketing, messaging, brand values, and business for good. Learn more about Ashlee with her interview below:

What is your eco-business, and what inspired you?

I run a consulting business that equips conscious and caring business owners with values-aligned brand messaging strategies to grow their revenue and impact. It’s all about creating a business that feels and does good.

I come from the international development space—I was in Senegal in West Africa before moving to local nonprofits and freelancing on the side. Now, I’ve been consulting full-time for almost 4 years.

As an enneagram 1, I’ve always been driven to advocate for the things that make our world better. I do that formally as a 1% for the Planet member and more generally with vicarious impact—by working with visionary founders, social entrepreneurs, and nonprofit leaders, I’m sharing their messages that matter and facilitating their impact, which then trickles back down to me.

What are some industry-specific challenges you faced?

One of the trickiest things I’ve had to overcome is getting people to understand and prioritize brand messaging strategy as a must-have rather than a maybe-someday-nice-to-have. Most of us invest in our visual branding, our website, maybe even outsource our copy or our content. But we often overlook the strategy behind how we run our business and make our marketing decisions.

Brand messaging creates the foundation for all intentional, thoughtful decisions, not only in our marketing but also in our operations. When clients come to me understanding how much more clarity and consistency they’ll have with a brand messaging strategy to lean on, they’re so eager to get started and take confident, meaningful action toward their vision.

 

What’s the best way to support your eco-business right now?

For fellow online service providers, creating a referral relationship can be really powerful. Bringing me in to do values-aligned brand messaging strategy before your own work—from graphic design to website revamps, copy to systems setup, business coaching to social media management—makes your job a lot more efficient and effective because you’ll know what your clients’ priorities are, what their values are, and who their audience is.

For hosts, I LOVE having conversations around business for good and values-aligned decision-making. Whether it’s a podcast, a community AMA, or a summit workshop, it’s really fun for me to talk to with conscious and caring business owners, dive into their messaging questions and visibility fears, and inspire them to live out their brand values.

And then I put a lot of love and brainpower into my content, so if you follow me on social media or are on my newsletter list, please share and engage!

Any advice to those looking to start their own eco-business?

Lead with your values. THAT’S how you’re going to stand out and connect on a human level with the people you want to reach.

Values cut through all the clutter and go straight to the heart of what you and your audience care about. They’re the common thread between all your content pieces, all your offerings, partnerships, everything.

When you establish, define, and apply your brand values, you have a personalized road map for how to run your business. Basically, you consider your values first and foremost, then you incorporate your current audience or how you could expand your audience. And you add in your mission and business goals. When they’re all aligned, it’s full steam ahead. When any one element is out of whack, it’s reason enough to pause and really evaluate if this is the right choice. 

Having this gut check in place saves so much time and indecision and money. 

And bonus tip: get outside perspective! Sometimes we’re just too close to our own business to know what choice to make or how to communicate what’s inside our head and heart.

 

What do you love most about being an eco-business, and what drives you to keep going at it?

Despite being an introvert, my favorite part about entrepreneurship has been building relationships with other conscious and caring business owners! I love hearing their stories, their winding path to how they got here, and their vision for the future. We’re able to swap tips, send referrals, commiserate on mindset blocks, connect through our shared values. It’s encouraging and inspiring to know that other people are out there making our shared world better through business.

 

Contact Ashlee Sang Consulting LLC

If you are an eco-business and would like to be featured, please fill out our Eco-Business Spotlight Form or contact us.