NEARLY THREE DECADES of knowing what to do next.
Brand strategy, positioning, digital presence — for companies that have the people to do the work and need someone to tell them what the work is. Whether the strategy is working, isn't, or doesn't exist yet. I advise. Your team executes.
The method.
Every engagement starts the same way: I look at the situation from every angle. The customer's, the team's, the founder's, the board's, the press's. Then I tell you what's actually going on, without the version that's easier to hear, and what I'd do about it. I sugar coat nothing and hold your hand anyway. Clients have called it first-principles problem solving. I call it the job.
How it works.
Senior advisor. A standing role — embedded a few hours a week, in for a day a month, whatever cadence the team needs. I sit with leadership, I direct the teams, I'm on call when the plan meets reality.
We agree on what done looks like and I stay until it is.
Where it comes from…
I'm Aliza Licht, a brand strategy consultant and senior advisor to companies and leaders, based in New York City. A fashion industry veteran, I've worked across fashion, luxury, and tech.
I started my career in 1996 in magazine editorial at Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire, where I learned how influence is created. From there I moved into fashion PR at Donna Karan (14 years under LVMH), where among other projects, I created DKNY PR GIRL, a pioneer in social media storytelling. My reveal as the person behind the Twitter handle generated 230 million media impressions. I later became head of marketing and communications at alice + olivia, then left to start my own consultancy.
Since then, my experience has ranged from interim CMO roles to board advisory to embedded consulting at brands like Warby Parker, where I led the social team, then Brand Experience for a year, and now serve as a senior advisor on strategic initiatives. My second book, On Brand, led Forbes to name me one of its 19 Top Global Personal Branding Experts — I bring that same lens to your founder's visibility and your leadership team's positioning, not just the brand's.
What that produces is a specific skill: I see the thing in the room that nobody has said yet, and I'll say it. And I can tell you how it ends before you've decided how it starts.
Where I’m useful.
A launch that has to land. Product, brand, book, listing. The plan exists; you want someone who has seen fifty of them to tell you where it breaks.
A team that has drifted. Social, marketing, or comms is busy and not moving anything. I’ll tell you what to stop, what to start, and who should own it.
A brand that needs a decision. Relaunch, reposition, rename, partner. The kind of choice a room can debate for six months. I’ll help you make it in six weeks.
A founder who has to become a public voice. What to say, where, how often, and what never to say at all.
A moment you have to get right. The partnership, the cultural tie-in, the announcement. The thing that will be screenshotted either way.
Questions people ask.
What does a brand strategy consultant actually do? Tells you what your brand is, who it’s for, what it should say, and what to stop doing. Then makes sure the team executing it knows the difference. I don’t run the accounts. I decide what the accounts are for.
Is this a fractional CMO? Close. I’ll weigh in on everything a CMO would: positioning, visual identity, copy, campaigns, the team. The difference is I advise the people who run it, including the CMO, rather than running the department myself. If you need someone to run it, I’ll tell you, and I’ll help you hire them, or I’ll pitch in myself in a fractional capacity.
Who is this for? Founders, CEOs, and marketing leaders at consumer-facing companies, fashion and retail especially, who have a team and want senior judgment on top of it. Also the company that’s about to do something public: a launch, a listing, a relaunch, a partnership.
What do you not do? Execute. I don’t write the posts or build the deck. I’ll tell you whether you need an agency, and I’ll run the agency if you do.
How do companies work with you? Three ways: a standing senior-advisor role, a defined engagement around one situation, or a single call. Most start with the call.
In their words.
“Incredible insight and wealth of knowledge about creating an authentic brand that will resonate with my customer base.”
“She really set me in the right direction and mindset toward where I should position my online brand.”
CLIENTS. NAMES WITHHELD.