Rolando Brown

Strategist with an eye for emerging trends and a solid set of 21st century skills. Experienced in developing and implementing growth programs and work plans for individuals, start-ups and evolving organizations. Passionate about human potential, human relationships with technology, and the power social enterprises have to address the world's biggest challenges. Committed to making meaningful and transformative contributions to people, systems, and society.

A strategic consultancy helping people invested in social change increase their capacity to lead, gain new skills, master tools, and develop empowered relationships with technology.

Client:The 8 Factors:
website
A practical and action-oriented framework that combines real world experience with distilled MBA knowledge.

• Participated in a business development & strategic decision-making process relevant to online launch. Crafted a clear business model, an online marketing strategy, a growth strategy with tiered and timed releases of products and services, customers segments & critical partnerships needed to launch a comprehensive online course, a powerful network, and toolkit.
  

• Delivered clear insights and recommendations regarding critical product features, the prioritization of opportunities, approaches to addressing competitors, the value of lifestyle marketing & messages, and laid the foundation for marketing, branding and launching the 8 Factors online.
  

• Serve as an advisor addressing challenges, providing feedback on strategy & product, identifying new opportunities, and contributing to the incubation of the offering, platform, and team with an eye towards building a movement.
  

Client: Inner City Advisors
website
Nonprofit that helps Bay Area companies build sustainable and responsible inner city businesses.

• Partnered in the strategy & implementation of a process that clearly defined key indicators of success, set-up structured tracking & evaluation processes, and cultivated a compelling story for the organization and it's work with high caliber advisors and innovative entrepreneurs. Resulted in the publication of stylized reports used for self-evaluation, expanding the organizational base, and securing of additional funding.
  

• Improved Inner City Advisors' technical infrastructure, due diligence processes, and investment tracking tools by converting manual paper-based and desktop systems to integrated use of cloud- based applications. Resulted in increased efficiency, improved collective decision-making, and a higher return on investment in Inner City job creation.
  

• Established a marketing & communications strategy that transformed Inner City Advisors intent on consistently delivering strategic messages via targeted campaigns using online platforms. Directed organization in using every aspect of its events and public appearances to reinforce its mission, beliefs and values. Resulted in structured media & marketing training, the creation of key messaging and branding templates, a tripling of their base, increasing brand affinity among stakeholders, and securing additional resources needed to increase their capacity to create more inner city jobs.
  

Client: Youth Speaks
website
A multi-faceted organization that understands and believes that young people can change the world.

• Managed Youth Speaks marketing & communications team. Directed strategy development and oversaw the execution of all major campaigns. Resulted in an organizational shift towards a cohesive brand as well as a coherent presentation of Youth Speaks history, values, programs, and services.
  

• Established a strategy that replaced the organization's event centered promotional campaigns with a long-term values and mission driven marketing & communications approach. Resulted in the creation of a detailed marketing calendar, a branding hierarchy, the organization of creative assets, an increased creative and programmatic synergy among team, and an increase of the online base by 10,000 people.
  

• Represented Youth Speaks in strategic meetings and negotiations with stakeholders and funders such as Bechtel, Doris Duke Foundation, California Diabetes Program, corporate sponsors such as Verizon, partners such as HBO, Fundly, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, and Youth Radio. Resulted in securing new corporate sponsorships, discounted rates on partner services, the preservation of Youth Speaks mission and messaging, as well as realizing key results in partnership agreements.
  

Client: Zero Divide
website
Helps underserved communities realize the transformative power of technology.

• Led transition from using Microsoft Office products and fragmented desktops to using web-based integration of Google Apps, Egnyte, Salesforce & Smartsheets. Resulted in improvements in employee productivity, a shift in organizational culture, as well the reduction of IT costs.
  

• Mapped team's workflow and use of organizational systems resulting in the identification of opportunities to improve individual and organization-wide processes.
  

• Created and delivered over 40 individualized productivity trainings. Covered issues ranging from best practices for managing email, contacts, and calendars to document collaboration, sharing, and storage. Resulting in the development of work flows for multi-team multi-layered projects.
  

• Contracted by Zero Divide & the Levi's Strauss Foundation to develop & deliver a comprehensive training focused on building technology infrastructure for the Pioneers in Social Justice cohort. Resulted in 12 executive team members from 5 organizations reporting improvements to the integrity of their infrastructure as well as presenting plans for future improvements.
  

An award winning non-profit community building organization that fosters social change.

Managed a national network of 30 volunteers to produce international film festivals, education summits, and several other community events focused on the transformative power of Hip-Hop culture. Resulted in the screening of over 100 films globally to over 50,000 people as well as the convening of thousands of youth and people who work with them to exchange best practices and curriculum. Additionally, resulted in the publication of the first Hip-Hop Education Guidebook to meet national education standards.

Developed and managed strategies to increase visibility of program and service offering as well as ensure a clear and compelling identity across all initiatives, programs, and properties. Resulted in an increase in distributed audience from 2,000 people locally to 30,000+ people globally.

Supported President in maintaining relationships with funders such as the Ford Foundation & New York State Council on the Arts, corporate sponsors such as Jordan Brand, XXL and BET to strategic partners like Bronx Museum, Third World Newsreel and UW Madison. Resulted in the raising and management of over $500,000 in cash and in-kind support.

A consulting firm specializing in launching and marketing new products to the youth in urban markets.

Launched new products and services into the youth and urban markets, driving client results by challenging the conventional view of marketing and public relations for US consumer brands.

Played a central role in the creation and deployment of business development strategies, serving as resident expert in popular culture and youth marketing trends. Resulted in the successful acquisition of over 12 new accounts, most notably L'Oreal Technique, The Legacy League, TBS, Sprite, NY Knicks, and Def Jam University leading to the tripling of company revenues and inclusion in several national panels and conferences on the future of Youth & Urban Marketing.

Developed and managed a cutting edge technology infrastructure. Resulted in reduced IT costs, improved tracking of product placement and PR campaign success, as well as the deployment of innovative & competitive approaches to digital and email marketing campaigns before the advent of social networking platforms and online community.