About
We are strategists, activators, and guides.
Your business has goals to grow and impact the world. At Rachel K Group (RKG), you can trust us to define the right plan, take action, and help you reach your next destination.
The Story Behind RKG
Working on many advertising campaigns and marketing strategies for Fortune 500 companies, I learned what makes a brand recognizable and successful.
The secret? Establish a purpose beyond making money and set a clear promise for how you make a lasting impact. The problem is many brands prioritize sales or investors over everything else, including their own teams and customer satisfaction.
I took that experience and knowledge, left the corporate world, and started a relationship-driven brand consulting agency. Because I believe every brand has the potential to be world-changing, even if it’s just in one corner of the world. Most companies just need a guide to help them along the way.
We lead teams from big ideas to real-life impact. We call ourselves sherpas because sherpas help guide their clients to the highest peaks while carrying their packs. Whether you need to simplify your message, shape your culture, or align your organization’s brand, we make sure you are positioned to serve your target audience the way only you can.
The Values That Fuel Us
People are the priority
We genuinely enjoy the relationships we curate along the journey of brand-building with our clients, and prioritize relationships over profits. We also believe people are the most valuable asset of any organization which is why we’re so passionate about helping build healthy cultures.
Cultivate joy in the journey
We do what we do because of the difference it makes in people’s lives, but recognize change doesn’t happen overnight. In the journey of guiding our clients to brand alignment and culture renovation, we make sure to have fun along the way.
Curiosity is courageous
We seek to understand our clients’ wants, needs, and goals through powerful question asking and active listening. Rather than setting a course and then sticking to it no matter what, we stay open and curious throughout a client engagement to stay nimble and make adjustments as needed.
Meet the Team
Chief Business Sherpa
Rachel K. Cross
Rachel is a brand strategist, culture consultant, and marketing communications expert, working with global companies across industries including Qualcomm, Kyocera Wireless, Intuit, World Vision, Nuvve, San Diego Half Marathon, and more. Rachel has led dozens of teams to positively impact culture, product innovation, customer journey, and brand expression. She works with businesses in every stage, from Fortune 500 and privately held to start-up and pre-to-post-IPO.
Her degree in Psychology from UCLA (#GoBruins) catalyzed an interest in personal development and organizational leadership that continues to this day. Along with her values of connection, curiosity, and life-giving, her love for learning allows her to show up as a courageous, innovative guide in her work, hence her title, “business sherpa.”
In her spare time, Rachel loves to travel, snowboard, paddleboard, scuba dive, cook, and practice speaking Spanish. She’s trying to stretch her way into being a yogi and finds meditation an essential part of her day. She considers the mountains her happy place but will never give up sunsets over the ocean. Mucho gusto!
Meet the Other Sherpas
Writer/Editor
Marlise Kast-Myers
Marlise is our go-to for “all the words.” Whether we need something written from scratch, edited, or proofread, her incredible research and writing skills help with marketing materials, press releases, feature articles, web content, brand books, and more. Oh, and she’s a fellow snowboarder, travel enthusiast, and lives on a farm with her hubbie, Benjamin!
WordPress Web Developer
Watts Web Studio
Nick is our go-to WordPress guru. He’s a creative and innovative website developer who we rely on with not only our clients’ website needs but our own. When not coding websites, you’ll find Nick adventuring with his gorgeous wife and adorable daughter near the ocean or in the mountains, running, reading, or enjoying a cup of coffee.
Communications Specialist
Rebecca Kumar
Rebecca loves creating content. She combines her nonprofit experience with skills in event planning, copywriting, graphics, social media, and project management. She spent over 7 years of her “normal working hours” creating content for Facebook before launching on an around-the-world tour. No big deal.
Motion Graphics + Video Editing
Jesse Eslinger
Jesse is our video and animations guru. From editing many videos for our clients to working on our own online course modules and brand animations, Jesse is a genius visual storyteller. Though he has a day job, he manages to complete all his side hustle projects on time and with style.
Writer / Content Creator
Samantha Nguyen
Sam is our go-to for all the words, especially if puns are involved. She brings humor and creativity to all our writing needs from social media and blogs to email marketing. She’s a fellow soul seeker and world traveler, but always manages to complete her projects in the right time zone.
Graphic Designer
Jonathan Martin
Jonathan is one of our go-to freelance graphic design artists. He’s helped our clients with new brand expressions, refreshing existing ones, and is a pro with production artwork projects ranging from event graphics to marketing brochures and collateral. We also love his business name, Sunnier Studio, which fits perfectly with his personality!
Meeting Planner
Monica Pla
With over 25 years of meeting planning experience, we know we can rely on Monica to help us find the right hotel venue for every event – from rooms to meeting space – anywhere in the world. She works her magical negotiating skills to get us the best contracts possible, all at no cost to our clients!
Photographer
Paula Watts Photography
Paula Watts is a highly sought-after, award-winning advertising photographer creating nationwide campaigns in the beauty, fashion, and cosmetics industries. She prides herself on great lighting and show-stopping imagery for her clients that can be used across marketing channels. We use Paula for various client needs and she also happened to take most of the fancy headshots of Rachel you see on this site.
Graphic Designer
Benjamin Monson
Ben is the talent behind the Rachel K Group brand expression. He translated Rachel’s love of mountains and her sherpa theme into what you see visually represented today with little to no direction. When we need a brand identity refresh, Ben is one of the first people we call.
Let’s see how far your business can go with the right guide.
