Katie Miller is the founder and lead strategist and designer of Portia & Cleo, a boutique brand marketing studio devoted to helping visionary founders clarify who they are, what they stand for, and how their story moves people to action. For nearly a decade, Katie has guided business owners through the work of shaping their brands with narrative strategy, refined design, and story-driven marketing — helping them move from simply participating in the market to leading within it.

 

Her path to marketing did not begin in the corporate world. It began on the stage.

 

Trained as a theater artist at the University of Washington, Katie spent her early years studying the discipline of storytelling — how a character’s arc shapes an audience, how intention drives connection, and how the smallest details can transform a moment into something unforgettable. Those lessons became the foundation of how she now thinks about brand marketing. To Katie, every business is a story unfolding in real time, and every founder is the main character driving it forward.

 

Over the past fifteen years, Katie has led marketing strategy for luxury multi-family residential and commercial real estate brands across the Pacific Northwest, executing campaigns that built loyalty, occupancy, and meaningful audience engagement. Alongside that work, she has supported civic and economic development efforts through marketing leadership with the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce, the Kirkland Downtown Association, the Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Kenmore — bridging storytelling with place-based marketing to help communities and the businesses within them thrive together.

 

Today, her deepest passion lies in supporting female-founded brands — partnering with women who are building businesses with vision, integrity, and the courage to lead boldly in their industries.

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Through that work, a pattern began to emerge. Many of the businesses Katie partnered with had strong products, dedicated teams, and ambitious visions — yet their stories were buried beneath generic marketing, surface-level branding, and scattered messaging. They were working hard, but they weren’t being heard. Katie founded Portia & Cleo to change that.

 

Named for two of Shakespeare's most intelligent and commanding female figures — Portia, the architect of strategy, and Cleopatra, the embodiment of presence — the studio represents the two forces every brand requires: strategic intelligence and unforgettable visibility. Together, they shape the work of Portia & Cleo, where brands are built with depth, clarity, and intention, then brought to life through refined design and narrative-driven marketing.

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Outside of work, Katie is mom to Mia (13) and Jack (10), and wife to Chris, who has been an "Amazonian" for nearly twelve years. In her free time, she enjoys serving on boards, volunteering in her community, and spending sunny days out on Lake Washington with her family — ideally with a cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc in hand.

 

Today, Katie partners with founders and growing businesses across the Pacific Northwest and beyond who are ready to step fully into the role of leader within their own brand and their given market. Her work spans brand strategy and identity design, founder visibility, narrative marketing, and the kind of considered design systems that allow a business to grow with clarity, confidence, and meaning.