The Story Behind Portia & Cleo

A founder story shaped by a pandemic, a community, and the quiet courage to begin again.

I have always believed that the most powerful brands are not manufactured. They are revealed.

Portia & Cleo was revealed slowly — through pandemic Zoom calls, hand-built graphics for community fundraisers, late-night client emails, in-person introductions to people I had only ever known through a screen, and one very persistent realization: that what I was building had outgrown the name on the door.

This is the story of how it began — and how it became.

It started in the middle of a pandemic.

In 2020, I founded KM Marketing Services in response to a quiet but urgent need. Community-based programs and local non-profits had been doing deeply human work — and overnight, the world had become disconnected. The communities they served couldn't gather. The people they relied on couldn't see one another. And the organizations themselves were left wondering how to remain present at a moment when presence felt impossible.

I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.

I built social media campaigns that brought neighborhoods back together through screens. I designed graphics that reminded people they were not alone. I wrote copy that turned isolation into invitation, and quiet streets into thriving virtual community squares.

And in the doing, I learned something that would shape every piece of work I have done since:

Brand and marketing, when done with intention, are not promotional. They are connective.

Then the world reopened — and I started meeting the people I had been serving.

After two years of building community through pixels and posts, I began meeting the people whose lives my work had quietly touched. Mothers who had found support groups through a campaign I designed. Volunteers who had joined a cause because of a graphic that stopped them mid-scroll. Donors who had funded entire programs because of stories I had helped to tell.

It was in those in-person conversations that I understood the true weight of this work. The power of what I was building was bigger than I had let myself believe.

And then came a turning point I had not been expecting.

After staying home for nearly twelve years with my children, something inside me shifted. The work had become more than a side project. It had become a calling — and one I was no longer willing to keep small.

It was time, finally, to take something back for myself.

I began working with the business owners I had been meeting through the communities I served. Local founders. Women building bold businesses in places they cared deeply about. Entrepreneurs who, like me, were ready for something more.

And it was there — in that work — that I found my deepest passion:

Helping visionary female founders and bold businesses tell their story through connection and conversion.

At the beginning of 2025, I stood at a crossroads.

I did not yet know what this business would become.

Would it continue as a quiet side endeavor? Or would it grow into something more legitimate, more substantial, more aligned with the caliber of work my clients were asking me to do?

The demand was answering the question for me. My clients wanted more. They needed more. And I was ready to build a studio capable of meeting that demand with intention, refinement, and presence.

So began the journey to create Portia & Cleo.

Why Portia. Why Cleo.

Named for two of Shakespeare's most bold and commanding female figures,

Portia & Cleo represents the two forces every brand requires.

Portia — strategy. The architect. The mind. The clarity beneath every decision.

Cleo — presence. The magnetism. The visibility. The unforgettable way a brand is seen, felt, and remembered.

Together, they define everything we do here.

This is the beginning.

Portia & Cleo exists for the founders who are ready to step fully into the role of leader within their own brand. For the women building something bigger than themselves. For the businesses with bold visions and a story worth telling well.

If that's you — I'm so glad you're here.

This is only the first of many stories I'll share in this space. I'll be writing about brand strategy, the founder's journey, the craft of storytelling, and the work of building a brand that is both strategically grounded and visually refined.

Thank you for being here at the beginning.

The brands that change industries, build communities, and stand the test of time all share one thing in common.

They know their story. They know why they matter. And they know how to tell it well.

— Katie