Dena Hope Rand — Social, Brand & Digital Marketing Director

Leading brands
beyond the feed.

A decade leading marketing for consumer brands. Currently open to full-time director-level roles and select consulting engagements: fractional advisory, strategy intensives, and one-off strategy calls.

Results that speak
for themselves.

A cross-section of campaigns, brand builds, and growth strategies. Each measured against real revenue, reach, and retention.

Pecana Nutmilk · via Resplendent Agency

My role: Social Strategy · Paid Social Strategy & Execution · Budget Planning · Retail Launch Orchestration · Influencer Partnerships · Reporting & Tracking

CPG Retail Launch 2024–2025

Supporting a national Walmart launch with store locator campaigns and shopper marketing content

Pecana Nutmilk is a woman-owned, Texas-rooted pecan-based plant milk brand entering Walmart nationally alongside Erewhon, Whole Foods, H-E-B, and more. The strategy focused on the shopper marketing tactics that drive store velocity: geo-targeted store locator ad campaigns, in-store discovery content, founder Kortney Chase's story, and influencer partnerships tied to holiday retail moments. A single December Walmart discovery reel reached 108K+ views across Instagram and Facebook with 3,451 interactions and 27K accounts reached, driving store locator visits during peak shopping season.

108K+ views on holiday Walmart reel

3,451 interactions on single post

+69.9% organic engagement growth

+57.7% impression growth

KESSHŌ · via Resplendent Agency

My role: Social Strategy · Paid Media Architecture · Creative Direction · Shopify Reporting & ROAS Tracking · Founder Storytelling

Specialty Food E-commerce 2025–2026

Crossing 5K, growing online sales, and building momentum with a lean paid media budget

KESSHŌ is an Austin-based bean-to-bar chocolate and gelato brand: handcrafted bars, gelato pints served from local trailers, and Asian-inspired flavors like Jasmine Yuzu, Ube Horchata, and Dubai-style Black Sesame. Strong product story, loyal audience, clear aesthetic. They needed a consistent social strategy to turn brand interest into measurable growth. We built content around product drops, founder storytelling, and flavor education, then amplified with a disciplined paid budget, delivering 15.73x blended ROAS across five months.

127.2% online store sales increase

104% YoY audience growth

1.69M impressions (campaign period)

15.73x blended paid ROAS

Merit Coffee · via Resplendent Agency

My role: Social Strategy · TikTok Launch Strategy · Content Direction · Influencer Partnerships · New Store Opening Support

F&B TikTok Launch 2025–2026

Crossing 60K, launching a TikTok, and building a brand people actually follow

Merit Coffee had 52K Instagram followers, no TikTok, and was posting 3–4 times a month. The account had been stagnant for years. Starting in October 2025, we built a consistent brand voice, launched TikTok from zero with platform-native content that found its own audience quickly, supported new store openings with 9 influencers, drove seasonal beverage launches and e-commerce activations, and generated 700+ comments on a single Austin FC partnership post. Campaign ongoing.

2.79M+ views (+170%)

43.5K engagements (+84%)

12% engagement rate & climbing

60K+ followers crossed

Maaribu · via Resplendent Agency

My role: Dual-Brand Social Strategy · Paid Media Architecture · Creative Direction

Cafe Home & Retail 2025–2026

Two brands, two briefs: organic community for an Austin cafe, paid performance for a home design studio

Maaribu is two Austin brands under one ownership: Maaribu Cafe & Gifts is a gluten-free cafe and gift shop on South First Street; Maaribu Home & Design is a curated home goods and interior design shop. Each needed something different. For the cafe, we built the organic presence from a small starting audience: Instagram Reels and TikTok centered on the menu, the ambiance, and local community moments. For the home brand, we ran Meta awareness and shopping campaigns focused on curated lifestyle creative and product discovery. The paid work delivered 946K+ impressions at a $2.37 CPM, far below the $8–15 category benchmark for home and retail.

703K+ organic IG views (Cafe)

2,710 net followers gained (Cafe)

122K TikTok views (Cafe)

11.76x Meta-attributed ROAS (Home)

946K+ paid impressions (Home)

$2.37 CPM vs. $8–15 benchmark (Home)

Banger's Sausage House & Beer Garden · via Resplendent Agency

My role: Social Strategy · Creative Direction · Organic Content Pillars · Founder Storytelling

Hospitality Zero Paid Spend 2025

Bringing Rainey Street's original beer garden back to the spotlight

Banger's is an Austin staple: in-house sausages, an extensive beer selection, and one of Rainey Street's original beer garden cultures. They came to Resplendent to reinvigorate their social presence and reintroduce the brand to locals. Over three months, we built content pillars around brand heritage, menu craftsmanship, and community: founder storytelling, sausage-making content, and trend-led Reels that celebrated the humor and humanity of the place. Zero paid spend.

869K+ total impressions (+679%)

50K video views (+59%)

4.6K engagements (+53%)

208 new followers

Full-stack marketing
leadership.

From positioning decks to post-campaign analysis, I own the entire marketing function and the results that follow.

Social Strategy as a Business Function

Social isn't a content calendar. I build social into the broader marketing mix, tied to business goals, informed by data, and run like an owned media channel with measurable return.

Paid Social & Performance Media

Campaign architecture across Meta, TikTok, Google, CTV, and programmatic. Structured for efficiency, tested for performance, and optimized against real acquisition costs.

CPG, Retail & Shopper Marketing

Full-funnel launch support for CPG brands entering national retail (Walmart, Whole Foods, H-E-B) and hospitality brands opening new locations. Geo-targeted store locator ad campaigns, on-shelf discovery content, and shopper marketing built to drive store velocity from day one.

Creative Direction

Directing shoots, overseeing visual identity, writing copy, and building the feedback systems that keep creative output on-brand, on-brief, and consistently strong.

Brand Clarity & Positioning

Helping brands understand what they actually stand for, then building the messaging architecture that makes it legible across every channel, touchpoint, and campaign.

Team Leadership & Operations

Building the workflows, reporting cadences, and cross-functional structures that let creative and strategy teams do their best work without constant escalation.

The strategist
behind the work.

I started in PR, moved into digital, spent time teaching, and have been in marketing for over a decade. Along the way I've written the copy, pulled the data, directed the shoots, run the paid campaigns, and built the content systems from the ground up.

Most recently I led social at Resplendent Agency, working with restaurant groups, CPG brands, boutique hotels, retail concepts, and specialty food companies. Before that: lookthinkmake, Nova Hospitality, and years of client-side work that shaped how I approach agency work now.

The teams I work best with have a strong foundation and real potential, but need someone who can turn that into a system that performs.

The next
chapter.

Currently open to director-level roles and select consulting engagements. For full-time: in-house marketing leadership at consumer brands that want to build the function long-term. For consulting: fractional advisory, diagnostic sprints, and strategy calls — see options above.

dena.hope.rand@gmail.com

Leading brands
beyond the feed.

Results that speak
for themselves.

Supporting a national Walmart launch with store locator campaigns and shopper marketing content

Crossing 5K, growing online sales, and building momentum with a lean paid media budget

Crossing 60K, launching a TikTok, and building a brand people actually follow

Two brands, two briefs: organic community for an Austin cafe, paid performance for a home design studio

Bringing Rainey Street's original beer garden back to the spotlight

Full-stack marketing
leadership.

Three ways to
work together.

Strategy Consult Call

Diagnostic Sprint

Fractional Marketing Advisor

The strategist
behind the work.

The next
chapter.

Leading brandsbeyond the feed.

Results that speakfor themselves.

Supporting a national Walmart launch with store locator campaigns and shopper marketing content

Crossing 5K, growing online sales, and building momentum with a lean paid media budget

Crossing 60K, launching a TikTok, and building a brand people actually follow

Two brands, two briefs: organic community for an Austin cafe, paid performance for a home design studio

Bringing Rainey Street's original beer garden back to the spotlight

Full-stack marketingleadership.

Three ways towork together.

Strategy Consult Call

Diagnostic Sprint

Fractional Marketing Advisor

The strategistbehind the work.

The nextchapter.

Leading brands
beyond the feed.

Results that speak
for themselves.

Full-stack marketing
leadership.

Three ways to
work together.

The strategist
behind the work.

The next
chapter.