Challenge:

LUMA was navigating the complexities of rapid growth, driven by diverse revenue streams that included direct-to-consumer (DTC) trainings, B2B on-site workshops, and physical products. Its distinctive Design Thinking offerings attracted a growing portfolio of enterprise clients like AutoDesk, GenPact, and International Bank. However, this success introduced significant operational challenges:

• A distributed and expanding international workforce faced increasing pressure, leading to misalignment and inefficiencies.

• Internal confusion began to spill over to clients, creating engagement and retention risks.

• Simultaneously, LUMA sought to operationalize a new business function: Marketing, without a clear structure or process in place.

Approach:

To address these operational challenges, I spearheaded an initiative to streamline and align LUMA’s internal and external processes.

• Brand Taxonomy Audit: Analyzed and standardized the organization’s sprawling brand architecture to eliminate inconsistencies across teams

• Centralized Knowledge System: Developed a single source of truth—a searchable online reference tool with clearly defined brand elements, terms, offerings, and AKAs (also known as)—to ensure every department operated from a unified playbook.

• Operational Workflows: Designed and implemented workflows that installed a healthier dynamic between Sales with downstream functions like Events and Onboarding, providing clear expectations

• Brand Guidelines: Produced a codified brand voice guide with actionable use-case examples and adaptable templates for cross-functional consistency

• Marketing Operations: Delivered a refreshed website with a new tagline and copy, aligning Marketing with enterprise goals and operational needs.

Results:

• Expanded Marketing Operations: Grew the Marketing team from a one-person function to a five-member team capable of producing on-brand videos and marketing collateral in-house, significantly reducing dependency on external vendors.

• Enhanced Cross-Functional Alignment: The Sales team reported greater alignment with Marketing efforts, streamlining collaboration and reducing friction in campaign execution.

• Improved Clarity for Downstream Teams: Functions like Events and Onboarding benefited from clearer and more actionable scope documents, accelerating project timelines and enhancing client experience.

• Stronger Operational Cohesion: The implementation of the centralized knowledge system and standardized workflows created a more synchronized workforce, reducing inefficiencies and internal confusion.

• Strategic Growth Milestone: LUMA’s enhanced operational structure contributed to its successful acquisition by Mural.
  
  

Client Feedback:

"Exceptional partnership that made an immediate and lasting impact.

Tasha was instrumental in helping us build a marketing operation to deliver value toward company goals. She has an exceptional ability to evaluate and analyze specific challenges, then develop a few realistic options for collaborating to get the job done, even as constraints change rapidly. She delivers all of that in a straightforward, candid and can-do approach borne of her deep experience in marketing and business growth strategies. Whether it was helping us build out a value proposition and brand voice that resonates in the marketplace, collaborating on market research to shape product launches, or standing up a customer experience operation from scratch, Tasha and her team were essential, trusted partners who helped us take on big challenges and produce highly impactful results."

CHRISTINE ZAPINSKI, CMO

Image credits: LUMA Institute