My Journey
I’ve never climbed Mount Everest, run a marathon or won an Oscar. But I did climb the sand dunes at Erg Chebbi in Morocco, visited The Pyramids at Giza (in my student travel days), and once took a hot air balloon ride over Sedona. I also spent 18 months in India (managing a joint venture between The Estee Lauder Companies and a local conglomerate). I feel grateful to have had such incredible experiences. Perhaps more important, I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to work with, and learn from, some amazingly talented people in interesting companies, on projects both fascinating and mundane.
I love what I do because it lets me use multiple parts of my brain. In a Wall Street Journal article many years ago, I described myself as “a one-man band, albeit of the feminine persuasion.” I’ve found that descriptor often resonates with clients, especially when headcounts are lean and resources are tight.
HOW I OPERATE
I have operated as an independent consultant, working primarily on a project basis, for the past two decades (although one client who brought me in for a marketing, branding, business strategy and corporate communications assignment subsequently asked me to assume a fulltime position, and I then served as chief operating officer of his company, Dashing Diva Franchise Corp.). I work a lot in the beauty and financial services sector, and occasionally for clients in the health & wellness, education and non-profit space. I have, also, on occasion, accepted assignments in industries about which I knew virtually nothing (like construction management services) and was able to produce excellent work — perhaps because I approached these assignments with no pre-existing category bias.
RECENT CONSULTING ASSIGNMENTS
Small business owners (especially restaurant, hair salon, nail salon owners) were extremely hard hit by the pandemic. As part of my ongoing advocacy for Korean-American nail salon owners in the NY tri-state area, I worked with a group of their leaders to create a brand new trade association, which quickly attracted 180 members. I helped them identify/articulate their mission statement, purpose, core values and member benefits, then developed all the English-language content and copy for their website. I also prepared an introductory press release that netted the association local media coverage (including in The New York Times) and produced critical communications for their customer base regarding safety protocols.
One of the most interesting assignments I took on in 2020 was a marketing, branding and communications project for a small “boutique” firm in the construction management services industry. The founder/client had a strong and unique point of view about how he wanted to compete in this highly competitive industry: namely by showcasing, front and center, the incredibly talented, passionate and committed team members he employs. With that goal in mind, I created a compelling vision for his website (www.haydanconsultantsinc.com) that included replacing standard employee bios with snappy Q&As with each team member (designed to specifically elicit their insights about the jobs they are doing and the careers they have chosen). I developed the website content, wrote all the copy, conducted and edited all the team member interviews and found one of the best head shot photographers in NYC to visually convey what makes each of the employees so unique. I also found an amazingly talented (and affordable) graphic designer to create the client’s logo and design/implement the website. I was thrilled to learn recently from the client that he has already leveraged the web site to attract several new clients and projects, as well as to attract some exceptionally talented new team members.
Last year, I began helping leading K Beauty brand THE SAEM refine its U.S. marketing, distribution, corporate communications and PR strategy. I developed all the content for their U.S. website (www.thesaembeautyusa.com), including sourcing powerful customer testimonials for each of the key products, wrote all the copy and found the graphic designer to create it and get it up. I crafted a preliminary corporate communications/PR strategy, creating a trio of compelling press releases for some of the brand’s key products in the US market, two of which bore fruit immediately.
I have worked on many different consulting assignments over the past two decades. This is not an exhaustive list, but it helps showcase some of the skills I can bring to my clients. One of the most gratifying assignments was coming up with the initial product concept for The Clorox Company’s Liquid Plumr Foaming Pipe Snake and seeing it make a big splash in the marketplace. (I still get a thrill when I see it on the shelves at Home Depot, Walmart and Lowe’s.)
ACI: business development, brand positioning/messaging refinement for 3 DRTV beauty brands on HSN
Pink Lemon Park: devised complete branding/marketing plan (concept, naming, store design, menu, website copy) for new high-end nail salon in New York City
KDG: developed marketing communication/client prospecting strategy for this prestigious, Los Angeles-based construction management firm
Ascena Retail Group: conducted competitive review of best practices/major cause marketing activities in the retail apparel sector; then developed a new cause marketing initiative plan to deepen customer engagement at its dressbarn unit
AJLI: conducted feasibility study for development of a new, for-profit arm of this leading women’s charitable organization
Johnson & Johnson: developed new product/communications platforms around the whitening category for Rembrandt toothpaste brand
HSBC: created advertising/events plan to drive acquisition for HSBC Premier in key (US) Hispanic markets
Ziba Beauty: prepared business development/franchising plan for this family-owned beauty services provider
Hallowell Center: developed marketing communications strategy, including all web content and printed collateral material, for the NYC patient facility of best-selling author/ADHD expert Dr. Ned Hallowell
Bath & Body Works: identified new business development opportunities for its C.O. Bigelow and aromatherapy lines
John Frieda Professional Hair Care: developed the initial e-commerce strategy/content; served as interim Marketing Director on best-selling Frizz-Ease brand
HAELTH™: prepared marketing/communications repositioning plan for innovative “wellness” center in SoHo and launched a highly targeted customer acquisition effort that attracted a new, high-spending clientele using a stunning new brochure (for which I developed all the content, wrote all the copy and found a brilliant freelance Art Director to design it)
Inspirica: developed customer acquisition and guerrilla marketing brand awareness plan for this high-end private tutoring/test prep company