Brand Strategist | Go-To-Market Mentor
Hi, I’m Marijana, and I’m glad you found me! I'm a brand strategist. Before starting my own practice, I spent more than ten years in various functions across the brand at adidas, working across categories like sportswear, training and lifestyle. A big part of my work there was turning brand strategy into plans people could act on. For over a year now, I've loved mentoring founders here on GrowthMentor. These days, I run my own practice, helping early stage founders and marketing leads figure out who they're really for, why people should care, and how to bring their brand to life. In our sessions, I’ll listen first, ask lots of questions, and challenge your assumptions when it helps. You’ll leave with more clarity and a next step you can actually use. So whether you’re launching, growing, repositioning, or just feeling a bit stuck, come as you are and bring me the messy version. We’ll sort it out together. 😊
If your brand feels a bit off or hard to explain I can help you find clarity. I support early-stage teams who need to define what they stand for and how to talk about it. We’ll look at your audience, positioning, and messaging to make sure it all connects. You’ll leave with stronger foundations, clearer storytelling, and more confidence in your direction, whether you're building from scratch or evolving what you already have.
You have a product, but now you need a plan. I help early-stage teams bring structure to their go-to-market strategy so they can launch with clarity and direction. Whether you’re overwhelmed by channels, unsure about timing, or trying to make everything happen at once, I’ll help you prioritize what matters. We’ll map out a realistic rollout based on your audience, team, and goals, so you leave with a plan you can actually use.
I use Canva to help founders translate strategy into simple, compelling visuals — from moodboards to mockups. It’s great for aligning on tone, storytelling, and brand feel early on.
I use Miro to map brand strategy, run positioning exercises, and facilitate interactive workshops that help founders visualize their ideas and turn them into structured plans.
My go-to for organizing GTM roadmaps, campaign calendars, and shared brand documents, perfect for early teams who need clarity and alignment in one central place.
I’ve spent the past almost 10 years working within a brand, in the consumer goods space, mostly fashion and lifestyle, and I’m now mentoring early-stage teams who are navigating brand strategy and go-to-market planning for the first time. If you’re launching or scaling a consumer brand and want to avoid sounding like everyone else, I bring a mix of strategic clarity and hands-on execution perspective to help you build something that lasts.
Having worked on global campaigns across various sports, I’ve seen how sport can be both cultural and deeply personal. I mentor founders and early teams building brands around movement, performance, or community, especially those figuring out how to position themselves clearly in a fast-moving space. If you're stuck between a great idea and making it resonate, happy to help you think it through strategically.
I love working with founders who are building thoughtful lifestyle or wellness brands, the kind rooted in daily rituals, intention, and clarity of purpose. I mentor early-stage teams who are navigating brand strategy, positioning, or just trying to bring their story into focus. If you’re trying to connect the dots between your product, your values, and your customer, I’m here to help you structure that into something strong and coherent.
I recently had the chance to work with non profit organization on their global and local brand strategy in Lima, supporting a cause that uses sport to create social change. That experience reminded me how powerful clear brand positioning can be when purpose is at the core. I mentor early-stage teams and nonprofits navigating how to tell their story, connect with partners, and build brands that drive impact, not just awareness.
» Helping consumer brands build stronger positioning and turn it into clear go to market direction. » Focus areas: brand positioning, audience definition, competitive differentiation, messaging and go to market strategy.
» Developing and executing a dynamic multi-season activation plan for training/sportswear/golf and commercial priorities, closely aligned with the adidas Brand Strategy. » Owning and managing the comprehensive consumer marketing calendar for training/sportswear/golf categories, ensuring seamless integration with the business strategy. » Driving the strategic seasonal planning for the Women's category, integrating it into a high-priority Global Marketing Plan to elevate adidas' appeal among female consumers. » Supporting the UK ORIGINALS communications team with the Originals Reset activation, including content, storytelling, and a week long pop-up store in London Soho that delivered high turnover. » Leading the UK wholesale (WHS) activation project, developing a 2025 apparel playbook with account level marketing calendars and best practices.
» Provided PR guidance for the brand activations within Emerging markets. » Identified key media partners and developed a strategic approach to cultivate long-term relationships with media publishers. » Navigated diverse cultural and regional dynamics to ensure that PR strategies were aligned with local contexts, maintaining the brand’s global consistency while respecting regional nuances.
» Oversaw an extensive 8-digit marketing working budget for the global brand communications team, exhibiting exceptional skills in resource allocation and utilization. » Managed and mentored a highly capable Brand Marketing Assistant, driving improved budget closure and achieving accurate year-end financial forecasts. » Developed and nurtured a cohesive global agency environment through meticulous management of the Global Agency Roster comprising 50+ agencies.
» Led comprehensive internal communications strategies for brand and product campaigns, overseeing the content selection, internal PR, events, and stakeholder management. » Provided invaluable support to the Brand Marketing Leadership Team in the development and execution of strategic projects, ensuring the maintenance of brand consistency. » Managed a cross-functional team across two offices to successfully implement a new internal data collection tool (Smartsheet).
» Providing administrative and office support activities » Writing letters for customers and business partners » Entering data from source documents into prescribed computer database » Scanning documents into computer database
» Developed a marketing activation strategy on a local level » Supported store manager in day-to-day operations » Supported the communication with potential business partners and key accounts; consulting, alignment and contracts closing in B2C environment
» Student part time job » Managing climbing classes for children (Indoor, outdoor) » Preparing children for competitions (Local league, national league)
» Summer work ( August 2010, August 2011) » Managing swimming pool animations and games » Organising schedule for daily animations
