Rachel B. Lee
Co-owner and CMO, StandOut Authority™ | Co-founder, YOUmanize™ | The Branding Ladyboss
Keynote speaker and brand strategist helping founders, executives, and teams translate who they are into brands that people actually trust.
Book RachelRachel B. Lee
Rachel is the architect of how Authority Architecture reaches the market.
A LinkedIn Top Voice and former brand strategy leader at Microsoft and Gartner, she built brand programs that drove more than a billion impressions and won the Microsoft Inspire Speaker Excellence Award.
At StandOut Authority she leads positioning, content, and execution, the system that turns clarity into momentum.
People do not follow brands. They follow humans they trust.
Speaker
Rachel B. Lee is a keynote speaker who has trained and spoken for Microsoft, Gartner, SXSW, UT Austin, Rutgers, Kendra Scott’s Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute, and leadership communities across the US. With enterprise brand experience inside two of the largest technology companies in the world and a decade of agency and consulting work, Rachel brings an unusual combination of craft and pattern recognition to every stage.
Her talks challenge the assumption that brand is what a company says about itself. Instead, she shows audiences why trust is the new currency, why employees are the most credible brand channel a company has, and how human-first strategy translates into measurable pipeline and retention outcomes.
Rachel’s speaking style is direct, warm, and specific. Audiences leave with a clearer sense of how to make their brand legible to real humans, not just algorithms.
Humanity → Authority → Answer
The new framework for becoming the trusted answer in your category. Delivered jointly with Joshua B. Lee.
The Human Algorithm
Building real influence in a world of artificial everything. How human perspective becomes the signal AI cannot replicate. Delivered jointly with Joshua B. Lee.
Human-First Brand Strategy
Why trust is the new currency and how to design brand systems that earn it on purpose, not by accident.
Employee Voice and Trust at Scale
How to turn employees into your most credible brand channel without performative content or corporate scripts.
Awards & Honors
AAF Austin Big WigBest Blog Writer, 2019
Microsoft InspireSpeaker Excellence Award, 2018
LinkedIn Top VoiceHuman-first branding
What Leaders Say After Working With Rachel
Rachel is a true brand architect. She has the rare ability to see both the strategic big picture and the human details that actually move people. Any leader working with Rachel is getting someone who understands how modern brands are really built.BaaghilBrand Futurist, Global Brand Consultant, Author and Speaker
Rachel brought clarity and conviction to every room she walked into at Microsoft. She has a gift for translating complex strategy into messages people inside and outside the company can actually act on. That is the skill every brand leader wishes they had.Lisa ReshaurVP, Risk and Resilience, Microsoft
Rachel is one of the few people I trust to think about brand and content at the same time. She understands how human voice, trust, and systems work together, and she can teach it in a way that leaders actually apply.Katie BrinkleyOutsourced Marketing Partner for $1M+ Health and Wellness Brands
Working with Rachel was a turning point. She reframed how we thought about our brand from the inside out and made us rethink who our people needed to be in the market. That shift shows up in our pipeline and in our culture.Kelly HoppingSX Chief Marketing Officer, Best Selling Author, Forbes Contributor, Top 50 CMOs to Watch
Rachel is sharp, warm, and a real student of brand. She has a way of taking what feels intangible about people and culture and turning it into a clear strategy that leadership teams can act on.Suzanne GonzalesStrategic Integrated Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Brand Builder
Rachel speaks about brand the way the best leaders speak about their people, with specificity and care. Every time I have heard her present, I have walked away with a clearer sense of what to actually do next.Michelle McDowellHR Coordinator at SunTrust now Truist
Common questions about Rachel B. Lee
A quick read on the voice work, the brand lens, and the best way to engage.
What does Rachel B. Lee do?
Co-founds StandOut Authority. Writes the WYB newsletter monthly. Works with founders on brand voice extraction and positioning, helping them sound like themselves instead of the polished version. Co-architect of the translation problem framing that anchors The Human Layer manifesto.
What is Rachel known for?
Voice work. Helping founders sound like the real version of themselves instead of the polished one. Brand storytelling, founder positioning, executive communication.
How do you work with Rachel?
Through StandOut Authority consulting and the Authority Playbook. Specific voice work shows up as part of the broader Authority Architecture system.
Where can I read Rachel's writing?
The WYB newsletter archive is linked below. New issues publish here first, then on LinkedIn.
What does WYB stand for?
Working Your Brand. The newsletter is about the actual work of building one.
Read The Human Layer AI Can't Replace, the manifesto behind the translation problem framing Rachel and Joshua use across StandOut Authority.
Pull up the last three things you posted publicly. Read them out loud. Do they sound like you on the phone with a friend, or do they sound like a half-decent marketer in your space? Hit reply with the one you would rewrite.
Reply to JenniferReady to Work With Rachel?
The front door of StandOut Authority™ is a Foundations Conversation. It is where we listen to what you are building, where the brand and authority gap is, and whether we are the right fit to close it together.
Start a foundations conversationBook Rachel
For speaking inquiries, podcast interviews, and press requests, tell us a little about what you are building.