By: Gesche Haas
Gesche Haas is the founder & CEO of Dreamers & Doers, a highly curated community and PR Hype Machine™ for extraordinary women entrepreneurs.
For years, Ciara Siegel helped power the growth engines of some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Pampers, Godiva, and TikTok. You know these companies. You’ve felt their branding do what great branding does best: make you feel something. Ciara was behind that impact.
Today, she brings that same expertise to a much broader audience as the founder of CJC, applying big-brand strategy to businesses that don’t have billion-dollar budgets or the time for bloated decks and industry jargon.
At CJC, Ciara distills what works at the highest level into clear messaging, focused brands, and actionable plans that meet clients exactly where they are. Driven by a deep passion for empowering founders with both a growth mindset and branding that truly resonates, Ciara is on a mission to help businesses connect, scale, and stand out. She shares more about that journey in this interview.
What is the underlying mission of your work? How does it make a difference in people’s lives?
One of the very first things I do with clients is help them define their brand mission, the deeper why behind the work they do every day. Not the surface-level answer, but the driving force behind it. When you’re clear on what you’re here to do and why it matters, everything else gets easier. That’s how I approach my own business, too.
My mission is to make brand and marketing strategy achievable and accessible for entrepreneurs. I take everything I learned from building billion-dollar brands like Pampers, Godiva, and TikTok and translate it for the people who need it most: solopreneurs, small business owners, and founders who are doing it all but still want to grow with clarity and confidence. When their message clicks into place, they show up differently. That’s when real momentum begins.
What core values guide your business? How do these principles reflect your personal values, and how do they influence your leadership?
Because I help clients define their brand values, I take my own seriously, and I approach values a bit differently than most. Rather than listing what I might call generic buzzwords, I write value statements that are short, specific, and ownable so they don’t just express what I believe, but actually guide how I work and lead. These aren’t abstract ideals; they’re principles I apply every day in how I make decisions, serve clients, and show up in my business.
Here are my values:
- Clarity is the Catalyst: Brand clarity isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s what unlocks everything else. That’s why I always start there.
- Plan, Don’t Panic: Strategy brings direction and confidence, even when things get messy. That’s how I work, and how I help clients move forward.
- Be Different, Not Better: Better is subjective. Different is undeniable. I help clients lean into what makes them uniquely them.
- Consistency is a Kindness: Consistency builds trust and reduces friction. Whether it’s in messaging or in my own client experience, I try to show up clearly and reliably.
- Relationships Matter: My work isn’t transactional; it’s a partnership. Whether it’s a small session or a big project, once you’re in, I’m in.
- What You See Is What You Get (And Then Some): I’m upfront, generous, and real. No fine print. No vague promises. Just clarity and care.
These values influence everything from how I give feedback to which projects I take on. They’re not just aspirational. They’re operational.
Can you share a time when staying true to your mission or values required you to slow down or take a different path in your growth journey?
Leaving the corporate ad agency world, the expected path would have been to keep doing what I’d already proven I could do: serve big brands, consult for agencies, or pitch to former clients. But I knew that wasn’t the work I wanted to be doing. Since starting my own business, my mission has been to make brand and marketing strategy accessible to the people who need it most: solopreneurs, small business owners, and founders who are building something meaningful from the ground up.
That meant saying no to fast money and obvious opportunities, and instead building something from scratch. It was slower. It required more intention. But it also gave me the clarity to design a business that truly aligns with my values, and the freedom and impact I was seeking when I made the leap in the first place. Now, I use that same mission as a filter for every decision. If a project, partner, or client doesn’t serve that North Star, it’s a no.
How have your experiences as a parent or in other significant roles influenced your leadership style? What life lessons have you applied to your professional journey?
Becoming a parent puts everything into perspective. It sounds obvious, but it’s real. When you’re sitting in a corporate job, stressed beyond belief about a 50-page deck that someone will read once and never look at again, and all you want is to witness your one-year-old’s first steps, you realize something has to change. That was the moment for me. I knew there had to be a different way. Whatever fear I felt about going out on my own had to be worth it.
That shift now shapes everything: how I lead, how I work, how I grow. I built my business to align with my life, not as an afterthought but as a requirement. I don’t glorify hustle. I value clarity, boundaries, and intentional growth, and I help my clients do the same. When your business fits your life, you’re able to show up fully in both.
What advice would you give to other women wanting to start or grow businesses in an intentional way?
Build from the inside out. Don’t start with your logo or your website; start with your clarity. Know what you stand for, who you want to serve, and why your work matters. When you’re rooted in that, everything else becomes easier to create, communicate, and grow.
You don’t have to do it the way everyone else does. You get to decide what success looks like for you, and you’re allowed to build a business that honors your life, not just your to-do list.
Ciara is a member of Dreamers & Doers, an award-winning community that amplifies extraordinary women entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders by securing PR, forging authentic connections, and curating high-impact resources. Learn more about Dreamers & Doers and get involved here.
