In this episode of Vocal Tips in 10, I’m joined by brand and web designer Sara Strese for a conversation all about building a brand that’s aligned, authentic, and uniquely yours. Whether you're a singer, creative, or artist, your brand goes way beyond a logo—it’s about how people experience you.
Sara breaks down how to approach branding through the lens of identity, story, and connection, and introduces her powerful tool of archetypes to help you better understand your vibe and vision. We also talk about why showing up genuinely matters more than ever and how to find clarity in a space that can often feel overwhelming.
You’ll walk away with:
•A clearer sense of what branding really means
•Practical tips to start aligning your online presence with your voice and values
•Resources to explore your brand archetype and creative identity
If your creative work is ready for a visual and strategic glow-up, this episode is for you.
00:00 Introduction to Brand Development
02:53 The Importance of Authenticity
4:47 The 12 Archetypes to Compromise Your "ReadyType Brand Compass"
Take Sara's free brand archetype quiz to better understand the energy behind your creative identity:
👉 Take the quiz
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amber cathey (00:00)
Hello friends, I am so excited to have a friend and longtime collaborator with me today, Sara Strese Sara is a fab brand designer, website designer. If you've looked at any of my stuff on my website over the last many years, any of my branding, that is all thanks to Sara. And so she's going to be talking to us today about brand development. And the reason I really wanted her to talk to us about how to really kind of
Sara (00:17)
Mm-hmm.
amber cathey (00:25)
develop your brand, how to market yourself as a musician and as an artist. What I love about Sara's work is even though it looks so visually wonderful, she's also a fab artist, side note, which really helps with that visual piece. But for her, it's really about developing a brand that's really aligned with who you are and how you want to present and represent who you are, what you do.
I think that's especially important when you're an artist that you have branding that really aligns with who you are, your persona, how you want to represent yourself. So I'm going to quit talking about how fab you are and let you share your fabulousness.
Sara (00:55)
Yeah.
⁓ No, keep going.
amber cathey (01:07)
So welcome
Sara and thank you for being here.
Sara (01:10)
Thanks for having me. I'm very excited to talk through my kind of take on branding. It's changed a lot over the years. Brands in general have changed a lot in the last couple years.
So I like to use nowadays just a general definition of a brand being the brand is the space that you occupy in someone's mind. And then that's, yeah, it's just the best way to say it because it could be visual. could be.
amber cathey (01:34)
I love that.
Sara (01:40)
how you're performing, could be how you're making someone feel in your presence. There's just so many components these days.
amber cathey (01:47)
Well, and I'm totally interrupting you, I apologize, but I was going to say one of the reasons that I love how you just said that is I think a lot of, fantastic singers and vocal artists and performers and creatives will say, well, I'm not a brand. You know, I'm an artist. I'm a and I'm like, I totally hear you. But if you are looking to do it in any kind of a way where you make money, where you get jobs, where people know what you're doing.
Sara (01:49)
Yeah, you're okay.
amber cathey (02:13)
and seek out what you're doing. You are a brand, my friend. You are your brand. Yeah.
Sara (02:16)
You are brand. I like to say
you're a brand whether you put intention into it or not. Meaning, if you are intentional about it, you're trying to craft that and you're trying to put out the right things and express the right things. that's obviously what I encourage. But if you're not, you're still doing things where you're occupying some or no space in people's minds to be fair.
So yeah, so I always kind of say too, like your brand is a compass and your brand is a beacon. So kind of like thinking of a Venn diagram, you want your brand to kind of reflect your like true magnetic energy, like where you feel aligned, you feel great, you feel like you're represented in your best possible light, you you feel good, you're not being super performative. ⁓
amber cathey (02:57)
Thank ⁓
Mm-hmm.
Sara (03:06)
And then the other side of that Venn diagram is your audience and you want your brand to be a beacon to those people. So you want to find kind of that energetic alignment between those two things.
So I like to use a tool and a framework that I have developed called Readytypes. They are based on the 12 core archetypes.
developed by Carl Jung, if you're familiar, he's like a psychology juggernaut. Very ahead of his time, Mr. Jung. ⁓ he had, woo!
amber cathey (03:32)
yes. Yup.
Yes. Claps for Mr. Young. Yeah.
Sara (03:42)
And it's the things that are across history, ⁓ cultures. It's like these patterns of behavior that we see and that are easily, ⁓ we all resonate with. We all have a part of those in us and we naturally are attracted to those and other people. So that's why it works so great with branding because it's like, if you can tap into those,
amber cathey (03:51)
Thank
Sara (04:06)
archetypes that really resonate with you and really ring true that anchors you in your own energy and truth. And then it's also going to be a beacon to those people that you're aligned to work with or perform for or to be a fan of you.
It's just like, how can you
tap into what is your kind of magnetic qualities that like where you feel really good. We all know that flow and that like thing where it's like, no, when I'm in this, I am unstoppable. I feel so good. And that's what you want to tap into to be able to express through your brand. Would you like to go through the 12 base archetypes? Okay. ⁓
amber cathey (04:34)
Yeah.
That's what I was just gonna ask. was gonna say, are
you, was gonna say for people listening who are like, yes, Sara, yes, I wanna get into that magnetic flow. what are the first steps?
Sara (04:58)
so I actually have a quiz on my website, goodready.co, that kind of gets you started in this process. think it's like 60 questions, but it kind of gives you a...
snapshot of what your possible energies could be leaning towards. And from there, you'll get some tool offers via email. I actually just developed a GPT tool to help you with this process. It's very cool. And then I obviously do this one-on-one with people all the time. But we base everything off of these 12 core archetypes.
amber cathey (05:23)
yeah.
Sara (05:30)
And what we do is we pick two to three of these archetypes kind of in different ratios to create your unique blend. So like for example, my ready type is the identity alchemist. And that is based on the magician archetype, the lover archetype, and the caregiver archetype. So that's how the blending works. And then you get all of this data information about how that all.
contributes to your brand and even how you work within your brand and all of that. well, let's go through these 12 architects. First we have the caregiver. I feel like this is kind of self-explanatory, but it's that warm, nurturing, supportive energy. I always think of a yoga studio or a spa, just that person who's very like,
amber cathey (05:59)
Yeah, I
Sara (06:12)
empathetic, very warm, nurturing, motherlike in a lot of ways. And then we have the creator. So the creator is kind of that like, it's almost sometimes like on the edge of like mad scientists. It's like that artistic, expressive, innovative, they're very like pioneering, they're always pushing the edge of things. Very bold, very expressive. And then we have the everybody.
Sometimes you'll hear it referred to as the every man, but it's 2025. So we're going to call it the every everybody. And that is just the kind of like humble, everyday, super approachable person gets along with everyone. They're very accessible, relatable. They're really good at just making sure everyone feels included and belong.
And then we have the explorer and there's that like kind of adventurous free spirit always on a quest, always on a mission, whether that is like literally exploring spaces or like even a lot of explorers are just like kind of like self discovery explorers. They like to go deep. Their like authenticity is super important to them.
And then we have the hero. this is very hero is a very well known archetype I feel like in stories, but that is that kind of driven, empowering, encouraging. I'm gonna conquer every mountain. I'm gonna take on challenges like Nike is the big like hero brand archetype that we all know.
amber cathey (07:28)
Yep.
Sara (07:42)
And then we have the innocent, which is kind of that like pure hearted, like super optimistic person who just wants like everyone to get along and can see the glass half full. they want everything very like simple and they like really believe in kindness and goodness. and then we have the jester, which is, that fun, playful, entertaining energy. they don't take things too seriously. Like we laugh with them. They entertain us.
And then we have the lover, they're that deep, passionate, emotive soul. They love rich experiences. they want to eat the good food, drink the good wine, go to the beautiful places, wear the things that feel great, very like pleasure driven. And then we have the magician.
which is all about transformation. like to take the unseen and make it seen. They like to help people make shifts. They see the potential in things. They have a little magical air about them. Like you don't know how they do what they do, but they do it. And then we have the rebel, which is kind of just that outlaw energy. They do not like authority. They challenge the status quo.
Yeah, they're here to make some waves. ⁓ And then we have the sage They have a big knowledge base. want to share their knowledge base like you as a teacher and a coach amber sage is like definitely in your mix. And then lastly we have the sovereign also sometimes known as the ruler.
amber cathey (08:55)
Yes.
Sara (09:09)
And that is very, it's like the leader of all leaders. It's often times like luxury brands, like top tier quality. I do things very well, a refined sense of like sophistication a lot of times. And a lot of, they're like really good at leading people. But yeah, I think that's 12, in
amber cathey (09:29)
Yeah.
You know what I think when I hear all of those? So I'm gonna guess I'm not alone is that I think it's why doing the work is so important or just taking the time, whether you work with a professional like you, whether you take your quiz and you roll from there, that's where you are right now, whether you just take the time to like,
listen to this, journal it out. And think about things that just to me, because I hear all those and I'm like, oh, I have a little bit of that. I mean, we've done brand work together, but you know what I mean? You could be like, I'm funny. I know some stuff. I like nice things. Do you know what I mean? So I think it's easy to be like, am I all 12? And it's so, right? Yeah.
Sara (10:05)
Well, Well, this is.
You are all 12 though, you are.
Like we all have these parts in us and we all lean into them at different times. but when we're thinking about it in a brand sense, it just helps to anchor in those core energies as you are trying to stay consistent.
aligned and making decisions. That's the number one thing that I feel like I help my clients with and this helps them. It keeps them grounded because there's so many always affecting things. So it gives them a grounded place to create from and to kind of from.
amber cathey (10:49)
This has been so great, Sara. I know I'm like, we could talk forever. so like I said earlier, I've worked with Sara for years. We've done all kinds of brand work and web design And I haven't done the 60 questions yet. And you know, girl, as soon as I'm done with my day today, I'm on there like, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, to see.
Sara (11:09)
No.
amber cathey (11:11)
just to see if
anything's changed, So I will put that. I love you have that resource in the notes for everybody. I will also, obviously that'll take them to your website too. so that they can connect with you if they wanna do a little bit of deeper work with somebody who this is their specialty, they can do that. And like I said, if you're at a place where you just wanna take the time to start really carving out time to think about it and jotting things down, working within that framework. ⁓
Sara (11:15)
Mm-hmm.
Yes,
amber cathey (11:37)
I think it's so helpful.
Sara (11:37)
I'm a huge advocate of journaling. I think that you can get even taking the quiz and just journaling about that and like how that feels each archetype in your results like that is a huge anchor right there.
amber cathey (11:41)
Me too.
Yeah, agreed. Well, and I'm hoping we're going to finish this up. know we're over, but I'm hoping that I've been talking to Sara about coming in the vocal pro membership and doing a more in depth brand development workshop for members. So be on the lookout for that. And thank you so much for your time today, Sara. It's just been awesome.
Sara (12:08)
Yeah!
Thank you.
⁓ I feel the same.
amber cathey (12:14)
Thank you everybody for listening. Check out everything in the show notes and I'll see you in next week's episode. Bye.
