When Founder-Forward Branding Works (And When It Doesn't) ft. Ariana Ramstad
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Have you been told you need to “build trust” with your audience, but you’re left wondering what that practically means? Want a peek behind the curtain of BrandWell’s hiring process and what it’s like to work with us—both as a team member, and as a client? Ariana Ramstad is the founder of My Media House, an upscale marketing and PR agency in Virginia Beach. She builds household names and gets your brand noticed, remembered, and booked. She also runs the socials and email marketing efforts for BrandWell!
In this episode, Victoria and Ariana have a candid conversation about her experience working with BrandWell as a member of the team and as a website design client. They talk about both sides of the hiring process and cover the importance of building trust on social media—and what that looks like in practice.
If you’re feeling stuck with your social media strategy, or you’re just a little nosey about what it’s like to work with BrandWell, this episode gives you a full behind-the-scenes look. Whether you’re out on a solo walk or tackling the pile of dishes in the sink, this episode will leave you with some fresh ways to build trust with your audience, insight into whether or not to build in public, and motivation to make social media a priority.
Introduction to Ariana Ramstad, Founder of My Media House
After years of working as a TV news reporter, Ariana Ramstad founded My Media House, an upscale marketing and public relations agency in Virginia Beach, serving clients across the United States. Her company builds household names and gets your brand noticed, remembered, and booked.
Running Social Media and Email Marketing for BrandWell
In January 2026, Victoria hired My Media House to run BrandWell’s socials and email marketing. At the time, Ariana had about a year of business under her belt, and she was ready to niche down and work with her ideal clients—and BrandWell felt like the perfect fit.
What Made Ariana Apply
Ariana explored BrandWell’s Instagram and had lots of ideas right away. She also always loved podcasting and appreciated that the podcast was part of their overall marketing strategy. It felt like the perfect fit to apply for the position, because she could implement her ideas and help BrandWell reach the goals they had for the new year.
The BrandWell Hiring Process
Before hiring for any creative role, BrandWell has applicants complete a sample project. For this role, it was something like creating a mock grid and a few emails in the BrandWell voice. This helps Victoria to get a feel for how much research applicants are doing and see what their design style is like. Once she saw Ariana’s sample project, she felt confident that she would be a great fit for the team.
The Dynamic of Designer for a Designer
Ariana’s initial perception of BrandWell is that they do a great job of showcasing the team and their personalities. That was always done really well, and Ariana knew she could elevate their presence on socials to match the rebrand and price increase BrandWell went through at the time.
Designing content for designers can be intimidating, as Victoria admits she could be pickier than other clients. There are so many pieces that contribute to the social media strategy, like the brand voice, how you operate, and the way you think—and all of those take time to learn. The pro of hiring someone outside of your world means you’re able to learn to do things differently.
Hiring BrandWell for Website Design
After working for BrandWell for a few months, Ariana actually chose to hire them to design her own website. Her initial website was DIY, using an Etsy template. After hearing Victoria speak about the perception gap, she realized she needed a professional website in order to attract higher-end clients.
BrandWell really dug into the marketing strategy of Ariana’s agency. They asked her questions she often asks her clients, but never took the time to ask herself. BrandWell did an amazing job of starting with the foundations and being intentional about every detail, and that contributed to an impressive final product.
Building in Public
Many companies choose to build in public and do it very well—but that isn’t always the case. You have to give your audience a reason to care. There has to be a bit of buy in, in order to build trust.
You can showcase the behind-the-scenes, share the frustrations, and capture the mess ups, but you should also share the lessons learned from it. Consider what you want to be known for and apply it based on that strategy and what feels authentic to you. For BrandWell, showing the messy side of motherhood while building a business alongside it is a major component of the brand.
Cultivating Trust in Business is Key
Trust is more important than likability. Anyone can appear likable through a screen, but showing your expertise and work builds trust. That’s going to matter much more down the line than just being likable.
Likability gets you attention. A trend may get a lot of new eyes to your page, but if it doesn’t feel authentic to your other content, you’re attracting the wrong kind of person. Posting something that won’t get as many views but speaks to your audience and the audience you want to attract will help you more down the road, because it builds trust.
Often, the videos that perform really well on socials don’t result in a lot of followers. Their goal is to build brand awareness and get eyes and engagement on the content.
Another portion of the funnel is getting them interested in hiring you. Those posts may have fewer likes, but it’s serving a different purpose and speaking to a smaller audience.
The last bucket is case studies, and they usually don’t perform as well but are speaking to a very select few people who already like and trust you.
Content Rapid Fire Q&A
Victoria asked Ariana some questions all about social media and content, and here are her responses.
Faceless content: yay or nay?
Sometimes faceless content can be good. But, you want to be relatable and to build trust with people, so that requires you to have your face on your feed sometimes.
What’s one thing founders obsess over that their audience really couldn’t care less about?
Likes.
Favorite founder to follow on social media?
Tezza Barton (@tezza.barton), founder of the Tezza photo editing app, is Ariana’s favorite person to follow. She does a great job of building in public without being too “in your face”.
Best investment you’ve made in your business in the last 12 months?
Her website and a Canon G7 X Mark III camera.
Dream client you’d die to work with?
A fine jewelry client!
Closing Thoughts on Social Media Marketing
If you’ve invested in your business in other ways but have put social media on the back burner, now is time to reconsider so your brand is showing up in the best way it can.
Key Quotes
“Building in public is an excellent way to get people to buy into your brand, but you have to think about who you are as a founder and what you want to be known for and apply it based on that strategy.”
Ariana Ramstad
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