Victoria Tollossa, MBA

Director of Marketing 

Illume

Founder & CEO

Mitchell Sandler LLC

Centre Law & Consulting, LLC.

Marketing Manager

First Edventures

Founder

IDL Entertainment Group

Co-Founder

Victoria Tollossa is a two-time founder, Grammy-nominated storyteller, and the creative force behind Illume — a personal branding agency helping executives and mission-driven entrepreneurs amplify their influence and visibility.

Blending business acumen and brand strategy, Victoria has helped clients secure funding from top firms, attract high-level talent, close multi-million-dollar deals, grow powerful social media platforms, earn industry awards, and land major speaking opportunities — not by chasing attention, but by owning their narrative.

Her work has been featured in Entrepreneur, Inc., Fortune, and Business Journals. She’s collaborated with both Fortune 500 brands and high-growth startups, including high-profile clients like Target, Ford, Seventh Generation and Bravo’s Real Housewives.

A trusted voice on storytelling, social media strategy, and the future of personal branding, Victoria is a frequent speaker, strategic advisor, and a fierce advocate for building businesses that reflect both purpose and power.

Victoria Tollossa

15: I recorded my first album.
16: Called Jive Records everyday for months (literally).
17: Got rejected by Jive Records.
18: Got into an Ivy League school, moved to NYC, heart of the music industry. 
19: Recorded more song, networked all over the city. The hustle was on.
20: Got rejected by everyone. Again.
21: I continued to practice, sing and dance... Every. Single. Day.
22: Met a big-time producer who gave me my first break.
24: Recorded more music, pitched all the record labels in NYC. This was gonna be it!
25: Got rejected by everyone — “We don’t get it, it’s just too different.”
26: Of course now I was now deemed “old” for the music industry, so I wrote for songs for others.
27: Moved to LA. Alone. 4+ writing sessions a week, grinding.
27: Launched an experiential marketing agency. A new lane.
28: Wrote a song that would later be nominated for a Grammy. Finally!
28: Also wrote 100+ songs that would never see the light of day. 
29: Got burnt out. Industry chewed me up and spit me out. Got out with low self esteem. Negative attitude. Totally jaded. 
29: Experiential marketing agency took off — 140+ team, huge clients.
30: Got pregnant and had my son.
31: Became a single mom. Everything changed.
32: Forced to exit the agency. 
33: Moved back east, lived with my mom. Did what’s best for my son.
34: Went back to school, got my MBA, moved out on my own.
35: Got a “real job” at a law firm.
36: Pandemic hit. Everything flipped again.
37: The struggle was real.
38: The struggle became even more real.
39: Quit corporate. Started a personal branding agency. A new chapter.
41: Scored a $10 million deal, sold the company and rode off into the sunset in my Maserati.

Ok… just kidding.
(About the last part, that is.)

We love to hear stories that resolve neatly at the end.
But real life doesn’t do that.

If you were hoping for a neat lesson, here it is:

The real win is NOT quitting.
It’s betting on yourself when the world says no.

So if you’re in the middle of your mess, your setback, your “I don’t know what’s next”…

Keep going.
The next chapter is still yours to write.

CEO @ Illume | Grammy-nominated Storyteller & Personal Branding Strategist for Executives

"Why do I need a personal brand? I'm not an influencer."
I hear this from execs all the time.

Ok fine, you're not trying to become TikTok famous.

But, I'm pretty sure you are trying to close deals faster, build credibility, and shorten the path to yes.

That’s exactly where a strong personal brand works in your favor.

A visible, authentic presence online creates familiarity.

Before a prospect ever meets you, they’ve already:

• seen your posts
• absorbed your insights
• connected with your story
• formed an opinion about who you are

So when you do get in the room, the heavy lifting is already done.
And the sales process accelerates.

Here’s how it shows up:

✅ Less time spent on introductions — your reputation gets there first
✅ Higher credibility — your content signals expertise
✅ Faster trust-building — people buy from people they feel they know
✅ Lower resistance — prospects are already warmed up
✅ Better-quality conversations — you’re treated like a peer, not a vendor
✅ Shorter sales cycles — recognized leaders get prioritized
✅ Stronger pricing power — trust increases perceived value

Personal branding is about leverage.

It reduces friction, increases trust, and drives revenue.

So if you’re a CEO, founder, or senior leader?

It’s time to step into the spotlight.
Share your insights.
Tell your story.
Build the connection before the first call.

Your bottom line will thank you.

Mystorypro.ai

Your 24/7 award-winning storytelling coach, built by the most unlikely tech founders.

Here’s why that matters:

Patrice and Wiebke aren’t your typical tech founders. Patrice is an award-winning former TODAY Show producer who has now spent 15+ years crafting stories for major brands, founders and marketers. Wiebke's  never written code until last year but is now sought out from brands like Apple for her unconventional AI building approach.

That’s exactly why StoryPro AI is different.

We didn’t build another AI tool.
We created a human storytelling coach that happens to use AI.

What you get:
➡️ Frameworks I used with Netflix, LEGO, and Lululemon
➡️ Story structures that actually make people stop scrolling
➡️ 24/7 access to Emmy-winning expertise
➡️ An AI that doesn't just tell you your stuff is good
➡️ German server security (because your stories stay yours)

Three months since launch:

71+ paying monthly users
Apple leadership curious about our approach
Daily messages from users finally brave enough to share their stories
Why it works? We obsessed over human experience, not just technical specs.

Perfect for:
• Founders needing to stand out
• Marketers tired of bland content
• Anyone ready to turn their expertise into influence

Because good AI doesn’t replace human stories.
It amplifies them.

Patrice Poltzer Creative

Patrice Poltzer has more than a decade of experience telling stories and turning those stories into engaging video content for the world’s biggest and most advanced media and social platforms. A Gracie-award winning journalist whose work can be seen on NBC, TIME, CNN, Huffington Post and a former Emmy-nominated TODAY show producer and video journalist , Patrice parlayed her media and storytelling expertise into forming Patrice Poltzer Creative in 2016. Her team of experts -who are all former journalists - have an innate understanding of how to take a passionate concept and translate that into an effective and compelling video narrative and strategy.

Patrice Poltzer Creative is comprised of industry leading strategists, award-winning videographers and editors, as well as on-camera talent and work with dynamic companies of all sizes. She loves taking a brand story and figuring out the best way to translate those messages to video. Her team's videos increase sales, awareness and ground evangelists from companies of all sizes.

Some Spider

-Launched Scary Mommy Snapchat and took its user base from zero to more than 10,000 followers in less than 10 weeks.
-Created a program strategy that involved celebrity mom take-overs, original Snap Shows and  cross-pollination between social channels.
-Advised on strategy for Facebook Live programming and Instagram Story series.
-Created a framework for launching a Scary Mommy documentary vertical
-Produced original editorial and branded video content

Consultant for Social and Video Strategy, Scary Mommy

NBC News

Emmy-nominated and Gracie Award winning producer who tells compelling feature and human interest stories for Weekend Today, and develops original video content for TODAY.com, with a specialization in parenting and food content. 
Oversees stories from start to finish that includes idea conception, shooting and editing video, writing scripts, setting up the shoot and delivering on deadline.  I also work with TODAY anchor talent on stories and collaborate with a small team on new ideas.  I have experience producing breaking news stories and field producing international stories dealing with sensitive issues. 

For Today.com, I am an official "Vlogger" for the food and parenting platforms and have particular success creating original video concepts for TODAY's social media platforms.  Producer and co-creator of original Mom "How-To" Series and drove significant traffic to the newly launched TODAY food social media sites with original "How-To" food videos.

Producer at TODAY Show/Digital Journalist for Today.com

I'm a digital journalist at NBC NextMedia, which is a digital unit that produces original web content for outside and internal clients. I've shot, edited, produced, written, and/or reported for the TODAY show, Nightly News, Daily Connection, MSNBC, Mobile and outside clients such as Sprint, Unilever, GMC and Mars.

Digital Journalist/Web Video Producer

First Bites

After my son was born, determined not to give up my love of trying new restaurants and food, I decided to just bring him along for the ride. What started out as a platform to capture all the different foods my son ate for the first, naturally evolved into a restaurant review site for families. As we boldly brought our son onto the dining scene, I started asking myself questions like Do they allow strollers? Is there a kid menu? Can we eat at 5PM ON THE DOT?! And there weren't a whole lot of resources to specifically address those kinds of questions. Now that I have a child, I look for a different type of restaurant when I eat out (for better for for worse) and it pretty much boils down to how many laser-beam stares of death my family will receive when we open the door. If it is high, we usually steer clear. 

So welcome to First Bites where we attempt to answer all of your depressing questions that you no doubt ask yourself before deciding whether to bring your offspring out on the restaurant scene. We tell it like it is and upload videos to really give you a feel of the place (laser-beam stares of death and all.)  So here are my family's delicious adventures in Brooklyn and beyond, and hopefully we can help make your next delicious adventure a whole lot easier. 

If you are new to the site, I suggest starting with this post where I break down how I devised the rating system. It's VERY scientific.  http://www.furstbites.com/blog/2015/3/22/restaurant-reviews

Bloomberg LP

Associate produce for newly launched daily live program, InBusiness: write news stories and teases; build graphics and assist reporters on visual elements for story hits; appear on-camera to call up market information on the Bloomberg terminal during live taping
Monitors breaking news for anchor on-set while taping live and assists London team in setting up for show
Created, scripts and produces daily segment, Winners and Losers
Produces simulcast of Surveillance, Bloomberg's highest rated business radio program
Participates in daily editorial meetings to determine course of upcoming programming; present story suggestions and pre-interview potential guests.
Extensive use of Bloomberg Terminal and internal archival system

Associate Producer/Writer

Falk Associates

Write, design and brand 2009 supplemental press and direct marketing materials for Team Lifeline, a non-for-profit that raised more than $1 million last year for Chai Lifeline, the international children's health support network dedicated to bringing joy and hope to seriously ill children and their families.
Write biographies on sick kids who are a part of Chai Lifeline that are to be featured in local Jewish publications around the country. 
Maintain blogs, develop business facebook pages and create video presentations on behalf of clients.
\Write business plan for entrepreneurial retail and not-for-profit clients.

CNN.COM,

Writer

CNN International

Wrote story on a new, deadly strand of tuberculosis with accompanying photo gallery that debuted as the lead story package on CNN.com.
Wrote piece on AIDS crisis in Myanmar; garnered discussion on intl. blogs and human rights websites. 
Created multimedia presentations, including an interactive timeline outlining events in Desmond Tutu's life 
Field produced for &quot;Business Traveler&quot;, a popular features program that included interviewing key sources

TIME.COM,

Multimedia Intern in London

Time Magazine

Produced, shot and edited videos for the TIME magazine website, Time.com using Final Cut Pro 
Pieces included a look at the rampant knife crime in Britain and Obama's visit to London.
Wrote stories for Time.com, several of which were featured on the homepage. 
Maintained and edited content for Time.com using HTML and content management system tools

FALK ASSOCIATES

Increased market share for Apartment Savvy, Chicago's third largest apartment hunting services, by delivering a highly effective PR campaign that resulted in multiple ABC-TV appearances by the owner and secured a front-page business story in the Chicago SunTimes and a feature article in Success Magazine.  
Was promoted to account executive within four months of working as an assistant to PR owner.

Account Executive

Co-founder MyStoryPro AI| Storytelling & AI Strategist| Former award-winning TODAY show producer| Helping founders, experts & marketers build authentic personal brands with human-centered storytelling + AI.

Patrice Poltzer gets triggered when people say, ‘I don’t have a story.’ So triggered that she built a thriving business proving them wrong - helping founders uncover their (very much not vanilla) stories and turn them into powerful business assets. She’s also pioneering the intersection of AI and authentic storytelling through My Story Pro, an AI-powered platform that she built with her online business manager turned co-founder that hit 5 figures MRR in less than 60 days, proving you CAN use AI with a "human-first" sentiment. 

Patrice helps entrepreneurs and industry leaders (including the product manager teams at Apple) maintain their distinctive voice while leveraging technology, combining decades of storytelling expertise with innovative AI tools in a unique ecosystem that includes a vibrant Circle community, live workshops, and hands-on coaching & consulting.

As an Emmy and Gracie Award-winning former TODAY Show producer, she learned from the best storytelling minds in the business. Whether unleashing fury at Usher on 49th ave while 8 months pregnant or embedding with moms helping Syrian refugees on Turkish shores, she saw firsthand how authentic stories move people to action.

After leaving at her career peak in 2016 for a toxic media startup (who gets money thrown at them on maternity leave?!), she found herself rebuilding from scratch. That rock-bottom moment led her to create a storytelling company helping visionary founders and businesses uncover stories that turn heads and open wallets.

She’s worked with brands from Netflix and Lululemon to startups like Parsley Health, but her real passion is helping founders who think they ‘don’t have a story’ discover their narrative gold. Because stories connect us with the human side of business in a way slick marketing never can.

Currently living in Lisbon with 3 small boys and her husband, she’s living proof that the stories we tell ourselves shape our reality. For years she would joke, "I want to move to Europe" and realized that it was possible.... if she told herself a different story. You can find her on Instagram sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of this wild ride (though she keeps trying to date LinkedIn) and loves to teach her methods to other people's audiences and communities.

Patrice Poltzer

I paid $8 for a latte in my old NYC neighborhood last week and had an unexpected realization (after I had a mini heart attack.) 🫠 

I was low-key terrified  to bring my family back to New York for the first time since moving to Lisbon two years ago.

Would it hurt to see our old life? 
Would I regret everything?

But walking through those familiar Brooklyn streets, I didn’t feel like sobbing tears of nostalgia.
I felt grateful for the life choice I made in August 2023.

In New York, a massive chunk of my brain space was consumed by constant calculations.

Daycare costs. Camp fees. Babysitter rates. 
Whether we REALLY could afford that summer camp for all three (spoiler: usually not, and it always gave me major anxiety).

Every dinner out, every decision filtered through this mental spreadsheet of “can we actually do this?” ****and then do it anyway because "YOLO".

I’m the same person I was in Brooklyn. 
But removing that constant financial mental load freed up space I didn’t even know I had.

Space where My Story Pro was born.
I genuinely don’t think I would have built this AI SaaS storytelling tool if I’d stayed. 
My mindset in Lisbon was grappling with culture shock, identity death (NYC is an addictive drug) & reinvention of my business. 

Sometimes the version of you that’s meant to emerge can only do so in a completely different environment.

The move was hard. 
I underestimated how challenging it would be and spent six months pretty depressed.

But that discomfort forced me to discover what I’m actually capable of when I’m not constantly worried about "can we really do this with 3 kids."

Your next chapter might be hiding behind the thing that scares you most.

For me, that fear looked like uprooting my life and moving three kids across an ocean.
For you, it might be finally quitting the job that’s just fine...
Or making space for that idea that’s been sitting in your Notes app for months.

Growth doesn’t happen in comfort zones.
Turns out, neither does creating what you’re meant to bring into the world.

PS - We had the most incredible two weeks back in the city. Because nobody does energy like New York. But I am happy to report that sipping $2 lattes in Lisbon hits JUST as good...

Just closed our first enterprise deal...with an East Coast university whose entrepreneurship students will now use My StoryPro to develop their storytelling skills.

Surreal isn’t even the word to describe how I've been feeling all week. 

Because one year ago, we were a week away from launching an AI storytelling tool we’d built almost by accident. And I had absolutely no idea what I was doing - a very non-tech founder trying to build in tech...

Not exactly the traditional path.
This entire year was never in any journal or Notes app.

I wasn’t “supposed” to be in tech.
I wasn’t “supposed” to be building  a SAAS platform. 
But here we are anyway.

And the most meta part of this is this deal happened because someone at the university followed me on LinkedIn and Instagram....reached out, and a real partnership grew from there. 

(Reminder that you never know who’s watching!) 
 Or which post you write today might unlock a door you didn’t even know existed.

Aside from this being a huge milestone for my tiny, bootstrapped company, here’s what makes this feel even bigger:

Storytelling is often treated like something you figure out after you’ve survived.

-After the therapy.
-After the stability.
-After you finally have the resources  (and the privilege) to make sense of your life.

Most people don’t get that window. 
Most people are doing their best just to make it through the day.

And yet… the people who’ve had to fight the hardest - for safety, for identity, for possibility - they’re often the most powerful storytellers.

They’ve lived the actual plot twists (not the ones ChatGPT drops into every other paragraph).

They know what real stakes feel like.

So to see this tool in the hands of young students stepping into a world where all the work rules have changed feels like the beginning of something bigger.

Where storytelling isn’t something you get to do after you’ve “made it” — it’s a tool you can access while you're figuring it out.

There are no rules anymore — and I’ve proven that heavily to myself this year.

You don’t need permission to step into new lanes.

A year ago, none of this was on my bingo card.
Today, it’s our first enterprise deal.

If this can happen for me  -someone who had zero business being in tech on paper — then it’s proof that the paths we think are “for other people” can be the ones WE are meant to walk.

This is our first enterprise deal.
But really, it’s a reminder for anyone reading this...
Your next chapter might not look anything like what you planned - and that’s the whole point.

Keep showing up.
Keep sharing what’s true.
You never know who’s watching… or what door opens next

I celebrated my 13th wedding anniversary on Monday - and while our NYC wedding was dreamy and still gets talked about, it was absolutely not the best day of my life.

I was overwhelmed.
I barely saw my husband.

And ended the night in HEAVING sobs at 5AM because he “didn’t carry me over the hotel threshold.” (like huh!?...I was emotionally unhinged by that point 🫠 🙋‍♀️ .)

For years I felt guilty because you’re supposed to say your wedding day is the best day of your life.

But 13 years into this thing?
The best days came AFTER the wedding.

And lets be real he probably had grounds for divorce 12 hours in! 🤣
But I much prefer to have the "best days" in this order. 

This year, to celebrate, I surprised him with:
 -A cold plunge
 - A deck of awkward conversation cards (nothing like forced intimacy #swoon) 
 - Dinner at our favorite female owned Lisbon spot (Magnolia for inquiring minds -ask for Camilia) 

My husband’s face when I said “Buckle up, we’re playing an awkward card game IN PUBLIC!” = pure British horror.

But those cards sparked the kind of winding conversations where we learned NEW things about each other even after 13 years.
***for the record I did NOT make us do the card that was his first pull. 

And it reminded me that the good stuff doesn’t just happen.
-Marriage.
-Business.
-Creativity. 
-Visibility.

All of it requires showing up and doing the work.

-Even when you’re tired.
-Even when it feels awkward.
-Even when the card questions make you want to die just a little bit. (there were so many #swoon)

"Being successful" in business works the same way.

-No one gets handed stages or podcast invites.
-You don’t just “become” the go-to person out of nowhere.
-You build toward it.
-You work at it, even when it’s hard.

Just like those card games forced us to see new sides of each other…

I’ve spent years helping founders dig into their experiences until we hit that moment:
“OH. That’s why I do what I do.”

Speaking of showing up and doing the work… my Black Friday offerings go live this Monday for anyone who’s been thinking about finally digging into their story or building backend AI systems (think Agents not custom gpts)  to make seeing your stories a whole lot easier. 

Thirteen years in, and we’re still discovering new things about each other. 
Same goes for your business story...there’s always more to uncover.

Also PLESE tell me I’m not alone here…
Did anyone else’s “perfect day” a little emotionally unhinged? 😂

Last week, almost 200 people signed up to build their first AI agent with us.
Half showed up live to learn something that sounded scary as hell.
Some left.
Some stayed (and cried). #noshame
We had men there too. (Hey, Kenny!!)

But the best part? The chat messages that FINALLY poured in towards the end:

“Wait… it’s actually doing the thing?!”
 “Oh my god, this is working.”
 “I can’t believe I just built this.”
 “This is insane -it’s pulling stories from my calls!”

Agent building is a fluency that will soon become "normal."
 -60% of companies are already experimenting with AI agents.
 -The gender gap is closing faster than anyone predicted.
 
Deloitte projects that by the end of 2025, women will match or surpass men in AI experimentation.

Right now, I have six agents running my storytelling AI SaaS:
 • Customer service
 • Testimonial analysis
 • Story mining from transcripts
 • Product strategy recommendations (that help me guide my engineer) 

My tiny team (with one engineer) operates at 10x what people think we have.
Yes, building an agent has a learning curve. 

But with no-code tools and guided sessions (ahem HEY HEY!!), every founder can leave with tangible proof - a functioning agent and renewed confidence.

Last week, I watched a room full of entrepreneurs and corporate leaders choose to be ahead of the curve instead of behind it.

They’re not waiting for it to get easier.
They’re not waiting for permission.
They’re not waiting for someone else to build it.

Those are the people who win.
Not because they’re “tech people.”
But because they showed up when it was hard and they (most of them at least) felt uncomfortable. 

The future is being built by the ones who refuse to be left behind.

If this resonated, follow along...we’re showing what happens when real people (not just engineers) start building with AI.

We’re running more live sessions soon inside My StoryPro. 
You don’t need to be “techy.” 
You just need to show up.

You might surprise yourself with what you’re capable of.

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The Battle

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