Hi, I’m Sophie!

I currently work at Soar with Us and Hambi Media as a Personal Brand Executive.

I help thought leaders and 7+ figure agency owners in DTC build their personal brands, whilst also leading the post-production of the D2C Diaries podcast.

A bit about my journey:
-I started out as a nurse, graduating and working in the NHS.
-I left healthcare behind for a working holiday in Australia, where I stumbled into the world of marketing with no prior experience.
-Fast forward to today, I’m a personal brand executive, helping founders of 7-figure DTC and creative agencies grow their brands and generate leads.

What started as a leap into the unknown turned into a passion for personal branding—and I haven’t looked back since.

👋 I’m coming out of LinkedIn hibernation for this one.

Because in the last few weeks, we’ve seen two creator-led brand launches, both with 500K+ YouTube subscribers, loyal fanbases and years of deep audience trust.

Sophia & Cinzia’s “Rooms.”
Elle Swift’s “Our Good Sunday.”

On paper, both should’ve been a huge hit.
🤳🏼Huge awareness.
👯‍♀️Huge communities.
📢Huge personal brands.

But having a strong personal brand doesn’t mean people will automatically buy into your ecom brand.

From a marketing perspective, they both missed a huge opportunity to build brands that actually reflected their followers.

Instead, they’ve been perceived as out of touch and even money grabbing schemes.

£110 for a dressing gown.
£65 for a candle.
£90 for joggers.

And the comments say it all. 

The backlash isn’t just about price, it’s about perceived value.

When a brand hasn’t told its story, hasn’t shown its process, and hasn’t built emotional context, consumers don’t see “luxury,” they see markup.

Both launches felt rushed. Instagram pages appeared out of nowhere, posting aesthetic photos with no context, no story, and no clear purpose.

There was brand awareness, but no nurture.

Audiences didn’t understand what they were buying or why it existed and that disconnect kills conversion.

💡 Maybe this is what we’re seeing now: consumers are getting smarter. They’re waking up to the why and realising they need a reason to buy in.

Honestly, both would’ve performed better if they’d been positioned as merch drops because the audience understands merch.

They know it’s a personal brand extension, not a fully-fledged premium label.

But instead, both brands lacked that emotional bridge between creator and consumer.

🧠 Storytelling drives pricing power.
👀 Transparency drives perception.
💡 Alignment drives retention.

And until creators grasp that difference, we’ll keep seeing launches that look great… but don’t sell.

Sophie Holgate

Personal Branding @ 🚀Soar With Us + leading the post-production of the D2C Diaries Podcast🎧

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