I build to create, prove, and pass on.
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I'm Jess — a founder and creative strategist, happiest in what I call my "Alba state": staring at a blank page with ideas buzzing and nothing but opportunity and potential ahead.
I built Margarita Margarita from a tequila-induced idea in my Brisbane kitchen into a cult-favourite, nationally loved cocktail brand, before selling it in March 2025. It was the first time I took something from blank page to exit — five years of equal parts chaos, creativity and grit — and it confirmed what I probably knew all along: I'm at my happiest when I'm building. Creating, growing, and ultimately knowing when to leave on my own terms.
I have a strong bias for action and a low tolerance for things that look good but don't work. For me, aesthetics and outcomes are never mutually exclusive. I build with brand intuition, commercial sense, and a strong gut instinct, to create ventures that feel as good as they perform.
With a background in business ownership and copywriting, I bring deep experience in concept development, branding, and execution. I'm a true Virgo with a sharp eye for detail and a genuine love of turning ideas into brands.
How I think about building
The creation of a business — taking an idea and turning it into a brand — is my favourite part of the whole journey.
New business ideas, it turns out, are a lot like collecting puppies: fun, exciting, a little addictive, and always needing more hands and time than any one person has.
I'd love to grow every concept to its full potential, but I know my strength is the start. So I build them properly, give them a real shot, and — when the time is right — pass them to someone who'll love them next.
Some people are exceptional operators. I'm happiest at the beginning: turning nothing into something, proving people actually want it, creating the brand, bringing the idea to life. The handover isn't the end of the story — it's just the point where someone else's strengths matter more than mine.
Your sounding board.
Alongside my own ventures, I work with founders and small businesses.
I take on a small number of founders and businesses each year — usually early-stage, usually at that messy, exciting beginning where brand, positioning, product and potential are all trying to click into place at once.
Not for you if you want a cheerleader. For you if you want it straight — and to move instead of stall.
Fresh eyes, the what-if questions, the truth. I've been through the rejection, the imposter syndrome, the no-idea-what-comes-next — and I'll celebrate every win with you. I just won't promise it'll be easy.
Sometimes a single focused session to pressure-test an idea and find its sharpest version. Sometimes a deeper piece of work to properly validate a concept before you pour real money into it.
Either way: no templates, no noise, no pretending every business needs the same answer. Just honest eyes, commercial instinct, and someone who's built and sold a business — not just advised on one.
Want eyes on yours?
Get in touch →The other thing I do.
Sometimes a business doesn't need validating — it needs building. A brand that finally looks like itself. A website that pulls its weight. Words that sound like a real person wrote them.
I take on a handful of brand and web projects each year for businesses that want their touchpoints to actually feel considered — identity, websites, copy, and the details most people skip. It's the same eye I bring to my own ventures, pointed at yours.
You'll have seen some of it under Selected Work — Pat Goldsworthy, Selway, Shelter, AVCAIR.
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