In the clean, sterile, and often ruthless world of branding, everything is about perception. It is a world of optimized logos, curated color palettes, and meticulously crafted mission statements, all designed to build a perfect, impenetrable facade. The industry is built on the image of success. Anne Gillaspie, however, is building an empire on the truth of it. She is a brand strategist who believes the secret to a great brand is not a better font, but a more healed founder. She is a CEO who calls her foundational process “Brand Therapy” and is evangelizing a new business mantra: “Share your fear.”
Anne is the founder and CEO of two strategic branding agencies, Fix & Form and 10toLaunch, a podcast host, a writer, and a keynote speaker. But these titles are just the packaging. The product inside is something far more rare. She is a “mompreneur to 3 beautiful humans,” a “strategic problem solver,” and a woman on a public mission of “healing my inner child.” She is a bundle of profound and powerful contradictions: an empath who lifts heavy weights, a strategic thinker who loves to dance like crazy, a nurturing “Relator” who enjoys smoky scotch. She is insatiably curious, thrives on deep connection, and is, perhaps, the single most important new voice in an industry that has confused polish for power. Anne Gillaspie is not just building brands; she is liberating the humans trapped inside them.
The Accidental Actress and the Grit of the Unfulfilled
Anne’s journey, now at age 41, began not with a business plan, but with a script. She attended Colorado State University and, in a move that makes perfect sense in hindsight, majored in business marketing with a minor in acting and directing. She was drawn to the stage, to the idea of becoming a “movie star.” But a crucial distinction emerged. “I quickly realized that profession wouldn’t actually fulfill me,” she recalls. “Just the result… was the appeal.” She did not want the craft of acting; she wanted the connection and recognition that came with it.
Anne pivoted. The business marketing classes felt different. “The classes became easy,” she says, “and I felt I was learning things that already made sense to me.” It was innate. The human-centric strengths that now define her brand, “Strategic, Relator, Communication, Empathy,” were already there, waiting for a problem to solve.
The problem arrived in the form of a terrible recession. After college, her twenties were a landscape of survival. Anne took sales, marketing, and admin jobs, roles that “weren’t necessarily creative, but I added that creative flavor to them.” She was discovering what she had to offer, and the world promptly tested it. She survived two layoffs in about two years. It was in this crucible that her “why” was forged. “It was the grit and ideation I was forced to use in the challenging times of finding, and keeping, good jobs, that helped frame the mindset that serves me best… in business ownership.” She was not just learning to be strategic; she was learning to be resilient.
Dog Parks, Diapers, and the Birth of a New Life
By 2014, Anne had found a “good job.” She was in a corporate role at a company she loved, with an “amazing team.” But the job demanded that she travel 50% of the year, a reality that had worn on her for four years. She and her husband were at a turning point. They wanted to start a family, and the life of a road warrior was simply not conducive to the life she wanted to build. So, she left.
She and her husband moved from Colorado to Texas, “for a fun change of scenery.” She found herself in an “unknowing sabbatical,” a period of transition in Austin. She was interviewing for agency roles, but nothing felt right. The universe, it seemed, had other plans. The origin story of her first company does not begin in a boardroom. It begins at a dog park. “It was at the dog parks of Austin, TX and within the new community we built a home in, where I found the people who would champion the idea of me founding my own business,” Anne says.
This is a critical part of Anne’s story. She “never wanted to own a business.” She was not driven by an abstract hunger for entrepreneurship. She was driven by a human need for an aligned life. “In talking about the work I did and the vision I had for how I wanted to work in the future, while starting a family, clarity and alignment followed, and I just knew I had to work for myself to enjoy both motherhood and the business world.”
In March 2014, AG Brand + Marketing was born (it would later become Fix & Form). By July, Anne had her EIN. The universe, however, was not done testing her. “My first year in business was invigorating, exhausting, trying, and rewarding,” she recounts. “We conceived our first born in this first year of business, in which I wasn’t ecstatic about, because I thought I would have more time to develop my brand prior to entering motherhood.”
It was the ultimate test of her new, aligned life. It was trial by fire, a sink-or-swim moment that forced her to integrate her two new identities simultaneously. “God had other plans,” Anne says, “and I’m so thankful that timing happened. I learned how to work while being home with a newborn full-time.” This experience, the simultaneous raising of a baby and a business, became a cornerstone of her public identity and the core of one of her most powerful keynotes.
The vWill See You Now
Anne’s experience as a mother and a founder did not just inform her business; it became its central philosophy. It solidified her core belief: “Businesses are not unique, the people behind them are.” This is the foundational principle of Fix & Form, and it is what separates her from a sea of competitors. She is not a vendor; she is a “brand therapist.”
Anne’s process begins not with mood boards or market research, but with conversation. “With our Brand Therapy starting place… Anne’s method of talk therapy, to dig deeper, with the founders and leaders of the brand, really pulls the juicy goodness of the brand to the surface,” the company’s mission states. This is where her innate “Empathy” and “Relator” strengths become powerful strategic tools. She is not just listening for marketing keywords; she is listening for the human story, the pain, the passion, and the purpose. “We don’t skimp on meaningful storytelling and depth,” Anne says. “which finds and connects our brands to their tribe.”
The entire process is a deliberate, human-paced journey. It typically takes three to four months. “It all starts with brand therapy, a series of sessions to probe, discuss, uncover, and align the brand,” Anne explains. This first month is dedicated entirely to discovery and results in a “brand guidebook.” Only then does the process move into the tangible: visual design, logos, fonts, and styles. From there, it flows into website concepting and copywriting, all drawn from the foundational “truth” uncovered in therapy.
The results are not just aesthetic; they are life-changing. She speaks of a recent five-month project for a personal trainer named Joe. He was moving cross-country and needed to rebrand his entire in-person fitness business to be completely virtual. He was stuck, for months, on his own. Through brand therapy, Anne helped him evolve. They created a new brand name, defined its story, and built an 11-page website complete with a course LMS and a virtual video library. It was a total business transformation that gave him a future. “Seeing and hearing his appreciation for us and the process was magical,” Anne says. This is what she means when she says she is on a mission to “help others heal and win.”
The 10-Day Sprint to Authenticity
After eleven years of running Fix & Form, Anne, a true “Strategic” thinker, identified a new gap in the market. Her deep dive therapy process was powerful, but it was not for everyone. “If budget wasn’t the issue, time was,” she realized. “Many clients needed their brands to be launched quickly.”
She researched the existing solutions, like “Brand in a Day” or “Brand in a Week,” and found them lacking. “I realized what was missing from those was my strategy work,” she says. “The questioning and talk therapy with the brand founders. The uncovering of the juicy details to truly bring the story of the brand to life.”
Anne refused to sacrifice her core “why” for speed. So, she innovated. This led to the 2024 founding of her second company, 10toLaunch. She partnered with Roger Campbell II, a former client whose AI consulting business she knew well, and co-founder Shannon Gross, a creative, to build a new model. The vision: to pair the human element of her “juicy details” strategy with the speed of AI tools and automations.
Inspired by her husband’s work in product management, they designed the service as a “10-day product sprint.” The process is intense and collaborative. “Clients must attend our 30-minute sprint calls daily… for success,” she notes. “We developed the language around what will make our offering successful, and what our client is responsible for and what our team is responsible for.” It is not a passive service; it is an active partnership. The model was an immediate success. “Our first client was a major success as we actually worked through our system to develop and launch her personal and business brand in just 10 days. Both she and we were thrilled!”
Healing Little Annie
To understand how Anne can so effectively “heal” the brands of her clients, you must first understand that she is doing the work herself. When asked about a time her leadership was tested, she does not offer a sanitized boardroom anecdote. She talks about motherhood.
“I had to revisit my inner child and partner with a therapist and an executive coach over the course of several years,” she shares with startling vulnerability. “Craving more effective tools to lead kids through emotional regulation, I knew I had to revisit my beginnings and heal little ‘Annie’ first before I could be an effective leader at home and in my businesses.”
This is the key. Her work as a leader and her work as a mother are the same. She references Dr. Becky Kennedy’s “Good Inside” methodology, a parenting philosophy centered on seeing a child’s behavior as a reflection of their internal state. “When one of my kids has a bad day… I have to remember it’s not me, it’s them and they are having a hard time,” she says. She quotes the mantra, “My child isn’t giving me a hard time, they’re having a hard time.”
This insight, Anne explains, “disarms me and my temper so that I can calmly connect with them.” This is her leadership model in its purest form. “When I model how I handle big and hard emotions, both at home and at work, I lead by example.” This is the “therapy” in Brand Therapy. She creates a safe space for founders to have their hard time, to process their fears and doubts, so she can disarm them and connect to the authentic story buried beneath.
This is why her metrics for success are not KPIs, but “client testimonials and reviews.” She is justifiably proud of her 31 5-star Google reviews. “I’m on a mission to help others heal and win,” she says. “And oftentimes, I can accomplish both in my client relationships.”
The Gospel of “Share Your Fear”
Now, Anne is turning this entire methodology inward. She is shifting her energy to grow the personal brand of Anne Gillaspie. Her thought leadership platform, her speaking, and her “OnlyFounders Podcast” (which she co-hosts, producing two episodes weekly) are becoming her primary focus. She is moving from healing brands one-on-one to broadcasting her message of healing to the world.
And that message is “Share Your Fear.”
“Those skeletons in your closet that you hope no one finds out about you, you may fear others will freak out when you tell them… those are the things that make you unique, authentic, memorable,” she preaches.
“Sharing those first with yourself, accepting and owning them. To then share more of yourself with others. In doing this, you set yourself free, live a truly authentic life of freedom and joy. And your personal and business growth will be profound.”
This is the culmination of her life’s work. It is the ultimate brand strategy. The very things the world tells you to hide are, in fact, your greatest assets. Your “fear” is your “tribe” finder.
Anne lives this truth every day. When asked about work life balance, she scoffs. “Nothing is perfect.” She is honest about the days she is at the office for 8 hours, then emcees a 4 hour event, missing her kids’ bedtime. She is honest about the “guilt and weight” she feels on days when motherhood demands more and her business gets less. The balance, she explains, is “simply accepting the shifts that need to happen daily… releasing any guilt and shame… and then being present in wherever it is you need to mentally be.”
“A great life is made up of consistently great days,” she says. “So focus on one day.”
This is Anne Gillaspie. Her story is a profound meditation on the power of the “who”—the essential, authentic self that must be at the center of any great creation. She is a living testament to the idea that curiosity about people, a love of deeper connection, and the courage to share one’s full, messy, beautiful truth, your fear, is the ultimate strategic advantage. “I see you just as you are, right now reading this,” she offers.
Her guiding principle, and her invitation to the reader, is to “Show up just as you are, today, and find people and moments to be present with. Live in the amazing life you’re creating, and mentally show up for all of it. That’s what leaves people feeling impacted by your existence.”
Quotes
“Show up just as you are, today, and find people and moments to be present with.”
“Businesses are not unique, the people behind them are.”
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