The Fried Hustle team
Low key high strung, scrappy, national treasure.
Carolyn Kelleher (she/her)
Carolyn Kelleher is a strategic storyteller, brand builder, and founding director of Fried Hustle. She has worked with over 50 brands and managed 12 brands to develop compelling brand identities, build consumer trust, and market across multiple channels. Growing up as a creative overachiever in an entrepreneurial family, she developed an approach to business that is best described as scrappy and strategic. She graduated from the University of Texas with a Radio-Television-Film degree and a keen understanding of how to tell powerful, memorable stories by marrying visual and verbal communication. In college she became particularly fascinated by Auteur Theory, which refers to directors who apply a highly centralized, subjective control to many aspects of a film, resulting in a recognizable style, theme, or worldview. Once out of college, she learned that this type of stylistic cohesion in other industries is called branding.
Carolyn specializes in creative direction, constructing narratives, copywriting, brand strategy, big ideas, little details, Oxford commas, and rather compulsive list-making. In her spare time, Carolyn takes improv classes and listens to podcasts about linguistics. She once heard a presenter at a conference refer to himself as “highly sensitive yet fucking relentless” and honestly, she’s never felt more seen.
Morale queen, vision wrangler, potato extraordinaire.
Summer Begnaud (she/her)
Summer Begnaud is a vision wrangler, conscientious and compassionate storyteller, and founding director of Fried Hustle. She has worked with over 50 brands and managed 12 brands to help them define and convey their mission. A graduate from the University of Texas, she studied Geography with a minor in Communications and worked for various nonprofits along the way. She can work anywhere - a van traveling the PNW, her grandma’s basement in North Carolina, and can draw inspiration from any place. She likes to keep her mind and perspective in motion as well. Exploration is an important component of how she adds value to projects. Through the interdisciplinary study of geography, her travels, and her work in the marketing and branding world, she brings unique perspectives to clients and their market. She seeks divergence from the status quo and inspiration from diverse influences. She understands branding context at all levels and brings intentionality to every decision she makes. Her ideas are deliberate, and wrapped up in a beautiful box by the time she’s ready to share them with you.
Summer specializes in graphic design, typography, creative direction, digital media, using bullet points in emails, and reading over Carolyn’s emails when she has a sec. Summer is a taurus, if that matters to you. She identifies as “active, but potato”.
