Hey there, I'm addy
Daughter of God, wife, mother, and called to help other entrepreneurial women find their voice (which I guess can also be called... marketing ☺️)
After 5 years of running my business, I began to feel wholly dissatisfied with the way I had been taught to operate and grow online. I decided to reimagine the way I market & grow my business, and step into something more faith-full. I ditched the tactics built around control, striving, urgency, and selfish ambition. Cozy marketing, as I call it, was born.
I give all glory to God for the path He has led me on, and for graciously blessing this mission of cozy marketing so I can support my family, stay home with my babies, and guide other women into their version of the same. Welcome 🫶
I wrote this blog post to share the story of how I stepped into a more faith-forward marketing approach, finally surrendered my outcomes to God instead of clinging to control.
"We are capable of so much, and we must give at least part of our attention to strategy and tactics. But if it’s possible to use most of my brain energy to do kingdom-minded, relational, people-first work, that’s where I want to be.
Worldbuilding has given me the freedom to open my hands and release control over the end result, trusting that God will do His part if I do mine."
A little rundown of my business journey so far:
- I started my business in 2019 as a custom brand & website design agency (I still do a lot of web design behind the scenes - feel free to reach out about it)
- I also built a website template shop that is focused on User Experience, based on my years of experience as a UX designer in the corporate world. I still sell those because I believe a good website is critical to online business, but doesn't need to break the bank!
- I pivoted away from websites and into marketing in 2024, when I began teaching worldbuilding and Cozy Marketing
- Spent 2 years teaching worldbuilding to anyone who was interested, then God called me deeper in my business and told me I needed to make Him the central pillar of my business and speak to Christian women growing a business online (I’m still teaching worldbuilding, but with a lot more Jesus mixed in 😊)
Encontro is the Portuguese word for an encounter or a meeting, particularly one that is unexpected or significant. Encontro is the moment a relationship begins. I am not, nor do I want to be, in the business of “generating transactions” or even of “creating customers”. I am in the business of forming relationships with other people who share my values and want to join me on the journey of building a world based in connection. People like YOU! Some of those people will become customers, yes, but it will be because they connected with me first.
Speaking of forming relationships, if you’ve made it this deep into my world and feel like we would get along, please send me an email or DM me on Instagram! I would love to get to know you. As I said, I am in the business of connecting with people like you.
Relationships Over Transactions
All long-form content you'll read from me (which includes emails, social media, and everything on this website) is 100% written by me. It's important to me to express myself through the written word and provide unique human perspective in all of my content. Generative AI and LLMs (Large Language Models) such as ChatGPT have exploded in popularity over the last couple of years, with many people using them to generate entire blog posts, sales pages, and more. While I believe AI is a valuable tool, I see it as simply that - a tool, and nothing more. My use of AI and LLMs is limited to brainstorming, research, and idea exploration. Everything you see published has been written by me using my own words.
Human Content
Much of the content you’ll find on the internet is a constant barrage of information. The thing about information is it rarely changes people’s lives. At best, information will lead to an insight, but more often it just leads to overwhelm and feeling like you’re Not Doing Enough. My goal when creating anything for you, is to provide insights that help you connect the dots yourself and offer a new way to think about business & the world. As my fave Seth Godin calls it, hiding the aha - "The purpose of the memo or the table or the graph or the presentation is to create the conditions for someone to make up their own minds. Causing an aha requires insight and elegance."
Hide the "Aha"
People are complex, with a massive capacity to care about and be interested in many different things. Representing something with my business that people can care about doesn’t mean they have to stop caring about something else or leave other things behind. While I don’t expect us to agree on everything, I do everything in my power to respect your time & interests, and hold space for your individuality. I ask that you show the same respect for me!
Mutual Respect
Above all, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Therefore, above all, the way in which I do business must honor Him. I strive to be as honest & transparent as possible with you while also upholding integrity by staying true to my personal values. This means I sometimes draw lessons or parallels from my faith into my teaching. While Encontro is not necessarily a “Christian business,” it is a business run by a Christian and my content will reflect that. See the next bullet point for an addendum.
Honesty & Integrity
That means seeing you as a real human being with a complex, beautiful life just like mine. I never want to rush or pressure you to make a decision that is unaligned with what you need in the present moment. I always want to meet you where you are and provide full transparency about who is a good fit for any offer at any given time. I’ll never stretch the truth or inspire FOMO to try to get you to buy. I believe generosity always wins, and that those who are meant to purchase from me will do so when and if they are ready.
Empathy
My values:
PODCASTS
I have been a guest on several podcasts - here's a full playlist for you to browse!
Guest appearances
Listen to MY podcast, Marketing Your Mission, on YouTube or podcast platforms.
My podcast
Rapid fire about me:
- I live in Dallas, Texas with my husband, our 2 daughters, & our siamese cat. All of them are Brazilian... I'm the only full Americana in the house 🇧🇷
- My hobbies are plants and pottery. I have an atrium in the center of my house full of tropical plants, a garden outside and a pottery wheel in my garage where you can find me any spare moment I get!
- I rarely drink hot drinks. It can be single digit temps outside and you’ll catch me with an iced coffee or matcha frozen to my hand. And always unsweet, btw 😉
- Since I was 6 I wanted to be a food chemist (yes, really. mermaid or princess was never the career dream), until I got to college and learned about this thing called “marketing”
- I love languages! I speak 3, my husband speaks 2. We both have college degrees in a language and debate linguistics on the reg. “That’s not a real word” “Oh yeah? Google it”
- I’ve traveled to 18 countries on 4 continents, and lived in 3 countries on 3 different continents. I used to be obsessed with travel but now I would much rather be at home! 🏠 ❤️
- Jesus Christ is my personal savior and He has called me to a life of exalting His name! Everything I do is to bring Him glory & hopefully help you know Him better, too
BUILD YOUR BRAND WORLD
We are moving forward into a budding new era of online marketing where consumers are looking for deeper, more personal relationships with the brands they buy from, and businesses who don’t put humanity above everything else are getting left behind. If you want to do marketing based in attraction & connection, without relying on funnels or urgency, the Build Your Brand World mini course will help you know where to start.
