Case Study: DIY Brand Ed Student, Angelina from Wildwave Podcasting

Angelina is a podcast manager, helping online business owners launch & grow a podcast their audience will rave over.

Key word: “rave”… (more on that later!)

After starting her business and getting a feel for how she works with clients, she knew she was ready for a rebrand—but with other priorities she had in mind to move her business forward, she decided to explore Brand Ed and do the branding herself.

She was intrigued by the idea of being connected to the process herself, and looked forward to exploring the “hidden gems” that ended up coming up for her in the Brand Discovery lessons.

With my signature branding process and access to 1:1 support in Brand Ed Homeroom, together we made it happen.

The creative direction phase was smooth sailing. 

Inspired by her own personal interest in the DJ/rave world, the “rave” concept naturally came to the surface, and it was nothing like we’d seen in the industry before.

When Angelina got to the lesson on how to choose colors, she used the color palette lesson framework and tester template I provide for students using Canva.

She was getting sooo close to the color palette vibe she was looking for, but something still wasn’t quite right.

So she reached out to me about it in the Brand Ed Homeroom Slack.

Instead of going in circles with it by herself, I sent her a loom video suggesting specific color edits for the color palette, which finally clicked!

She took it and ran with it. “You might have just cracked the code ma’am”

Yes, I have a knack for brand code-cracking—But it’s not just me!

The process uncovered her own great ideas.

Angelina’s ideas came to life in our conversations—She brought the understanding of her own business into the homework exercises, and I brought the expert’s eye and creative think tank to expand on her work-in-progress. Conversations typically happen through 1:1 DM message threads, voice notes, detailed written feedback, Loom demonstration videos, and live group calls.

There were a few other points in the process where Angelina needed some constructive feedback—like logo design, font picks, and website layout design tweaks. I suggested refinements, helped narrow down options, and guided the official brand decisions.

But as Angelina continued practicing her new skills over our 10 weeks together in Homeroom, her self-confidence only grew.

One of my favorite moments was seeing her new brand photos. She found a fantastic photographer who truly delivered on her vision, because she was already so clear on her own brand’s Creative Direction.

The Y2K style icons she used throughout her branding and website originally came from Creative Market. However at this point, she was having trouble accessing the elements, since they weren’t as compatible with Canva as expected.

Thankfully, Canva owns an app called Affinity, and made it free—which bridged this gap!

I sent a personalized demonstration on how to extract the elements and adjust them to match her brand.

I was also learning, in real time, how to use Affinity—which I’ve since found can actually do a lot of what Adobe professional design programs can do—without the price tag!

So after sharing that loom video with Angelina in our 1:1 Slack DMs, I also shared it with the wider group of students in Slack at the time too.

This Affinity tutorial is now a bonus tutorial inside the Brand Ed course. It helps students make specific customizations and vectorize elements, which they otherwise wouldn’t be able to do in Canva alone.

By the time it all came together as our collaboration came to a close, Angelina felt confident enough to implement it all into her own website as well.

“Brand Ed is the only place I’ve felt proud of being a DIY-er, and not seen it as a liability, or a phase of business to get past as quickly as possible.”

“From the start, Kristina’s support has been massively validating… Her perspective and support have given me space to grow creatively and grow in CONFIDENCE in my own vision, something that I have been able to apply to every aspect of my business, not just my branding.” — Angelina Gurrola, Podcast Manager

Angelina now has a distinct brand identity that accurately reflects her vibe, AND she has Creative Direction and design skills she can continue applying to all of her marketing graphics moving forward.

You can take pride in your own DIY branding too!

In Brand Ed Homeroom, you not only get my signature branding process and core curriculum, you also get 10 weeks of 1:1 access to Slack DMs support with a branding expert. You’ll collaborate directly with me as you’re making branding progress along the way. Start building your own brand here!