EMPATHY REVEALS
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STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITY
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CREATES TRUST
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MAINTAINS IMPACT
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EMPATHY REVEALS → STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITY → CREATES TRUST → MAINTAINS IMPACT →
Empathy is built for systems-level change.
I partner with mission-driven organizations to create cohesive strategies between beliefs and outcomes.
Build trust. Sustain impact. Guided by empathy.
The CUES Framework
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CONTEXT
We uncover the systems, patterns, and human behaviors shaping your current outcomes.
I'm listening for cues about what's really driving your work and affecting the humans you serve, learning the full emotional and strategic landscape.
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UNIFY
We unify the gaps between what you aim to do and what actually happens — connecting experience-to-process-to-impact.
This reveals strategic opportunities that connect your authentic mission to your audience’s genuine needs.
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ELEVATE
We turn insight into momentum, refining your strategic focus and flow so your operations + energy + goals move in sync.
This is meant to reshape or amplify your current impact using the emotional through line we've uncovered together.
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STRENGTHEN
We translate the strategy into sustainable next steps you can rely on as you grow.
These guidelines help build internal capacity and integrate intentions with outcomes.
CUE: Cohesion
My R&D-driven consulting process for mission-driven organizations.
Cohesion for
Organizations
Empathy is built for systems-level change. Friction points and challenges don't scare me. They often reveal the most authentic strategic opportunities. Starting with human behavior.
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By approaching challenges with empathy and strategy, I align your internal systems (beliefs) with the outcomes you want to achieve.
These solutions position your organization for long-term impact and support the humans within them.
Clarity for
People and Purpose.
While most consultants start with market analysis, I start with human behavior. Even if you can’t fully empathize with a problem in context, you can understand the feeling behind it.
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A solution cannot maintain its impact if it solely stems from sympathy + strategy.
It requires embedded empathy to understand context, and embodied empathy to understand emotional drivers.
When these components work together, there is clarity around the problem and solution to make decisions on the behalf of others.
CUES™ IN ACTION
CUE: Consulting x Case Study
See how CUE: Consulting shifted a mission-driven organization’s positioning.
The Challenge
What happens when you challenge the belief that people experiencing food insecurity — especially unhoused individuals — "will eat anything?"
The food bank served quality hot meals and maintained relationships with unhoused community members who had specific dietary needs. But their community fridge — designed for ongoing food security — was stocked with degraded items based on the assumption that people experiencing food insecurity would accept any food.
My Approach
While others focused on pounds distributed and waste diverted, I focused on dignity patterns and choice availability. This revealed that their "waste reduction" success was actually creating waste — premium items going unnoticed while degraded food filled community fridges wasn't real access, it was abandonment dressed as charity.
Using my CUES™ framework, I identified the emotional through line between what the organization felt (urgency to distribute everything) and what their community felt (need for dignity and choice). The positioning shift from "reduce waste" to "ensure quality access" drove measurable transformation.
The Results:
● 50% increase in premium brand consumption
● 70% increase in weekly food intake for clients
● 30-40% reduction in food waste
● +1 additional community fridge added
EMPATHY
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AS
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STRATEGY
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EMPATHY | AS | STRATEGY |
CUE: Advising
1:1 Strategy Sprint Call
This is not a coaching call.
It’s a one-on-one strategy sprint for people who move fast and can handle truth in real time. You’ll leave with momentum, clarity, and insight.
I probe because I care.
60-minute session: $750
CUE: Consulting
This is your CUE.
Tell me about your organization and the challenges you're facing, and we’ll face them together. I typically respond within 48 hours.
FAQs
If you don’t see what you’re looking for here, email me and I’ll get back to you.
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Most consultants optimize existing strategies. I question whether your fundamental approach creates the problems you're trying to solve.
Emotions provide information tied to challenges and solutions — addressing root causes means understanding impactful moments and the emotional response attached to them.
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Strategic positioning work requires challenging assumptions that may feel foundational to your identity.
I present evidence and alternative frameworks, but you decide what to implement. The goal is better outcomes, not being right.
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I work with impact-focused leaders open to discovering their current approach might undermine their mission.
This work requires intimacy, trust, and willingness to take a new approach that may feel a little foreign. If you're not prepared for that level of strategic challenge, we're not a good fit.
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My approach combines strategic analysis with nearly a decade in impact-driven spaces as well as corporate communications and strategy.
From grassroots organizations to corporate social responsibility initiatives for global brands to fieldwork worldwide, I blend my y background with over 500+ hours of behavioral psychology-informed work to implement and embody an empathy-as-strategy approach.
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Investment varies based on scope and engagement type. I'm happy to discuss options during our initial conversation.
Regardless of investment, my work uses empathy to challenge fundamental assumptions.
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I'm Carly Q.
My experiences navigating barriers have shaped how I think about strategy — I know what it feels like when well-intentioned approaches don't account for real-world constraints. This drives my commitment to use empathic insight to challenge assumptions that might undermine the impact you're trying to create.
I bring both analytical rigor and genuine care to this work because I've seen how much difference it makes when strategies actually align with people's lived realities.
My first business concept (at 19!) was a pay-what-you-can cultural fusion buffet, inspired by my time spent in Sydney, Australia and a desire to positively impact my hometown community.
I'm the founder of CUE: Consulting and am currently based in Los Angeles, CA.
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Brand messaging helps you communicate what you already believe about your work. Strategic positioning questions whether your current approach actually connects with the humans you're trying to serve.
I investigate the gaps between your intentions and outcomes.
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I believe that humanity is the throughline and variable in any business challenge. Understanding how actions affect feelings ultimately drive responses on an internal and systematic level. Additionally, my lived experience with systemic barriers informs my big-picture thinking to identify connection points and gaps that others miss.
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Results vary, but questioning limiting beliefs typically unlocks measurable improvements. For example, I helped one client across an 8-week project increase premium brand consumption by 50% and weekly whole-food intake by 70%, starting by challenging their core belief.
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I work with founders and organizations genuinely focused on authentic impact, whether for-profit or nonprofit.
If you're primarily concerned with market fit rather than mission alignment, traditional brand consultants may be better suited for your needs.
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First, fill out the form on my contact page and share more about where you’re at.
I’m happy to set up a 15-min. discovery call to see if we’re a good match.
When working together, I investigate disconnects between stated goals and actual outcomes and identify limiting beliefs driving those gaps.
Then, I develop alternative approaches based on what would actually serve your audience. (The CUES framework.)
Processes range from 8-week sprints to 6-month embedded sessions depending on needs. You also have the option to book a 60-minute 1:1 Strategy Sprint Call.