Empathy Reveals Your Strategic Opportunity.

Most GTM strategies track actions.

I map experience — the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral currents that drive adoption, trust, and credibility.

I partner with early-stage founders building intentional products to define the problem, wedge, and broader category before GTM execution, turning empathy into strategy.

The result is strategic clarity and category-aligned positioning that guides adoption and builds credibility.

THIS IS YOUR CUE

ask yourself:

1

“What signals from your own experience — or your customers’ experience — reveal the real problem you’re solving?”

2

“What do the signals from your customers’ behavior tell you about the problem you’re uniquely positioned to solve?”

3

“What is the through line between the signals you’ve noticed, the change you want to create, and the value you deliver?”

  • "61% of people will buy from a company that genuinely cares."

    —Harvard Business Review

  • "Only 38% of consumers believe company truly understand their needs."

    —PwC

  • "71% of people will lose trust in a company forever if they perceive it as putting profit over people."

    —Edelman Trust Barometer

  • "68% of customers will spend more money with a company that understands them."

    —Salesforce Consumer Report

The Human Experience Loop 𖦹

The internal processes a customer has at each stage of the journey.

Sensation

Emotion

Thought

Behavior

The Customer Journey Map ⌒

The external path a customer takes along the purchase journey.

01
Awareness

(Sensation - Emotion - Thought - Behavior)

02
Consideration

(Sensation - Emotion - Thought - Behavior)

03
Purchase

(Sensation - Emotion - Thought - Behavior)

04
Retention

(Sensation - Emotion - Thought - Behavior)

05
Advocacy

(Sensation - Emotion - Thought - Behavior)

“The Customer Journey Map shows the external path a customer takes, while the Human Experience Loop illustrates the internal cycle of

Sensation - Emotion - Thought - Behavior

that drives decisions at each stage. Together, they reveal not just what customers do, but why they do it — insight into how experience shapes action.”

— Carly Quellman, founder of CUE

for founders.

for founders.

Whose lived experience is inseparable from what they’re building.

I work directly with founders as a strategic thought partner during moments of growth — particularly around positioning, behavioral GTM, and the decisions that set long-term direction and drive adoption.

Experience is built for translation. Especially when decisions affect people you may never meet. Empathy helps leaders translate intent into strategy that drives adoption and growth — grounded in lived experience — so others can feel it, trust it, and respond.

    • Strategic Sprint – Focused guidance on 1–2 key initiatives to clarify positioning, narrative, and go-to-market strategy.

    • Fractional Advisory – Ongoing partnership to refine thought leadership, adoption strategy, and market alignment.

    • Advisory Retainer – Full strategic partnership across multiple initiatives, integrating frameworks and guidance into your business execution.

    • 90-Minute Strategic Advisory Call – Short-form consultation to surface insights, evaluate positioning, and align next steps.

for early-stage investors.

for early-stage investors.

I partner with investment teams to strengthen portfolio positioning, thought leadership, and go-to-market strategy through an emotion- and behavior-led lens.

Experience is the first signal. Audience friction, hesitation, and communication gaps reveal actionable insights. I help firms translate insights into category-aligned frameworks and strategic positioning that align founder stories with market impact.

    • Strategic Sprint – Focused guidance on client initiatives to strengthen founder positioning, messaging, and GTM strategy.

    • Fractional Advisory – Ongoing partnership to advise on client campaigns, narrative evolution, and adoption-driven strategies.

    • Advisory Retainer – Comprehensive support for multiple client initiatives, integrating behavioral insight into positioning, thought leadership, and GTM.

    • 90-Minute Strategic Advisory Call – Quick consultation for specific client challenges with actionable follow-up and insight.

working with me can look like:

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines.

    C-ONTEXT

    A Perceptive Diagnosis

    Before solutions, I study how a company actually behaves — not just how it describes itself.

    I examine positioning, messaging, customer touchpoints, and internal narratives to understand the emotional, behavioral, and strategic signals shaping perception.

    This phase reveals what is working, what is misaligned, and where unseen opportunity already exists.

    Outcome: grounded clarity about current reality and the conditions shaping growth.

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and half circle lines.

    U-NIFY

    A Meaning-Making Process

    Strategy emerges when lived experience, business decisions, and audience perception align into a shared understanding.

    Through founder and stakeholder conversations, I surface the deeper motivations behind the company: why it exists, why it’s unique, and why it matters to customers and the world. This is not to invent a story, but to uncover what’s present beneath the business model.

    Outcome: internal alignment and a clear narrative foundation the organization can stand on.

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and circle lines.

    E-XECUTE

    A Translation Layer

    Insight only matters when it becomes usable.

    Here, clarity transforms into positioning and category creation that connect the company’s intent with how people actually understand and engage with it. Strategy moves from abstraction into decisions teams can apply across all downstream functions: marketing, comms, product, and growth.

    Outcome: sharpened positioning and strategic direction that supports adoption and engagement.

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines.

    S-TRENGTHEN

    An Evolving System

    Strategy succeeds when it no longer depends on external guidance.

    This phase integrates new thinking across teams and decision-making processes so alignment becomes durable. The work moves beyond a document and begins shaping how the company operates, communicates, and evolves over time.

    While my value comes from objective perspective, it requires feedback from the day-to-day team to sustain itself.

    Outcome: sustainable execution and strategic continuity as the company grows.

case study.

CUE: Consulting | Impact Tech, Equity

See how CUE shifted an Impact Tech company’s positioning in support of the humans it serves.

The Catalyst Uncovered

While researching a Impact Tech company, I discovered something the market hadn’t highlighted: the connection between founder feeling and the feeling of their targeted audience. The founder’s catalyst moment was watching his 16-year-old son absorb racist, biased outputs and realizing the machine was rewriting history for the next generation.

On Twitter and X, people laughed. AI leaders stayed silent.

For this particular founder, this was his son.

It was also his son’s legacy.

Most AI companies lead with technical specs: faster models, more parameters, better performance. So how do you differentiate when the big players could fix the problem…. but won’t?

Positioning Opportunity

The answer was in what the founder felt, not what he built.

The emotional through line:

  • Lived experience: A father sees the existential threat to how his child understands himself

  • Market insight: Big players know about the bias. They’re not fixing it.

  • Value proposition: Not “better AI” — a historical corrective that refuses to let machines erase humanity

  • Behavior change: Users learn to interrogate AI instead of accepting it as truth

The company competed on accuracy, empathy, and cultural preservation.

The Founder Lesson

This Impact Tech company’s success is about leading with what only you can offer: the emotional reality of what’s at stake.

When your positioning is rooted in lived experience:

  1. You don’t compete on the someone else’s terms

  2. You attract the audience someone else overlooks

  3. You create a category they won’t build

  4. Your founder story becomes your competitive advantage

How do you make people understand why this matters?

This is the Empathy-as-Strategy approach.

“I was struggling to bridge the gap between my lived experience, my unique value, and how I communicated that to my audience. Having space to deeply reflect on my story, strengths, and the ‘why’ behind my work was incredibly clarifying.”

testimonials.

Kyler Thompson

“Carly really walked me through the customer's emotional potential. I appreciate all her thoughtfulness. She’s my go-to narrative strategist.”

Krista Marrero

let’s connect.

Tell me about what you’re facing.

I typically respond within 48 hours.

faqs.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.