Catherine Kaputa

Catherine Kaputa is a brand strategist, speaker, author and founder of SelfBrand, a New York City-based branding company. From Madison Avenue to Wall Street to the halls of academe, Catherine Kaputa perfected her ability to market products, places, and companies. She first learned brand strategy from Al Ries and Jack Trout at Trout & Ries Advertising, and then led the award-winning “I Love NY” campaign at Wells, Rich, Greene. For over ten years she was SVP, Director of Advertising and Community Affairs at Citi Smith Barney, and she developed and taught a branding course at New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Yet Catherine came to appreciate that one of the most important applications for branding is not for products — it’s for individuals to define and own their career identity and create their own performance success. That’s why Catherine wrote the award-winning book, You Are a BRAND! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success, winner of the Ben Franklin award for Best Career Book 2007, a bronze IPPY award and is a Top 10 Business Book in China.. In addition to personal branding, Catherine also speaks on women’s leadership, the topic of her book, The Female Brand, Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business (May, 2009). Her new book on branding building and innovation is Breakthrough Branding: How Smart Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs Transform Small Ideas Into Big Brands.

Catherine has spoken at a wide range of organizations as part of professional development and motivational meetings, sales and client meetings, small business and branding meetings, and women's programs. She has been featured on CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, CNN Money, USA Today, The Financial Times and The London Observer. Her speaking clients include PepsiCo, Microsoft, Intel, UBS, AT&T, Dow Jones, Unilever, Marsh, ADP, KeyBank, Whirlpool, BNY Mellon, Harvard University, Northwestern University, Symphony IRI, Time Warner, and The Wall Street Journal. Catherine has a B.A. from Northwestern University, a MA from The University of Washington and she was a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University.