I’m Emma Weise

A fresh thinking Brand Strategist, lover of coffee, beauty + quality [like well packaged gin bottles, artisinal ice-cream, and pretty stationery]

– who loves making a global impact – whilst living the country life in South Africa.

I’m also the owner of FreshSage.

FRESH.SAGE

The first question I’m asked is…”Why FreshSage?“

My journey to a brand name… came about when personal brands were still emerging.

All the big names were using their personal name as their brand name [think Marie Forleo or Neil Patell].

I liked the idea of using my name, it makes it so much easier when your business is “shape shifting” – that way things could change as I did!

But I wasn’t convinced.

I knew I wanted a name that was separate enough from me,

My thought at the time, was “what if I want to sell my business one day?” [and retire on an island drinking G+T’s as I watch the sun go down]… After all… I have big plans for this business!

But I also wanted my name to reflect me,

and what I do

[because, after all…my business is essentially based on my thinking and skills].

Let the thinking games begin!

My surname “Weise” means wise… and I’m a big thinker… so I liked the connotation there. So whilst exploring the idea of “wise thinking” and “advice” – the word Sage came to mind!

Sage… YES!

I also love the colour sage [as you’ll see by my branding] and the taste of the herb.

But I’m not a boring, or stuffy, or dated kind of “sage”.

so it needed to feel more creative… more fresh!

Et Voila! FreshSage was born!

I was called to make

a big impact

but after working my way up the corporate ladder, being on an exec team,

and looking around at “what next”, I knew that this was a dream job

…for someone else.

it was time

for something fresh!

I knew that I wanted something more in life.

and if you think that this is the part in my story where I tell you I went on my own and created a 10 figure business from minute one… you’re wrong!

My journey is a beautiful mess with many twists.

I had to find my confidence first.

I had to find “me”.

So my journey is filled with a few flopped recipes [like how I started by business thinking that if I just did the same job I did in corporate – that would be a great – and safe – business model… or not!], there have been many recipe tweaks along the way.

Every recipe tweak, brought something special ingredient.

I have added business strategy, internal branding [and the many varying creative aspects that go into it] to my pantry of skills.

and all the twists and turns led me to external branding, and how to create a full brand experience.

It’s been a personal journey filled with plenty and plenty of hours of research, a few drops of tears, with a couple of bunches of courageous moves along the way.

and after all of that

I discovered my blend of awesome.

I adore seeing women confidently step into their purpose!

so I created a brand agency, that delves deep + extracts the essence of the CEO, blending it mindfully into the brand they are sharing with the world.

so who is emma?

here are some quick + tasty nuggets to sum up who I am…

I am… a wife to my high school sweetheart,

and a mom to Nathan [affectionately referred to as kidlet],

and we are all living the country life in South Africa with our previously feral [now super tame] cat.

When I’m not helping others as a brand strategist, I’m also busy working to rebrand our town [and sit on the local tourism board] and I run a bnb with hubby.

Helping women find their confidence. Low self-esteem, mindset, and the mind behind the person fascinate me!

Finding beauty in the ordinary + using my creativity to solve problems + exploring all the talents God gave me!

Finding balance, getting back to slow living + cooking things from scratch.

Courageous entrepreneurship – and what it takes to build a successful business with heart.

clean design that is balanced and warmed with texture… The color sage blue [and neutrals and lots of grey]

Ccoooofffeeee!!!! and real conversations + writing or sharing my thoughts and ideas.

Good quality products… like wine, bubbles, chocolate, ice-cream [did I mention coffee??]

I’m resourceful… so much so, that I organised my mom’s engagement diamonds for her!

I claim that my good “eye” comes from my creative family and french mauritian heritage [oh, and I only spoke french till I was 3, then I learnt english].

I have lived in a variety of town + city sizes… and have easily moved over 20 times in my life [coping with change… anyone?]