Work With Me

You already have the people. I build what they walk out with.

Organizations bring me in when they want the people they serve to leave with something real. Sometimes that is a cohort program. Sometimes it is a brand, or a book with an author's name on the spine.

Let's Connect
Tamara Zantell speaking at the front of a room

What I see in a lot of rooms

You got the funding and filled every seat.

Then the founders showed up tired, straight from work, with a kid in the back row, and the curriculum had been written for somebody with a free Tuesday afternoon. Six weeks later the binder is on a shelf and the report to your funder says "participants engaged."

Your people deserve to leave holding something. Maybe it's a business that can finally take a purchase order, or a book they can sign and hand across a table.

Where I come in

Programs. Brands. Books.

Programs

I design and deliver cohort programs for incubators, economic development organizations, foundations, universities, and schools. That covers the curriculum, the facilitation, the mentor structure, pitch day, and the alumni follow-through most programs skip. Every program gets built around the life your founders actually live.

See the programs I've built

Brands

Brand strategy, positioning, and messaging for your organization, or for a whole group of the people you serve at once. When Pathstone needed brands for ten entrepreneurs, I built all ten side by side. My agency, Legacy Brand Creators, carries the design and production.

Visit Legacy Brand Creators

Books

Full-service publishing with me in your pocket the whole way, for one author or for a whole anthology. The book is the beginning. What we really build is how you use it: the speaking platform, the workshops, the audience that grows around your name.

See the books we've published

The work I do at The Foundry

Building Western New York's small business ecosystem, one room at a time.

As Director of Business Development & Incubation at The Foundry, my work looks like this. I lead the team that walks Buffalo's founders, makers, and young people from an idea to a business that can stand on its own, at no cost to them. I design the programs, run them, and build the operating systems underneath them so they keep running when I leave the room.

A few of the programs I lead there:

  • Business Lab Series, with workshops in Financial Readiness, E-Commerce & Digital Presence, Creative Product Styling, Product Photography, and Storytelling Through Branding
  • Build Her Business Family Dinners, a family business program I designed so single mothers could attend. Eight of ten families graduated with seed funding
  • Creative Leadership Academy, the youth pipeline from first idea to The Foundry's incubator
  • The Legal Clinic, hosted monthly with the Western New York Law Center

These programs belong to The Foundry. I'm the one building them.

I volunteered at The Foundry for ten years before I ever had the title.

Organizations that have brought me in

Where the work has happened

Reach East Marketing Accelerator

With The Foundry and The Exchange at Beverly Gray. An outside firm built the first version. I pulled it in-house and rebuilt the curriculum and delivery so two cohorts run on what used to fund one. Thirty-two businesses have graduated across four cohorts, each one walking away with an investment in its business and its marketing strategy. I teach, mentor, and run the room every workshop Saturday.

Young Entrepreneurs of Color (Empower716)

I've been with this program since the beginning. My daughter Zandra and I spoke at its first year in 2023, then helped develop the program and became its facilitators. This year I was hired to revamp the whole thing: rebuilding the curriculum, supporting the website team, the CRM team, and the advisory council, and building two programs, one in Buffalo and one in Niagara Falls.

StoryGrowing WNY

Brand narrative and storytelling work for a fast-growing Western New York nonprofit: one shared story for leadership, guardrails for telling client stories ethically, and a messaging system the staff can actually use. I'm enrolling again as a mentor for another brand.

Pathstone

In 2024, Pathstone hired me to develop brands for ten individual entrepreneurs at once. Each owner started with a one-on-one brand strategy session and walked away with a full brand strategy plan: identity, vision, mission, values, positioning, a brand style guide, and a starter marketing plan. From there, each one chose the support they needed next, from websites to content to social templates.

University at Buffalo

Pitch competitions and mentorship across the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, the School of Management, and UB CoLab, working with founders on the pitch they'll actually have to give.

Why organizations trust me with their people

It started at a kitchen table.

My daughter was nine when she asked me to help her build a business.

Nobody handed us a map. We drew one at the kitchen table, the long and expensive way, and she built a million-dollar brand by fifteen. I turned what we learned into a framework so the next family, and the next founder, could get there in half the time.

Raising A Mogul grew to more than 5,000 people in its first six months, and families flew in from across the country and overseas for our conferences. Seventeen years later, I'm building those rooms for organizations.

What I'm trained to do. I'm a triple-threat certified marketer, certified in marketing strategy, copywriting, and design. I'm also a Certified Elite Ads Manager, so ad strategy, funnel builds, and the whole marketing ecosystem are part of the job. And I'm an ICF-certified coach.

I never wanted to be a life coach. I trained as a coach because of who I serve. My work rarely looks like one founder launching one thing. More often it's a family building a business together, or a parent backing a child's dream that nobody else in the house understands, or a founder who has tried everything and still can't take the next step. Sometimes the kids come to the call, because the real problem is a communication breakdown at the dinner table, and we can't build until we fix it.

Most marketers and consultants never account for any of that. I build around it.

Here's what my clients actually pay for. I can get a room excited, and then I hand that room something to do on Monday morning.

Tamara Zantell on stage at RAMCon 2023, mic in hand
Featured in ✦ Buffalo News ✦ Black Enterprise ✦ AfroTech ✦ SheKnows ✦ Entrepreneur Platform Magazine

How an engagement runs

Five steps, start to follow-through

  1. We talk.Thirty minutes, no pitch. You tell me who walks through your doors, what you've already tried, and what your funder needs to see by the end.
  2. I scope it in writing.Deliverables, timeline, who owns what on your team, and how we'll both know it worked. Nothing starts until you've signed off on it.
  3. We build it with your team.Curriculum, brand, or manuscripts, built alongside your staff so they can run it after I leave. Support Services cover the pieces you'd rather hand off completely.
  4. I'm in the room.Launch day, pitch day, the day the boxes of books arrive. I teach, I open and close the day, and I work the tables with your mentors.
  5. We measure and follow through.Start and end assessments, exit surveys, alumni data, and a case study you can put in front of your board and your funders.

Who this is for

Built for the organizations that serve people

Nonprofits, incubators, economic development programs, foundations, universities, schools, chambers, ministries, and the funders who back them. Authors ready to publish come in through the agency.

Building something on your own, or raising a young founder at home? I share the framework for free in the Raising A Mogul community and on the blog. I don't gatekeep it.

Let's talk about your people.

Tell me who you serve and what you want them to walk out with. I'll tell you plainly whether I'm the right fit, and if I'm not, I'll point you toward who is.

Let's ConnectSee the portfolio

VIP Strategy Days

Focused Support to
Accelerate Your Vision

Imagine dedicating an entire day to solving your biggest challenges or launching your next big idea. My VIP Strategy Days are designed for business owners who want fast, impactful results.

Options to Fit Your Needs:

• Starting at $2,500: A focused day to address a specific area of your business—branding, marketing, or product development.

• Starting at $6,000: For corporate clients or large-scale strategic planning, tailored solutions and ongoing support are available.

• Multi-Day & Week-Long Intensives: Custom experiences based on your project’s scope.

What You’ll Gain:

• A clear, actionable roadmap.
• Personalized solutions to meet your goals.

• The expertise and partnership you need to make real progress.

Mentorship & Ongoing Coaching

Your Trusted Advisor,

Every Step of the Way

For $500/month, join a program designed for entrepreneurs seeking consistent guidance and collaborative support.

What You’ll Receive:

• Monthly 1:1 Coaching Calls: Deep dive into your goals and challenges.

• Daily Voxer Access: Get answers to your pressing questions when you need them.

• Exclusive Resources: Tools, templates, and strategies tailored to your business.

Options to Fit Your Needs:

• Entrepreneurs ready to make steady, strategic progress.

• Business owners seeking clarity and accountability without fluff.

For $500/month, join a program designed for entrepreneurs seeking consistent guidance and collaborative support.

The Family Business Mastermind

Build Your Business. Strengthen Your Family. Create Your Legacy.

Designed for families of kidpreneurs, family-owned businesses, and parents with entrepreneurial dreams, this program integrates business success with family harmony.

What You’ll Experience:

• Weekly Group Coaching: Covering marketing, branding, operations, personal development, mindset and more.

• Personalized Support: Coaching tailored to your family’s unique dynamics. Tools, templates, and strategies tailored to your business.

• Quarterly Virtual Retreats: Time to connect, strategize, and grow together.

Options to Fit Your Needs:

• Impact Level ($500/month): Core coaching, community, and tools for success.

• Legacy Level ($1,000/month): Expanded support, including private one-on-one strategy sessions and advanced resources. Access to all Raising A Mogul programming and courses including: Young Mogul Prep School, a program to develop entrepreneurial skills for young family members.

Your family’s business doesn’t have to come at the expense of your family’s unity. This program is here to help you achieve both.

Let's Get Started

You’ve got the vision. Together, we’ll create the strategy and systems

to make it happen.