Kate Hamilton Interview
Sonder & Tell Co-Founder Kate Hamilton talks navigating career transitions, leadership insights, and how she strikes a balance between business and creative energy.
Published on
Jul 11, 2025
6
min. read
Where’s your hometown and where do you live currently?
London is my hometown but I’m currently living in a tiiiiny village called Rupià in the Empordà region of Catalonia. I’m here for five months and running Sonder & Tell remotely which has luckily worked. More than worked in fact!
In a few sentences, describe what you do.
I’m the co-founder of Sonder & Tell, a brand consultancy specialising in strategy, tone of voice and creative copy. We work with a range of brilliant brands – some you might know include Octopus Energy, Legacy, Motorway, KatKin, Mindful Chef and Plants. Our superpower is nailing the strategy, then building the platform and voice to bring it to life.
Sometimes I feel like I overthink for a living. My role spans everything – pitching, strategising, and writing. I used to focus more on growing the business, but I’ve recently stepped back into leading strategic work, which I’m loving.
You can find our musings (read: overthoughts) on brand in our biweekly(ish) newsletter, The Word.
What are the skills that make the biggest difference in your work?
Balancing creativity with plausibility – the work has to feel original, but it also has to be something a business could realistically carry out.
Filtering through noise – I think this applies to strategy (what’s the centre of gravity here?) but also how to structure your days in terms of what should to focus on and what to ignore (all of Linkedin)
Cognitive switching – being able to pitch to the C suite, rally a team member, facilitate a strategic workshop then come up with a creative idea. Sometimes within one day. But ideally not lol.
How have you navigated career turning points, like the transition from writer to founder or magazine writer to brand writer as your career has progressed?
I really like change. I get itchy feet quite easily and am unable to not act when I feel like things need a switch up, which is to say I haven’t felt all that phased by the transitions. Maybe it’s also helped by fact that words are the throughline – the formats and briefs might shift, but the core of the work stays the same.
What’s the most important leadership lesson you've learned since founding Sonder & Tell? Is there anything you would go back and tell yourself in the first year?
As a leader, you spend so much time thinking things through that by the time you communicate them, it’s easy to assume everyone’s on the same page. But they’re not in your head. People aren’t mind readers – you might feel like you’ve said something clearly, but saying it once usually isn’t enough. Say it again. And again.
Also, people are going to people. They'll surprise you – sometimes brilliantly, sometimes disappointingly. Early on, I worried a lot about whether everyone was happy and probably took on too much of a pastoral role. I’ve learned that building a company which people want to be part of matters more than being their friend. If I were starting again, I think I’d be a bit more guarded.
How has Sonder & Tell evolved over the past seven years? What milestones have felt most important to you?
Sonder & Tell began as a copywriting and tone of voice partnership between me and Emily Ames. Over time, it’s grown into a strategic partner for brands – not just how they sound, but who they are. We now work upstream on brand positioning and voice, helping clients articulate their essence before the words even hit the page.
Our team size has shifted along the way. At one point, we grew to around 14 people, but more recently we made the conscious decision to scale back. Now, as founders, we’re more hands-on with the work – and that feels right for now.
A few milestones: landing our first brand positioning project, getting the keys to our first office, hosting a team retreat that felt like summer camp, and a few moments when clients have cried (happy tears) during presentations.
How does your background as a magazine writer impact your creative and/or leadership approach?
Always searching for a story!
How do you balance the demands of running a business with staying creatively engaged?
Honestly, it’s hard. I can feel it when I’ve leaned too far into business mode – I get bam bam bam with the work, and everything loses its spark. Creativity needs a bit of space and slack, and I’m still figuring out how to carve that out consistently.
What do you look for in potential collaborators? What makes a creative stand out?
It’s the blend of strategic clarity and sharp articulation. Lots of writers can churn out great-sounding headlines, but the ones who truly stand out understand what a strategy needs to do – and then write in service of that.
What’s a piece of feedback that still haunts you?
Oh god – what haunts me is less the feedback but more my reaction to it which in hindsight was so emo. It was our first repositioning project and we’d done a huge presentation (on Zoom, it was 2020) and the client called me afterwards to say the routes hadn’t quite landed. I wept on my patio and smoked cigarettes. Luckily I have developed a thicker skin in the years since. And I’ve also stopped smoking.
What’s a piece of advice that still fuels you?
Jen Rubio, founder of Away, once told me that when you feel nervous, tell yourself you feel excited. People always say “just calm down,” but that’s too big a leap for your nervous system. Fear and excitement are basically flip sides of the same physiological state – so it’s easier to shift from one to the other. It really helps.
What is your favorite and least favorite brand right now? Why?
I’m obsessed with To My Ships. We mentioned them in a recent newsletter – they’re a personal care brand turned cultural curator. Founded by an Aesop alum and inspired by the Iliad, with lines that sound pulled from epic poems.
Least favourite? Non-specific, but any brand that’s claiming to “change the way the world… [eats/sleeps/suntans]” can get in the bin.
What do you think distinguishes a good brand voice from a great one?
A good brand voice delivers on a strategy in a compelling way. A great brand voice happens when a writer embodies the strategy and makes it their creative playground. And ultimately moves people.
Do you have rituals for finding inspiration, or do you let it come naturally? And what’s your favorite offline source of inspiration?
I don’t really pursue it actively – but maybe I should. I try to get offline: visit galleries, eavesdrop on conversations, or just play with my toddler.
What’s your favorite way to procrastinate?
Reading negative Google reviews of restaurants and imagining the people who wrote them.
What about the industry do you wish you knew starting out in your career?
That the agency world still worships headcount and revenue as markers of success. But some really smart people are quietly building lean, profitable businesses that are designed to serve their lives.
Bonus Round
What do you listen to while working?
My inner monologue (no music).
What’s your most creatively inspired time of day?
It’s first thing in the morning but annoyingly I’m not that much of a morning person. I also get a second wind about 10pm which is drastically unhelpful for the general wind down vibe.
What’s one writing rule you love to break, and one you never do?
Break – show don’t tell (I love to tell).
Keep – no adverbs.
Favorite personal mantra?
Done is better than perfect
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
I really love the process of listening, distilling and shaping a strategy into a story people can understand – and get behind. If I wasn’t doing that for brands, I think I’d be doing it in a space like social policy. Helping people rally around ideas that drive meaningful change.
Describe your creative process in three words.
Neurotic, emotional and eventually – (hopefully!) – alchemical.
Kate is the co-founder of Sonder & Tell, a B Corp certified brand consultancy that helps businesses define their positioning, articulate their story in language, and train their team to live and breathe the brand every day. S&T clients include Mindful Chef, DASH, Lick, Motorway and Octopus Legacy.
Where’s your hometown and where do you live currently?
London is my hometown but I’m currently living in a tiiiiny village called Rupià in the Empordà region of Catalonia. I’m here for five months and running Sonder & Tell remotely which has luckily worked. More than worked in fact!
In a few sentences, describe what you do.
I’m the co-founder of Sonder & Tell, a brand consultancy specialising in strategy, tone of voice and creative copy. We work with a range of brilliant brands – some you might know include Octopus Energy, Legacy, Motorway, KatKin, Mindful Chef and Plants. Our superpower is nailing the strategy, then building the platform and voice to bring it to life.
Sometimes I feel like I overthink for a living. My role spans everything – pitching, strategising, and writing. I used to focus more on growing the business, but I’ve recently stepped back into leading strategic work, which I’m loving.
You can find our musings (read: overthoughts) on brand in our biweekly(ish) newsletter, The Word.
What are the skills that make the biggest difference in your work?
Balancing creativity with plausibility – the work has to feel original, but it also has to be something a business could realistically carry out.
Filtering through noise – I think this applies to strategy (what’s the centre of gravity here?) but also how to structure your days in terms of what should to focus on and what to ignore (all of Linkedin)
Cognitive switching – being able to pitch to the C suite, rally a team member, facilitate a strategic workshop then come up with a creative idea. Sometimes within one day. But ideally not lol.
How have you navigated career turning points, like the transition from writer to founder or magazine writer to brand writer as your career has progressed?
I really like change. I get itchy feet quite easily and am unable to not act when I feel like things need a switch up, which is to say I haven’t felt all that phased by the transitions. Maybe it’s also helped by fact that words are the throughline – the formats and briefs might shift, but the core of the work stays the same.
What’s the most important leadership lesson you've learned since founding Sonder & Tell? Is there anything you would go back and tell yourself in the first year?
As a leader, you spend so much time thinking things through that by the time you communicate them, it’s easy to assume everyone’s on the same page. But they’re not in your head. People aren’t mind readers – you might feel like you’ve said something clearly, but saying it once usually isn’t enough. Say it again. And again.
Also, people are going to people. They'll surprise you – sometimes brilliantly, sometimes disappointingly. Early on, I worried a lot about whether everyone was happy and probably took on too much of a pastoral role. I’ve learned that building a company which people want to be part of matters more than being their friend. If I were starting again, I think I’d be a bit more guarded.
How has Sonder & Tell evolved over the past seven years? What milestones have felt most important to you?
Sonder & Tell began as a copywriting and tone of voice partnership between me and Emily Ames. Over time, it’s grown into a strategic partner for brands – not just how they sound, but who they are. We now work upstream on brand positioning and voice, helping clients articulate their essence before the words even hit the page.
Our team size has shifted along the way. At one point, we grew to around 14 people, but more recently we made the conscious decision to scale back. Now, as founders, we’re more hands-on with the work – and that feels right for now.
A few milestones: landing our first brand positioning project, getting the keys to our first office, hosting a team retreat that felt like summer camp, and a few moments when clients have cried (happy tears) during presentations.
How does your background as a magazine writer impact your creative and/or leadership approach?
Always searching for a story!
How do you balance the demands of running a business with staying creatively engaged?
Honestly, it’s hard. I can feel it when I’ve leaned too far into business mode – I get bam bam bam with the work, and everything loses its spark. Creativity needs a bit of space and slack, and I’m still figuring out how to carve that out consistently.
What do you look for in potential collaborators? What makes a creative stand out?
It’s the blend of strategic clarity and sharp articulation. Lots of writers can churn out great-sounding headlines, but the ones who truly stand out understand what a strategy needs to do – and then write in service of that.
What’s a piece of feedback that still haunts you?
Oh god – what haunts me is less the feedback but more my reaction to it which in hindsight was so emo. It was our first repositioning project and we’d done a huge presentation (on Zoom, it was 2020) and the client called me afterwards to say the routes hadn’t quite landed. I wept on my patio and smoked cigarettes. Luckily I have developed a thicker skin in the years since. And I’ve also stopped smoking.
What’s a piece of advice that still fuels you?
Jen Rubio, founder of Away, once told me that when you feel nervous, tell yourself you feel excited. People always say “just calm down,” but that’s too big a leap for your nervous system. Fear and excitement are basically flip sides of the same physiological state – so it’s easier to shift from one to the other. It really helps.
What is your favorite and least favorite brand right now? Why?
I’m obsessed with To My Ships. We mentioned them in a recent newsletter – they’re a personal care brand turned cultural curator. Founded by an Aesop alum and inspired by the Iliad, with lines that sound pulled from epic poems.
Least favourite? Non-specific, but any brand that’s claiming to “change the way the world… [eats/sleeps/suntans]” can get in the bin.
What do you think distinguishes a good brand voice from a great one?
A good brand voice delivers on a strategy in a compelling way. A great brand voice happens when a writer embodies the strategy and makes it their creative playground. And ultimately moves people.
Do you have rituals for finding inspiration, or do you let it come naturally? And what’s your favorite offline source of inspiration?
I don’t really pursue it actively – but maybe I should. I try to get offline: visit galleries, eavesdrop on conversations, or just play with my toddler.
What’s your favorite way to procrastinate?
Reading negative Google reviews of restaurants and imagining the people who wrote them.
What about the industry do you wish you knew starting out in your career?
That the agency world still worships headcount and revenue as markers of success. But some really smart people are quietly building lean, profitable businesses that are designed to serve their lives.
Bonus Round
What do you listen to while working?
My inner monologue (no music).
What’s your most creatively inspired time of day?
It’s first thing in the morning but annoyingly I’m not that much of a morning person. I also get a second wind about 10pm which is drastically unhelpful for the general wind down vibe.
What’s one writing rule you love to break, and one you never do?
Break – show don’t tell (I love to tell).
Keep – no adverbs.
Favorite personal mantra?
Done is better than perfect
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
I really love the process of listening, distilling and shaping a strategy into a story people can understand – and get behind. If I wasn’t doing that for brands, I think I’d be doing it in a space like social policy. Helping people rally around ideas that drive meaningful change.
Describe your creative process in three words.
Neurotic, emotional and eventually – (hopefully!) – alchemical.
Kate is the co-founder of Sonder & Tell, a B Corp certified brand consultancy that helps businesses define their positioning, articulate their story in language, and train their team to live and breathe the brand every day. S&T clients include Mindful Chef, DASH, Lick, Motorway and Octopus Legacy.
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