Kat Gabrielle
Researcher / Strategist / Writer
New York, NYC / Athens, GRC / Melbourne, AUS
Q What do you do?
“I’m a strategist, researcher and communications specialist. I help businesses articulate their cultural positioning and connect meaningfully with their audience. I also write.”
I ran a boutique marketing and comms agency in Melbourne, Australia from 2012 - 2020, affording me excellent experience in running teams, setting up frameworks to facilitate campaign and content success. Since moving overseas, I’ve built Special Projects, a consultancy focused on market and consumer research, cultural insights, semiotic analysis and strategy.
With a background in film and screenwriting, I’ve also worked alongside production and distribution agencies as a script consultant, experience that deepened my understanding of narrative, audience psychology and cultural storytelling.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
I majored in Creative Writing and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne, which sparked an enduring interest in semiotics, signs and symbology. I went on to complete a Master’s in Advertising and Marketing at RMIT, with a final semester at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. During this time, I interned with several agencies and learnt the ropes of the ad world. I began my career as a copywriter and quickly found my flow in strategy—though I still love to do both.
While studying, I taught first-year Communications students and have since spoken on panels for cultural institutions including the State Library of Victoria, Craft Victoria, artsACT, Music Victoria and Screen Vic. I’ve also guest lectured at universities and led workshops for clients wanting to upskill their marketing and communications teams. Teaching has afforded me unique insights into my industry and also given me a breadth of experience that helps when coordinating teams.
Alongside this, I’ve attended film labs in Europe and worked on documentaries and feature scripts as a script consultant, experience that has deepened my understanding of narrative, audience psychology and the interplay between language and visual storytelling.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
My approach is considered and tailored, with a focus on research (ethnography, semiotics, qualitative, brand tracking) and outcomes (position mapping, insight frameworks, product validation, audience segmentation). There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy.
Beyond that, I’m fun to work with, largely owing to truly enjoying what I do and bringing enthusiasm and curiosity to all projects I work on.
Q What are you working on right now?
I’m building out the Special Projects studio and working with three other whip-smart strategists to research (ethnographic and qual) consumer beliefs in our ‘Post-Trust’ economy (watch this space).
I’m also helping a luxury fashion brand to refine and reposition as they expand into homewares.
Q What’s your style?
I’m interested in how people respond to consumerism, tech and economic change. I feel like we’re all getting a little lost in the trend cycle right now, and the answer isn’t replicating these trends, it’s to understand the paradigm shift that underlies them to effectively engage audiences.
For me, working as a strategist means reintroducing brands to their consumers and helping them to get to know them inside out, to inform product development, communications and overall brand experience.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
We do! While I’m obsessed with consumer behaviour, my semiotic approach also sparked a long-term interest in astrology. A few years ago, I created It’s Just a Phase, a moon-phase journaling app designed to help people reflect on cyclical change. The project now has more than 5k daily users, and I love developing content and product features for it.
Creating It’s Just a Phase drew on my skills in market research, cultural insights and product development, similar processes I’ve applied to brand work.
I feel like my time is pretty fairly divvied up for the moment, but I’d always love more time for writing about cultural insights and paradigm shifts that I’m spotting.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
Self promotion! Love promoting others, but terrible at doing it for myself.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Outreach! I’d love help getting in front of more aligned brands in the beauty, wellness and D2C spaces, and to connect with cultural organisations, film studios and production houses too. Finding clients who I can help with research and strategy would be great.
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
Stop standing on the side of the pool, jump in! I think it’s pretty common to want to be able to start things earlier, but I also believe that everything unfolds when it should. Perhaps I’d tell myself to trust that it’s all working out great.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
International taxes!
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
Deep, honest customer research, strategy, naming, TOV, narrative development, plus workshops on any of the above. This is my wheelhouse.
I’m open and ready to collab with brands, orgs and agencies who require this kind of depth and insight for their projects.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
Loved working on the Grown Alchemist rebrand before they hit it big in 2012, which also launched my first agency in Australia. This work was incredibly fulfilling as there was budget to understand the consumer and semiotics of skincare brands at the time.
I’ve also really enjoyed running events for brands that doubled as ethnographic studies. For example, my agency ideated and implemented influencer events for Cocobella Coconut Water, enabling taste-testing of new products in soft-branded environments, user generated content and capturing insights through customer safaris. Good fun, and a wealth of intel came out of these!
Q: What is your rate?
Each proposal is tailored to the needs of the project, so pricing depends on scope.
For smaller brands Special Projects offers a $2,000 Brand Roadmap, a focused, strategic overview that outlines your direction and next steps without the need for long term commitment.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Best way to reach me is directly through email - kat@specialprojects.global and we can set up a time to connect.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
I’ve really enjoyed collaborating with Esto Association in Athens, Greece. Their design is leagues ahead, they are super professional and Markela did an amazing job of designing my app :))
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Walking around the cities I'm lucky enough to call home!
This member profile was originally published in October 2025.