Kate Ellen
Founder of Archetype Readings/ Strategic Creative
Bay Area, CA
www.archetypereadings.com
instagram @archetype.readings
are.na
Q What do you do?
“I do archetype readings using a system I invented — think tarot for your brand, but the result is way more strategic than that sounds. ”
Most branding folks use archetype exercises that are mind-based, which means your biases come along for the ride. Mine is heart and body based, so the answer bypasses all that and gets to the actual root.
The reading reveals the archetypal energy behind your creative project or brand — and helps you see yourself as separate from it, which is when things get really interesting. Suddenly the brand can inhabit its archetype fully, simply, powerfully.
From there I have a whole ecosystem of care depending on what you need: self-guided tools if you want to do the work yourself, or I'll build the whole thing out for you — websites, brandbooks, copy, art direction, photography, email campaigns. All of it through an archetypal lens.
It's probably the most fun you'll have doing brand strategy.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
I started as a social worker, a sex educator, a teacher — then spent 15 years as the founder of a fine jewelry company with a brick and mortar boutique in the heart of downtown Oakland, specializing in responsibly sourced jewelry.
But here's the thing: I was always covertly doing something else. I was building community, helping people find their true expression, helping them turn up the light they were reluctant to let shine. I was making custom ethically sourced heirlooms, sure — but it was something else altogether.
Every circuitous reroute in my life now feels absolutely essential in retrospect. I've integrated all of it into a unified practice that blends everything I've ever been interested in into something I genuinely can't find anywhere else.
The archetype deck came to me in a dream. I promptly ignored it — until I kept dreaming about it. So I built a prototype and started testing it on people. Turns out whatever signal I was getting was pretty right on.
It opens up these beautiful conversations with people in transition — launching something new, considering a change, or struggling to see how all their different creative projects relate to one another. Every circuitous reroute, it turns out, was leading here.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
My two closest friends told me what they think my superpower is: unabashed enthusiasm and the ability to see potential everywhere and in everyone. When they said it, I knew it was true.
I used to hide that. Now I lean all the way in.
My active imagination takes me to technicolor places — and when people tell me their ideas and desires, all I feel is yessssss, let's go. But I'm not the fool walking off any cliffs. I have 15 years of entrepreneurial experience, a finely honed intuitive playbook tightened through meditation and energy work, and a system for getting to the root of things that I literally dreamed into existence.
So when I see potential in you? I'm not just being nice. I really see it.
Q What are you working on right now?
Right now I'm building a website for an Ayurvedic practitioner, art directing an album release for a funk musician, and guiding a ceramics artist through a full branding and strategy pivot into a more exclusive market.
Oh — and starting my own YouTube channel.
Every project is completely different. That's the part I love most.
Q What’s your style?
Honestly? I'm a bit of a chameleon. One day I want to hunker down in the Blunt estate, the next I'm craving neon everything. But my job isn't to express myself in my clients' projects — it's to be a conduit, an avid listener, a devoted translator of their vision. So I've learned to find the beauty in almost any aesthetic, even when it isn't really my taste.
What I need is for it to be done exquisitely and carry a story forward. If it does that — in music, fashion, design, photography, anything — I'm convinced. I'm in.
What really lights me up is seeing someone in their full expression. That's the thing that gets me every time. When a brand or a project finally looks and feels like the person behind it? Irresistible. That's what I'm chasing in every project.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
Music. I am a singer/songwriter and recording my debut album under the name Little Door. I would love to just be focused on that project.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
I guess I don’t look at it that way. If it keeps ending at the bottom of the to-do list, it probably doesn’t need to happen!
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Admin thangs!
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I love myself and where I am at - I wouldn’t change a thing. I know I’m right where I’m supposed to be.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
The nature of consciousness itself? Yeah.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
Right now I'm most lit up by archetype readings — especially with creatives who are in transition. Launching something new, pivoting, or sitting on a project they can't quite see clearly yet. If you've got a brand or creative project that feels murky, misaligned, or just not quite you yet — that's exactly where I want to be.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
I’d love to work with more independent musicians, especially women artists! I love working with anyone who is heart-centered.
Q: What is your rate?
Archetype Readings are $250. I have tools within my ecosystem to support archetype work that start at $600. Then bigger projects done for you like brandbooks are $2,500 and websites start at $3,000.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Hit me up by email.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Shanté Honeycutt - Multidimensional writer, editor, digital curator, & mystic.
Karen Joy Brown - Vocal and songwriting coaching.
Jaime Eliza - Photography.
Alice Son - old jewelry comrade.
Eva Kolenko - Food photographer. Cookbook anyone?
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Meditation, outdoors, my kiddos, dumbphone, lots of time to myself.
This member profile was originally published in December 2025, Updated in March 2026.