Consultant Spotlight: Emily Sachs, Senior Marketing Consultant

It is not unusual for respectful and culturally sensitive visitors to Myanmar to be welcomed inside a Buddhist temple; however, very few will partake in quite the same experience that Emily Sachs had on her trip to this Southeast Asian country.

“Traveling solo, as I most often do, I went in to observe the morning ritual of monks being fed by the locals,” Emily explains. “When I quietly looked around a corner, I saw a group of women sitting in a room, preparing fruit for the monks. They motioned for me to come in, and the next thing I knew, I was helping them even though I spoke no Burmese, and they spoke no English.”

Not long afterward, she found herself being blessed by the head monk after the morning’s prayers.

As an independent traveler who has visited 20 countries on five continents, Emily strives to do more than “tick off the boxes.” To make her travels truly transformative, she seeks to forge genuine connections with people in meaningful ways.

“Those in the temple saw that I truly wanted to understand their culture and their community,” she says. “They sensed that, and so they brought me into the fold.”

While Emily hesitates to draw a direct parallel between her work as a marketing consultant and such a sacred experience, it is worth noting some common threads. The kind of positive energy — enthusiasm combined with confidence, respect, and awareness — that helps Emily connect with people on her travels also helps her connect with those in her work life.

In a consulting situation, her enthusiasm and energy ignite excitement, motivating the team to join the project journey. Along the way, she creates great rapport with everyone, at all levels. “I’m as fluent with your trainee as with your leadership,” she says.

Combine Emily’s exceptional people skills with her 20-plus years of experience in brand building and marketing communications, and it’s no wonder Emily is a sought-after consultant. Her forte is helping businesses identify and articulate what they do and then move them forward on their journeys.

“You can ask five leaders in the same company what they do and end up with four answers,” she says. “I get to the bottom of it. Why do you do this? What’s your North Star? And what does that mean for your customer?”

Emily is also an ace at cutting through dialogue and getting things done. “The concept stage is exciting, and it’s great to discuss the ideas for a while, but sooner or later, you have to roll up your sleeves and start executing. You have to move forward and go.”