ABOUT

Story & Co. works with businesses, organizations, brands, and solo entrepreneurs who want their marketing to sound more human, credible, and values-driven than traditional sales-driven marketing.

At its core, Story & Co. is about helping businesses tell values-led stories—
real, true narratives that show what a business stands for,
how it operates,
and the choices it makes in the world.

By sales-driven marketing, I mean much of today’s advertising and content marketing—
work built around funnels, urgency, and psychological triggers designed to push quick transactions.

Increasingly, it turns people off.

Today, consumers are savvy.
They recognize manipulation and tune out marketing that feels engineered rather than honest.

That matters for businesses, because when marketing feels generic or insincere,
it doesn’t just fail to convert—
it quietly erodes trust.

WHY VALUES-LED, STORY-DRIVEN MARKETING WORKS NOW

Story-driven marketing takes a different approach.

Instead of trying to persuade through pressure or performance,
it focuses on presenting a business honestly and humanly—
through true stories people actually want to read.

At Story & Co., that means focusing especially on values-led brand and business stories:
narratives that show not just what a company sells,
but what it believes,
how it conducts business,
and why it makes the choices it does.

This kind of storytelling helps businesses and organizations:

  • communicate who they are and what they stand for

  • build trust and credibility over time, not just clicks

  • create genuine connection with customers, clients, and communities

  • stand apart in a crowded, noisy marketplace

These stories don’t shout.
They don’t push.
They invite.

And because they’re grounded in truth,
they’re far more persuasive than hype-driven marketing ever was.

WHERE I COME IN

I’m Katrinna Chérie, a literary journalist.

My background is in the golden era of alternative newsweeklies (1980s–90s),
where my work earned 11 national and more than 20 state journalism awards.

Selected National Honors

·      National Newspaper Association--First Place, Best Coverage of the Performing Arts

·      National Federation of Press Women--First Place, Best Feature Story

·      National Federation of Press Women--Second Place, Social Issues Reporting

·      National Federation of Press Women--Second Place, Best Personality Profile

·      National Federation of Press Women--Third Place, Personal Column

As a journalist, I listened closely,
reported carefully,
and shaped my interviews and research into print stories our readers enjoyed and trusted as being true.

During the 1990s, I also briefly worked as a copywriter,
but sales-driven work conflicted with my values as a journalist.

I wasn’t willing to give up editorial judgment or exaggerate the truth.

In the decades since, sales-driven marketing and advertising hasn’t eased up—it’s intensified.

But the tide is finally turning. Consumers today are increasingly drawn to businesses that communicate with transparency, intelligence, and respect.

And businesses and organizations are taking note.
They’re realizing that trust—not pressure—
is what sustains long-term relationships and loyalty.

That’s why I returned to the business world and founded Story & Co.

WHAT MAKES THIS APPROACH DIFFERENT

Critics of story-driven, values-led marketing sometimes argue that being more transparent
makes a business more exposed and vulnerable.

They’re right.
It does.

But that vulnerability is exactly where its power lies.

Sales-driven marketing relies on armor—
polished language, inflated claims, urgency tactics—
and that armor is precisely what makes so much marketing today feel false and unbelievable.

Values-led brand and business stories do the opposite.

They remove the armor.
They show how a business actually operates,
what it prioritizes,
and how it treats people.

And in today’s environment,
that doesn’t weaken a business—it strengthens it.

Trust has become the new gold standard in business. It’s what people increasingly use to decide who they want to do business with and stay loyal to over time.

HOW I HELP

At Story & Co., I work as a business storyteller, not an advertising copywriter.

I help businesses, organizations, and mission-driven brands
move away from sales-driven marketing
and toward values-led, story-driven marketing.

My work includes:

  • Values-led brand and business stories
    (true narratives that show what a business stands for and how it operates)

  • Real-life owner stories

  • Brand narratives and editorial-style business profiles

  • Customer success stories (case studies)

  • Newsletters and ongoing brand storytelling

  • Transparent sponsored content and native advertising

These stories often inform About pages, website messaging, and brand positioning—
but they begin with the journalistic standards of
telling the truth,
accurate reporting,
and narrative integrity.

No trip wires.
No false claims.
No manipulation.

And for today’s consumers, frankly, that’s refreshing.