Benn Pattara

I grew up believing the best things, the ones that actually stick, make you feel something before they make you think anything. That instinct is what pulled me toward fashion, product design and brand strategy, and it's the lens I bring to everything I build.

I'm finishing my M.S. at VCU Brandcenter, originally from Chicago, currently in Richmond, pointed toward wherever the work is most interesting. I care about the moment where a brand stops being a logo and starts being something someone reaches for, and I care just as much about why that happens from a business standpoint. Both things have to be true at once for me.

That tension is where I live. At Gap, I built a coaching framework that moved personal loyalty conversion from 1.22% to 12.07%, not by pushing harder, but by redesigning the human interaction around it. My cases go further: brand systems, product strategy, flagship concepts, app architecture. The through line is always the same: start with the person, build back to the business.

Outside the work, I'm reading something that has nothing to do with strategy, writing a book that has everything to do with it, and probably rewatching a political drama I've already seen twice. Chicago made me. Richmond has been good to me. I'm ready for my next chapter.