We're in an AI-led world now: content, campaigns, a full brand, all one click away. Execution stopped being the hard part. What separates the projects that actually make a difference is the vision behind them, and no machine can find that for you. I find it and build the strategy to carry it: for founders building directly, for PR agencies whose clients need that same clarity, and for artists turning a creative vision into something that reaches people.
Nine years in brand & PR strategy30+ brand partnershipsSeed-stage to Nasdaq-listedFrench & English marketsThat girl is me, Katharina Tchernega. Since I was young, I've been inventing worlds of my own, because the ones on offer bored me. I never tried to be different or better - I just never understood why more people don't choose to be authentic.
I'm multicultural: born in Germany, Russian roots, raised in French culture, and I found my place in London. Nine years across every scale, from seed-stage startups to Nasdaq-listed companies. I learned every part of marketing, PR and communication along the way - and it's in strategy that I found where I actually shine, and where I can make other people's projects shine too.
Heka carries a vision of authentic creation: finding the place where you already shine, and building something real from it.
I read the business as it actually is, not as you imagine it.
I name the vision, sharp enough to hold.
I turn that direction into a system: which levers matter, and in what order.
If you need it, Heka Studio - my network of vetted professionals - handles execution end-to-end. I stay on the direction.
Every project is different. The outcome is always the same: a direction you can commit to, and the discipline to follow it.
Whether you're building the brand yourself or already have PR in place, the gap looks the same: strong pieces, no system holding them together.
Most founders don't lack ideas. They lack clarity about what they stand for, who they're truly building for, and how to turn that vision into something the market actually feels. I read the business, find the direction that's already there, and build the strategy to carry it. If execution follows, my network handles it - I stay on the direction.
You're a boutique agency running campaigns across the UK, Germany, the US and France for international clients. The PR is strong, but every market has its own media logic, its own creator ecosystem, its own way of building trust, and it's rarely the market with a dedicated strategic layer. I come in as a consultant, not a competitor: supporting your PR strategy with a 360° layer, following your agency's global plan. I can also join your pitch to new clients, adding that layer to what you already offer them. Alongside your team, never instead of it.
The direction is the seed. What follows is what grew.
France's second-hand cultural items market was already saturated, with La Bourse aux Livres, Gibert and entrenched local players. Momox, a German company, struggled to find its place in the French market: a PR strategy was in place, but it wasn't enough to lift and build the brand's image.
Momox had run a study on second-hand consumption in France: the 35-60 age group, the audience its campaigns like Mother's Day were built around, rarely resold on the platform and mostly used it to hunt for rare finds. Those with lower purchasing power used it to make ends meet at the end of the month. Running the brand's own social media gave me a second signal: those older users weren't just quiet, they were actively critical of momox in the comments. Two sources, one conclusion: the audience the brand was targeting wasn't the one that could make it money. And the community already buying and selling, BookTok and BookIG, was built and led by Gen Z. The obvious move would have stayed with the audience holding the purchasing power. The real read went the other way: the platform's actual users were younger, already organised into a community, and they were also the ones who influenced what their parents, family and friends bought.
That direction shaped everything that followed: a strategy built around content creators and that younger audience, with micro-creator partnerships and a genuine affiliate programme, timed to a back-to-school campaign when the audience was actually buying, to give momox a voice inside the conversations young buyers were already having, not to speak louder than them.
Katharina doesn't just execute. She thinks beyond the brief, brings ideas, and knows when to challenge us to move the strategy forward.
Justine GuillardAccount Director, Firefly CommunicationsHer ability to interpret a brief without needing detailed input, and to bring clarity to strategic decisions, is what sets her apart.
Nishanthi GanegamaOperations Manager, LITCShe integrates herself within the business, not just the project, to fully understand how the company works before deciding where to act.
Sabrina CummingsProject Manager, Find Your Feet CICIf you're building something ambitious and feel like the vision isn't landing the way it should - let's talk.