Career & CV Hannah McGough

Experience.

Brand & Creative Director · 10+ years in consumer brands

A working résumé — current independent practice, prior in-house leadership, and where I'm headed next.

I
Career.
Most recent first.
10+ years
Beauty · CPG · Retail
Independent + In-house
Aug 2020 — Present 5 yrs 10 mos Current

FounderBrand & Creative Director

Hannah McGough — Brand & Marketing Studio · Los Angeles

Following a career throughline of helping brands clarify and launch, founded a brand strategy and creative production studio serving 30+ consumer brands across beauty, wellness, CPG, lifestyle & fashion. End-to-end ownership of creative direction, production, and brand marketing — from 0→1 launches to legacy revivals.

  • Built brand worlds for early-stage names including Beauty Bakerie ($200K/mo DTC, acquisition exit), Pancake Now (Shark Tank), Premium Jane, HPPY Skin, EVER (acquisition exit), La Peony, Windskin.
  • Produced multi-month creative retainers for ChapStick & Suave; national campaigns for Disney × Walmart (Moana 2), TOMS, Real Techniques, Alterna, YoungBlood, AT&T.
  • Established repeatable creative + production systems clients run after engagements close.
View full client roster +
Creative
Alterna · AT&T · ChapStick · Cycle Tea · Disney · Goldfaden MD · HPPY Skin · OurX · PancakeNow · Pure Kana · Puroast Coffee · Real Techniques · Suave · TIDL · Vida Cap · Windskin · Youngblood
Advertising
Alpyn Beauty · Ashapops · Funny Water · MAËLYS · Sorel · TOMS · Varsity Spirit
360 Marketing
Beauty Bakerie · Blank Beauty · Ever · Leverden · Premium Jane
Brand Identity
Blossoming Box · Elevar · Fenix CBD · Hatfetti · One Earth Health · Zen Nest
Sephora Skincare Desk
belif · Clarins · COOLA · Erborian · Fresh · GLAMGLOW · Glow Recipe · Kopari · L'Occitane · Laneige · philosophy · Shiseido · Sol de Janeiro · St. Tropez · Supergoop
Jul 2025 — Mar 2026 9 mos In-house · CMO

Chief Marketing OfficerBeauty Tech · Venture-backed

Blank Beauty · Los Angeles

Led brand, go-to-market, and growth strategy for a venture-backed beauty tech, robotics and AI company. Built brand infrastructure from scratch — positioning, consumer research, full website & social redesign, full-funnel marketing engine. Cross-functional across product, engineering, marketing.

  • Grew DTC revenue from near-zero to consistent $30K/month within the first quarter.
  • Earned editorial coverage in WSJ, Forbes, Vogue Business, Entrepreneur — pickup was editorial, not bought.
  • Launched proprietary "Huey" customizable nail polish technology.
  • Developed the Complexion category expansion playbook — debuted CosmoProf Miami, Jan 2026.
  • Built the Customer Advisory Board and consumer research engine across Reddit + private focus groups.
Sep 2019 — Jul 2020 11 mos In-house · Director

Director of MarketingBeauty Bakerie Cosmetics

Beauty Bakerie · Full-time

After supporting the brand at Riley Rose, invited into a custom role leading integrated marketing, creative, and PR for the DTC business — overseeing digital growth and the 360 brand calendar across global prestige retail (ULTA, Nordstrom, Target, CVS, Douglas, Selfridges).

  • Repositioned the brand for global prestige retail expansion across packaging, web, creative campaigns, and sub-brand development.
  • Scaled DTC to $200K/month; PR placements including GMA and CosmoProf keynote.
  • Brand sold in acquisition during tenure.
Jul 2017 — Sep 2019 2 yrs 3 mos In-house · Founding Team

Head of Brand MarketingRiley Rose · Forever 21 · 0→1

Forever 21 · Los Angeles

Recruited as a founding team member for new beauty and home goods retail concept Riley Rose (20+ stores) — establishing brand positioning, buyer-brand relationships, visual merchandising, and the in-store experience.

  • Brand foundation: name, voice, identity, in-store experience principles.
  • Merchandising strategy across beauty, gifting & lifestyle SKUs.
  • Launch marketing & PR across digital and 20+ retail locations.
  • Buyer relationships across emerging consumer brands.
  • Notable first-retailer launches: Dedcool, Truly Beauty, Starface, Belgian Boys
Sep 2016 — Jun 2017 10 mos In-house · Merchant

Merchant TeamLifestyle & Trend

SEPHORA · San Francisco Bay Area

Shipped exec team a personal mailer pitch and was offered a role on any Merchant team — chose Lifestyle & Trend, supporting emerging brand discovery and launch into Sephora's national retail footprint.

  • Brand vetting and merchant fit assessment for the Skincare Desk.
  • Cross-functional choreography between emerging brand teams & Sephora buyers.
  • Launch readiness — positioning, GTM, retail-creative alignment.
  • Brands supported include belif, COOLA, Glow Recipe, Kopari, Sol de Janeiro, Supergoop.
II
Speaking & Advisory.
Public voice + brand counsel.
Available on request

Speaking & Editorial

Talks, workshops, panels — subjects span building consumer brands, the operator's view of creative, and content strategy for founders.

Workshop · 2025 Building Your Soul-Led Brand Grateful Giraffes · Venice
Talk · 2024 How to Build a Brand Nerd Nite · Los Angeles
Panel · 2022 Video Content Strategies for Creators & Brands Planoly Presents · panel series

Brand Advisory

Ongoing brand counsel for founders & product teams — sounding board on creative, strategic, and operational decisions.

Advisor · 2022 Soona Business development & new studio openings
Advisor · 2021, 2022 Planoly Product strategy

Education

2011 — 2015
Cornell University
Communications & Media Studies, Film
Open to what's next

Looking for the next chapter — let's talk.

Full-time roles, project work, advisory engagements, or just an introduction. I'll reply within 48 hours.

hello@hannahmcgough.com → Request full CV (PDF) ↗
Mock v5 · experience