Explore how selecting the right advertising agency partners, grounded in integrity and clear communication, empowers leaders to navigate brand complexity and drive sustainable growth.
Her Story
About Lorraine
Lorraine G. Stewart is an accomplished entrepreneur, marketing strategist, and organizational culture expert, widely recognized for her leadership in the advertising industry. She is the Founder and CEO of ROJEK Consulting, a marketing consulting firm established in 1990, which specializes in advertising agency search, review, and performance optimization. Through her proprietary CultureScanPRO® platform, Lorraine has pioneered a data-driven approach to measuring core values and cultural fit, helping Fortune 500 companies and growing brands build high-performing marketing teams and establish successful partnerships with agencies. With over three decades of experience, she has advised C-suite leaders across industries, guiding complex multi-million-dollar hiring and agency selection decisions.
In addition to her consulting work, Lorraine co-founded Unbox the Dress, a tech-enabled, VC-backed start-up that transforms wedding gowns into heirloom-quality gifts. The company employs over 30 designers and champions sustainability, creativity, and women-led entrepreneurship. Lorraine’s dual focus on business innovation and purpose-driven work reflects her commitment to building companies that honor human connection, foster collaboration, and deliver meaningful impact. Her professional ethos is captured by her belief that “Everything Good Comes from Cultural Fit™.” A graduate of Northwestern University with degrees in advertising, Lorraine combines academic excellence with hands-on industry insight. She has held executive roles at leading advertising agencies and corporate marketing departments, and she has served as an associate professor in journalism and advertising at Kent State University as well as in School of Business at Malone University.
Lorraine is also a certified ethical advertising executive and organizational culture expert. Beyond her professional accomplishments, she actively supports women’s economic empowerment through non-profit initiatives.
She is an author and speaker who contributes thought leadership on topics like purposeful leadership, organizational culture, brand building and measuring what matters.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Lorraine
01What do you attribute your success to?
Be joyful in hope. patient in affliction and faithful in prayer. Romans 12:2
The Poem "In the Garden" by C. Austin Miles is the bookmark I love as a continues to read new material everyday.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received was to continue the listening and learning process with continued education to increase brain power. How we build relationships with other people helps us shift into the role of serving and leading others to accomplish the greater good.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Young women can parallel path with short term actions as well as planning for their longer term accomplishments. Multiple paths in the portfolio allows us to advance what we can, shift gears when necessary or pause to brainstorm alternatives. Creative thinking applies to problem solving. Positive relationship become the foundation to work well with many different types of people.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The impact of AI in the advertising, communication, brand management and journalism is seen as a reality ~ with some benefits and some critical negative problems. The certification programs regarding the ethical guidelines for the use of AI in content creation are available to people to understand the latest thinking on this topic.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me in both my work and personal life are shaped by my faith, experience as a cancer survivor and growing up in an entrepreneurial family owned business environment; I was the oldest of three girls. Today my commitment is to serving others, solving problems, answering questions when asked and enjoying the sunny blue skies in friendly, western North Carolina!
Her Content Hub
Articles by Lorraine
🤔 CMOs and Advertising Agency leaders: Where is your foundation?
While Performance Metris are important, Shared Core Values Inspire People
Hello ~
Do you remember the C.S. Lewis quote "Where there are no doubts, no questions, no perplexities, there can be no growth." 🛣️
The dynamic between C-suite executives, CMOs and external agency partners frequently involves ambiguity concerning the measurable influence the agency team must have to impact brand results. 📈
Sometimes there are roads that lead to nowhere and dead end. Other times they are wide, open, and inspirational. 😍
⏩ Q: What Matters the Most to You?
Despite uncertainty, the success of loveable brands can be traced back to the selection of the right agency partners, ones that play a pivotal role in navigating the complexities of the client's industry. The best agency for a given company brings specialized expertise and strategic insight, directly contributing to the brand's achievements within a highly competitive environment.
🤔 Q: Is what you communicate different from what others may be saying?
Effective agencies are responsible for crafting original content, compelling narratives, designing innovative campaigns, and reaching target audiences emotionally. As companies strive to merge and reposition their brands, the collaboration with advertising agencies becomes even more crucial.
🧩The integration or reduction of agencies poses significant challenges, including maintaining consistency in brand messaging, upholding ethical standards, and ensuring seamless transitions. 🧩
In today’s dynamic landscape, leaders should prioritize integrity and fairness in partnerships, as these values make complex, challenging decisions more straightforward. Promoting a culture of honesty enables advertising agencies to create, share, flourish and help drive sustainable growth.
Tough decisions regarding what to do and what not become easier when grounded in a platform of integrity.
By fostering positive cultural transformation, company leaders can create an ecosystem where advertising agencies thrive and contribute to sustainable growth.
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