Rhonda Swan is known as the Unstoppable Momma and it’s easy to see why.
The 47-year-old is the author of Amazon best-selling non-fiction book, “Skills Are Cheap, Passion Is Priceless”, and executive producer of BRAND IT, a documentary film & production series.
She is also the founder and CEO of the company Unstoppable Branding Agency (UBA) which is a digital marketing agency that works with dozens of Fortune 100 companies on brand awareness, marketing strategies, logo development, content creation, increasing ROI, and public relations.
In the past two years, Rhonda has launched 152 new brands and products, produced 125 brand films and documentaries.
The last straw
In 2004, Rhonda made the difficult decision to break away from the corporate world and build a business for herself. With two MBAs bagged in business and advertising, she landed a senior position as a marketing executive at GlaxoSmithKline. Rhonda was in charge of controlling a fund pool of about half a million dollars for the company’s PR and advertisement. For eight years, she worked at GSK on a six figure salary.
However, life changed when her baby girl was born. She came into work a little late one day and was rudely talked down to by a superior. No one cared that she had a dependent 6-week-old to cater to. She was told that if she ever showed up late again, she would be fired. She could lose everything for being a mom.
She couldn’t imagine the reality of going back to square zero again. She wanted to be a great mom to her child and setting the kid up in daycare at such a young age was never part of her motherhood plan. After that encounter, she decided to put her marketing skills and connections to great use in entrepreneurship.
“I knew that if I wanted to raise a child and have a family at the age of 30, I’d need to find a way to maintain my six-figure income without trading away valuable time,” she said. “And as I started building my company, I quickly realized that the connection I had in pharmaceutical sales had everything to do with building a brand, connecting with people, telling their story, and helping them solve a problem.”
Exponential growth
Unstoppable Branding Agency started as an educational firm that created courses to teach people to handle their own branding needs. She worked from home, controlled her time, and was able to look after her child at her own pace. When she started her business, she was able to send out at least 3,000 leads and make great connections within 3 months. However, real progress was slow and she fell into a phase where she could barely provide for her kid. Swan struggled, but she never gave up.
Her breakthrough came following a conversation with a mentor who told her to shift her focus to people and quit treating them as promotable products. She took his advice and began working directly with brands, offering services and human-to-human collaboration instead of teaching human-to-tech. It didn’t take long for her to return a million dollars in sales, spurring her company to the seven-figure league.
In the 17 years since the inception of her company, Rhonda has distinguished herself as an influential woman of diversity and a passionate business coach for women entrepreneurs. As a woman of American, Indian, and Italian descent, her company has employees from all over the world. She believes in offering equal opportunities to deserving people and promoting diversity in the business environment. As a female leader breaking grounds in a male-dominated field, 80% of Swan’s workforce is female. She dedicates a great deal of her time to female empowerment and giving women the motivation to make their voices heard.
Rhonda has visited over 50 countries across 6 continents in the past 12 years, with her husband, Brian Swan, and daughter, Hanalei Swan.
Rhonda Swan’s Favorite Work Apps
Swan runs remote teams all over the world and coordinates with clients via several software applications. However, like most other digital entrepreneurs, certain platforms have taken up special places in her heart.
Notion – “I use Notion for project management and working with clients. It helps organize the conversations and keeps client business out of my personal messages.
Slack – “My favorite app for communicating with my team. It keeps our conversations organized and has a great search feature, in case we lose a conversation.”
Clubhouse – “This is a new one, but I’m ready to explore this app, giving more value to my audience. It’s bringing back authenticity to teaching and learning.”
