Narrative, Positioning & GTM Strategy

I work with brands and founders to get clear on what they're building, why it matters, and how it grows.

What I Do

Through Gentillon Strategy, I partner with founders, brands, and teams navigating growth, change, launches, and new opportunities.

Sometimes that means refining positioning. Sometimes it's shaping a go-to-market strategy, preparing for a launch, strengthening brand storytelling, developing a campaign narrative, or helping articulate a vision more clearly.

The throughline is creating alignment around what you're building, why it matters, who it's for, and how it moves into the world.

Experience spanning luxury, editorial, technology, and emerging AI.

DOCUMENT JOURNAL

Areas of Focus

  • Define what makes your brand distinct, why it matters, and how it should be understood in the market. Positioning creates the foundation for messaging, growth, and decision-making.

  • Develop the stories, messages, and communication frameworks that help audiences understand, trust, and connect with what you're building.

  • Shape the strategy behind launches, growth initiatives, and market expansion—ensuring the right story reaches the right audience at the right time.

  • Create a clear and consistent voice that reflects who you are, what you stand for, and how you connect with customers across channels and touchpoints.

  • Translate business objectives into creative direction, helping teams align around ideas, audiences, and execution from the earliest stages of development.

  • Develop campaign narratives, launch strategies, and storytelling platforms that build momentum, create engagement, and support growth.

  • Partner with founders and leadership teams on moments of growth, change, and opportunity—providing perspective, clarity, and strategic guidance as priorities evolve.

RALPH LAUREN

Engagements

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines.

    A Reset

    For moments when the business, brand, or vision has evolved, but the story, positioning, or direction hasn't caught up yet.

  • An Ongoing Partnership

    Ongoing partnership to help ensure the story, strategy, and execution evolve together as the business grows.

  • Geometric drawing of an outline square with sections divided by vertical, horizontal, and circle lines.

    Targeted Support

    Focused support for a specific launch, campaign, partnership, or opportunity where clear storytelling and strategic alignment matter most.

In Practice

The work takes shape across different kinds of challenges.

A launch that needs a stronger story. A brand that has outgrown its positioning. A founder struggling to articulate a vision. A new product looking for its place in the market. A team navigating growth, change, or transformation.

Different contexts. Different audiences. Different stakes.

The common thread is helping people clarify what they're building, why it matters, and how to connect it with the people it's built for.

  • Helped shape the introduction and adoption of an enterprise AI platform by developing the narrative, positioning, and communication strategy needed to build understanding and trust across the organization.

    Deliverables:
    • Positioning & messaging framework
    • Adoption narrative
    • Executive communications
    • Launch strategy
    • Internal campaign development
    • Content & communication planning

  • Partnered with a founder-led brand to clarify its positioning, sharpen its story, and create greater alignment between the product, brand, and customer experience.

    Deliverables:
    • Brand positioning
    • Messaging framework
    • Narrative development
    • Audience insights
    • Brand storytelling
    • Growth recommendations

  • Worked with a founder to articulate their perspective, expertise, and vision more clearly—creating a stronger platform for thought leadership, visibility, and business growth.

    Deliverables:
    • Founder positioning
    • Narrative strategy
    • Thought leadership development
    • Messaging framework
    • Content strategy
    • Executive profile development

Why this perspective

My background spans luxury, editorial, enterprise technology, and emerging AI. Different industries. Different audiences. Different ways of measuring success.

What connects them is a fascination with how people make sense of things.

A brand. A product. A new idea. A shift in direction. A moment of growth.

No matter the context, the questions tend to be the same: What are we building? Why does it matter? Who is it for? How do we help people understand it, trust it, and care about it?

Sometimes the answer takes shape through positioning. Sometimes it's a story, a campaign, a launch, a partnership, or a new way of articulating a vision.

The work changes. The underlying challenge doesn't.

Helping people create clarity, connection, and momentum around what comes next is what continues to interest me most.

About

Sarah Gentillon is a narrative strategist and creative storyteller with 15 years of experience spanning luxury, editorial, technology, and emerging AI.

Her career began in editorial, contributing to publications including Vogue, GQ, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and Essence before moving into brand storytelling, creative leadership, and narrative strategy roles at Ralph Lauren and JPMorgan Chase.

Today she leads Gentillon Strategy, partnering with founders, brands, and teams navigating growth, change, launches, and new opportunities. Her work sits at the intersection of narrative, positioning, brand storytelling, and go-to-market strategy—helping people create clarity around what they're building, why it matters, and how it connects with the people it's built for.

Writing (Between Markets)

Sarah writes Between Markets, a newsletter exploring work, ambition, identity, growth, and the spaces in between.

Part personal reflection, part exploration of work and modern life, the newsletter examines reinvention, creativity, leadership, and the evolving definitions of success that emerge as we grow.

Read Between Markets on Substack

  • Sarah Gentillon is interested in the stories people choose to build and the reasons others choose to believe in them.

    Born in Haiti and based in New York, her perspective has been shaped by moving between worlds—editorial and corporate, creative and strategic, founder-led and enterprise. Over the past 15 years, that perspective has informed work spanning luxury, technology, media, and emerging AI.

    She is particularly drawn to moments of growth, change, and possibility, when ideas are still taking shape and the story has yet to catch up. Her work explores the intersection of narrative, positioning, brand, and culture, helping people create clarity around what they're building and where it can go next.

    • Ralph Lauren

    • Nike

    • Amazon Fashion

    • Zegna

    • YSL Beauty

    • Neiman Marcus

    • Vogue

    • GQ

    • Vanity Fair

    • Essence

Let’s Work Together

I read every submission and respond within two business days. If there’s alignment, we’ll set up a short call to talk through the work.

If you’re not sure whether there’s a fit yet, that’s fine. Tell me what you’re building — and where things feel unclear. That’s usually enough to start the conversation.