Narrative & Positioning Strategy

I work with brands and founders to get clear on what they’re building — and how it shows up in the world.

For founders and executive teams who want their positioning, product, and voice aligned.

What I Do

The work scales to the moment.

A reset — clarifying positioning and language before the next chapter begins.

An ongoing partnership — guiding the narrative as it moves across product, brand, and key moments of growth.

Targeted support — refining a category position or clarifying how something shows up in the market.

Engagements range from focused positioning resets to longer-term narrative partnerships.

The structure adjusts. The throughline doesn't.

Fashion Market

DOCUMENT JOURNAL

Global Product Storytelling & Editorial Strategy

RALPH LAUREN

Narrative & Positioning Strategy

Narrative & Positioning Strategy

Why this perspective

Positioning carries weight — and the room it's in changes everything.

In some rooms, taste shapes influence.
In others, trust determines what moves forward.

That range shapes how I approach the work.

I pay attention to the gap between what something is and how it’s being understood.

Most friction starts there.

I’m often brought in when what a brand is building has evolved — but the language hasn’t evolved with it.

The Method

Clarity doesn’t happen by accident. It needs structure.

The work unfolds in four phases:

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

    Audit

    What’s being said — and how it’s landing.

  • Align

    What’s actually true, and what you’re stepping into next.

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

    Architect

    The structure that keeps everything aligned.

  • Activate

    How it travels — across teams, conversations, and the outside world.

About Me

Over the years, my work has taken me into very different rooms.

Editorial and luxury brand environments, where taste shapes influence. Enterprise technology and regulated financial systems, where language has to withstand scrutiny. AI-driven platforms, where what you say — and how you say it — determines adoption.

Different contexts. Different pressures.

But the same question keeps surfacing:

How should this be understood?

Not how do we market it. Not how do we make it louder. How do we make it clear.

I'm Sarah Gentillon — a narrative and positioning strategist with 15 years of experience closing the gap between what something is and how the world understands it.

I've seen how quickly momentum builds when language is aligned — and how quietly things stall when it isn't.

That's the work I built Gentillon Strategy around. Helping founders and executive teams get clear enough that their position carries — internally and externally.


  • Sarah Gentillon is a narrative and positioning strategist with over 15 years of experience shaping how brands and institutions articulate who they are and what they're building. Her career began in the pages of Vogue, GQ, and Rolling Stone — where she developed a sharp instinct for story, tone, and the kind of editorial precision that makes language land. That instinct followed her into more complex environments.

    At Ralph Lauren, she shaped campaign and category storytelling — bridging the brand's iconic heritage with its modern cultural voice. At JPMorgan Chase, she built narrative and content systems within a global technology group — connecting internal tools to external voice, developing thought leadership platforms, and shaping how a complex organization at the intersection of AI, enterprise infrastructure, and regulated finance communicated what it was building.

    Across every context, the work has been the same: helping founders and executive teams translate complexity into clarity — building positioning that earns trust and builds momentum. She has partnered with brands including Nike, Amazon, Neiman Marcus, and Vogue.

  • Nike
    Ralph Lauren
    Vogue
    GQ
    Amazon
    Neiman Marcus
    Zegna
    YSL Beauty
    Vanity Fair
    Essence

In Practice

The work shows up in different environments.

Enterprise technology.
Founder-led brands.
Public-facing leaders.

The context changes.
The thinking doesn’t. 

  • An internal AI platform preparing to launch inside a regulated enterprise.

    The technology was strong.
    The positioning wasn’t.

    Some teams saw innovation.
    Others saw risk.
    Many didn’t see its role at all.

    We clarified what it was — and what it wasn’t.
    Not a side initiative. Infrastructure.

    Built a positioning thesis leadership could stand behind.
    Framed rollout language around credibility, not hype.

    The result: clarity that held under scrutiny.


  • A founder-led brand entering an emotionally saturated category.

    The space was crowded.
    Differentiation risked becoming noise.

    We clarified the thesis:
    Hair objects of care and creativity.

    Not trend. Not novelty. Intention.

    Built a voice that felt elevated but grounded.
    Launched with coherence instead of cliché.

  • A founder whose company was well known, but whose personal narrative wasn’t.

    The mission was clear.
    The positioning wasn’t.

    We clarified how the founder should be understood — beyond the brand itself.


    Built authority pillars.
    Aligned how the founder showed up publicly.

    The presence matched the ambition.

Let’s Work Together

What to expect: I read every submission and respond within 2 business days. If there's a fit, we'll set up a short call to talk through the work.

Select engagements.
I work directly with founders, CMOs, and executive teams ahead of launches, reintroductions, and periods of evolution..

If you're not sure yet whether there's a fit, that's fine. Tell me what you're working on and where things feel unclear. That's usually enough to know.