I'm Kristin Barber, the strategist behind Merpoodle Studio...and here's what inspired the brand.
20 plus years of turning complicated ideas into brands people actually understand, now built for founders who don't have a marketing department behind them.
The psychology degree taught me how people work.
When Verizon offered a voluntary separation to a large workgroup, I took it...even at the peak of my career, with every project outperforming its goals.
I gave myself a year to rest, garden, paddle, and figure out what I wanted to build next.
What I kept coming back to was this: brand and communications strategy, built for people who don't have a corporate team behind them.
The Fortune 500 taught me strategy and tools.
For over 20 years, I've built communications strategies that turn confusion into clarity.
17 of those years at Verizon, where I ran product launches, built sales enablement programs, and created communication systems used by thousands of employees at Fortune 500 scale.
Along the way, I earned a Master's in Organizational Development Psychology and trained as a yoga instructor; not to change careers, but because understanding how people actually process information and make decisions made me better at every strategy I built.
Why Merpoodle?
One evening on the Dunedin Causeway in Florida, I was paddleboarding back to shore when the wind shifted and the water turned choppy. My little poodle Bean and I weren't interested in getting dunked, so I took a breath and got fully present: the paddle, the small adjustments, the momentum carrying us forward.
When we made it back to shore, I laughed and surprised myself by saying, "If I can do this, I can run my own business."
That's the moment Merpoodle Studio was born...named for the little paddling poodle who was there for it.
Credentials & Experience
Fortune 500 Strategy
20+ Years
Communications strategy, sales enablement, product launches, and brand systems for one of the world's largest companies, and built for teams of thousands, now built for you.
How People Decide
MS Psychology
A Master's in Organizational Development Psychology behind the strategy, and the reasoning for why some brand messaging lands and some doesn't.
Presence & Process
Holistic Approach
Years as a yoga teacher/student and paddler taught me to slow down and see the whole system before reacting. That shows up in how I listen to your brand, not just what I deliver.
Align
I start by listening...to your story, your audience, your goals, and what's already working.
Imagine
I explore possibilities without limitations. This is where strategy meets creativity.
Create
I bring the vision to life with visual systems, messaging frameworks, and the tools you need.
Impact
I deliver results and evaluate the journey to determine the path forward.
Values & Methodology
