ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Dr. Nita Rollins

Dr. Nita Rollins, thought leadership expert, futurist, keynote speaker.

INTELLECT—AT THE INTERSECTION OF CONTENT, CULTURE, AND COMMERCE

Dr. Nita Rollins bridges the worlds of critical theory and business strategy in ways few consultants can. A former film critic and magazine editor with a PhD in Critical Studies from UCLA, she pioneered the application of cultural semiotics and futuring to brand strategy, and devised frameworks that have shaped Fortune 500 thinking and been taught at Harvard and Stanford. Her cross-disciplinary approach has guided organizations across B2B, luxury, retail, hospitality, mixed use development, technology, and financial services to build brand equity and transform brand experience through deeper cultural intelligence.

PROFESSIONAL TRAJECTORY

Nita held executive roles at IBM iX, Resource/Ammirati, Fitch Worldwide (WPP), RPA, and other leading creative agencies, directing client strategy and agency thought-leadership platforms.

At the nation’s largest independent digital agency Resource/Ammirati, she helped drive a decade of tenfold revenue growth as Executive Director of Marketing & Thought Leadership. She was co-first author of The Open Brand: When Push Comes To Pull In A Web-Made World (Peachpit Press), a digital co-creative brand handbook written during the digital watershed year of 2007, used by over 25 Fortune 500 brands, and translated into eleven languages.

As the agency’s Futurist, she pioneered Cultural Semiotics and Trends & Futuring practices. The latter grew into one of the first continuous innovation labs in the creative services industry, ultimately developing the first commercial use of Google Glass and the first Facebook e-commerce application. Her trends and futuring work led to a consulting role for a US national intelligence program in 2010.

RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY

A humanistic, journalistic, and holistic thinker, Nita co-directed a Global Brand Belonging Index with Ipsos Research and worked with IBM Watson Marketing to develop the diagnostic & predictive analytics of Brand Belonging—in effect bringing big data and “thick data” together.

Her consumer journey and brand experience frameworks have been adopted by multiple industries, creative agencies, and taught as course material at Harvard, Stanford, and The OSU Fisher College of Business, where Nita guest lectured for eight years and helped develop an MBA course based on The Open Brand.

Nita earned her Ph.D. in Critical Studies from UCLA’s Department of Theater, Film & Television, receiving the Otis Ferguson Critical Writing Award and fellowships from the University of California Humanities Research Institute, the University of Paris III, and the Collège International de Philosophie.

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AUTHORSHIP & MEDIA

A former magazine editor-in-chief and newspaper film critic, Nita has contributed to or been featured in more than forty marketing, design, and culture outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Time, Business Week, US News & World Report, Financial Times, USA Today, Women’s Wear Daily, The Chicago Tribune, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Information Week, Bigthink.com Design Management Journal, Innovation:the IDSA Quarterly, New Design Magazine (UK), Cinema Journal, Wide Angle, Rolling Rorschach, Dispositif (France), Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, Telematics Update, Ad Age, The Fiscal Times, Huffington Post, Bizjournals.com, CRM Magazine, Luxury Daily, Chain Store Age, OMMA, Stores Magazine, VM+SD, DDI, Restaurants & Institutions, Nation’s Restaurant News, Boston Business Journal, The Palm Beach Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Cincinnati Enquirer, and The Columbus Dispatch.


Her work continues to draw on a journalistic discipline—clarity of voice, curiosity of mind, and commitment to evidence—that distinguishes her approach to thought leadership and brand strategy.

KEYNOTE & PANEL SPEAKING

Nita has addressed audiences at both industry and academic conferences, including the National Retail Federation Big Show, Shop.org’s Digital Summit; L2’s Luxury Clinic at NYU Stern School of Business; the Dutch Retail Association’s CBW-Mitex in Amsterdam, the Retailer of the Year Conference in Bruges; Ad:Tech New York; South by Southwest (SXSW)—twice; Fashion Digital New York; the Luxury Interactive Conference; P&G’s Global Beauty Marketing Group Innovation Summit; Starwood Retail Partners Star Power Conference; the Voices That Matter Conference; The Scripps Media Management Conference at Ohio University; the Frontiers in Service Conference at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business; and the Society For Cinema Studies Conferences in New Orleans and Los Angeles.

Dr. Nita Rollins+Keynote Speaker

Starwood Retail Partners Star Power Conference

Photo by Ryan Greenleaf Photography

Four women sitting on chairs on a stage during a panel discussion at the Retail's Digital Summit, with a large screen behind them displaying 'Meet the Speaker' and information about the event.
Panel of six people seated on stage during a discussion or presentation, with a woman speaking and a large screen displaying a slide about changes in the world.
Nita Rollins presenting at L2 Luxury Interactive Conference, NYU Stern School of Business.
Six panelists and moderator Vanessa Friedman, fashion critic for the New York Times, on stage. Large screen displays "Power Panel: The Disruptors," and includes Nita Rollins, Futurist, and Moda Operandi founder Aslaug Magnusdottir.

Fashion Digital NYC Conference

L2 Think Tank, NYU Stern Facebook Luxury Conference

Franklin County Retail Summit

Shop.org’s Digital Summit, Dallas

TODAY AT STYLOGRAPH

Stylograph is the culmination of Nita’s cross-disciplinary career: a consultancy devoted to narrative intelligence, executive thought leadership, and brand storytelling for organizations that lead with ideas.