Kat Smith with her dog Ripley in the Arizona desert

Founder / Operator / Connector

Meet
Kat Smith.

I build the relationships, stories and operating systems that help brands grow while creating something genuinely worth caring about.

Best Kept Social is the strategy and creative practice I built from more than 15 years leading marketing across technology, pet retail, natural wellness, ecommerce and animal welfare. The thread through all of it is social capital: understanding the real problem, recognizing who belongs in the room and aligning their interests into something stronger than any participant could build alone.

B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Missouri.

Download executive one-sheet ↓Meet the Kat Pack ↓

The evidence

Executive discipline.
Social instinct.

Microsoft

Connected Bing adoption to cause, culture and measurable product growth.

Petco

Built social commerce into a national retail, vendor and community growth engine.

Weedmaps

Led brand, entertainment and cultural partnerships as the category moved into national public view.

Pet wellness

Led brand and growth work across Sojos, TDBBS, HempMeds, Lucy Pet Products and other natural-product businesses.

Animal welfare

Served as board member, public information officer, strategist and on-air adoption advocate.

Friends + partners

The work is built
through relationships.

Meet the former colleagues, trusted specialists, creative partners and longtime friends who have made the work stronger across companies, causes and chapters.

Meet the people behind the work ↗

Mission + values / How the table works

Care is not
theoretical here.

Best Kept Social exists to build commercial strength and social value together. Kat is a caregiver, animal-welfare advocate, volunteer and operator. Better business should create more agency, dignity and opportunity for the people and communities it touches.

The Golden Rule

Treat people well. Tell the truth. Give something real. Protect their agency. Leave the system stronger than you found it.

Reciprocity

The best work creates value in every direction: client, customer, community, cause, creator, expert and operator.

Character in practice

Work without ego. Take accountability. Listen to the experts. Give people the authority required to deliver the responsibility.

The larger goal

Build growth that supports animals, people, education, opportunity, equity, community and responsible stewardship.

“The Golden Rule is not soft. It is an operating standard.”
Collaboration. Reciprocity. Continuity of character. Commitment to the larger goal.

The boundary

No amount of money earns someone a seat at the table if their success depends on exploiting, humiliating or diminishing other people.

The origin in plain sight / Petco, 2013

The work was
always personal.

In Petco’s official associate spotlight, Kat appears with the adopted animals who made the mission real at home. The film is an early, public record of the through line that now connects Best Kept Social, Desert Kat Life and Brat Ranch: animals are not campaign props. They are family, community, story and the reason to build something better.

The platforms change. The animals change the plan. The purpose keeps the story moving.

See the Petco growth system ↗

Official Petco archive Published May 9, 2013

On air / In community

Ask Kat.
Then act.

As a board member, public information officer and marketing strategist for Friends of the Palm Springs Animal Shelter, Kat produced and hosted recurring NBC Palm Springs adoption segments. Sponsored by Torre Nissan, Ask Kat brought adoptable animals, practical information and an immediate community action into local homes. The strongest segments joined public service, product education and personality without losing the audience or the mission.

Ask Kat broadcast archive 01 A surviving Ask Kat segment from the NBC Palm Springs archive.

Ask Kat broadcast archive 02 A second surviving segment featuring Kat’s animal welfare and adoption advocacy.

Ask Kat broadcast archive 03 Kat with journalist Thalia Hayden, part of a trusted local media relationship built through consistent animal welfare advocacy.

Media collaboration A surviving local broadcast artifact connected to producer and director Trino Martinez, documenting the trusted media network behind Kat’s recurring animal welfare work.

Education × entertainment × commerce Kat and Bryan Gallo make animal safety useful and fun while demonstrating products naturally. It is proof of Kat’s ability to teach, hold attention and create commercial interest without compromising the public service.

The platforms change / The principles endure

From Overture
to now.

Kat was buying keywords before Google defined the category and building branded communities before social became an industry. The vocabulary keeps changing. The work still comes down to attention, trust, relevance, persuasion and a reason to participate.

Social proof

Reputation

Creator marketing

Advocacy

Community-led growth

Belonging

Lifecycle marketing

Relationship management

Audience strategy

Knowing whom to invite

User-generated content

Giving people a reason to tell the story

Brand is the story. Social is how it travels. Relationships determine who carries it. Community gives it meaning. Performance proves it worked.

1999 to 2003

Overture, Ask Jeeves and early SEO

Keyword buying, search optimized content, multimedia production and interactive experience design before Google defined the modern category.

2003 to 2009

Macromedia, Omniture and enterprise CRM

Owned websites, Flash era experience design, analytics, Salesforce migration and measurable digital programs across consulting, insurance and Microsoft work.

Lithium enterprise community platform era

2009 to 2014

Radian6, Vitrue and Lithium

Social intelligence, publishing and owned community systems translated into enterprise brand operations. Vitrue later became part of Oracle. Lithium later became Khoros.

2015 to 2024

Figma, Shopify and lifecycle commerce

Modern creative operations, composable commerce, PIM, CRM, email, SMS, loyalty, subscriptions, marketplaces and performance measurement connected into one growth system.

Now

Human-led modern marketing operations

New tools make the work faster. Experience, evidence and judgment decide what is true, useful and worth making.

Evidence in motion

Not a wall
of claims.

Broadcast appearances, campaign films, conference presentations, original photography, production footage and platform artifacts make the work visible. Each source adds context to the decisions, relationships and results behind the work.

Recovered Ask Kat broadcast clip from NBC Palm Springs

Broadcast archiveAsk Kat, NBC Palm Springs

Petco Pet Talk Place community platform preserved by the Wayback Machine

Platform archivePet Talk Place

Marketing leadership / Operating fluency

Big brand thinking.
Built to perform.

Kat leads the full system behind modern growth, from the brand idea and public story to the platforms, partnerships, media and operating discipline that make it commercially useful.

200M+Unique views from Microsoft Bing campaigns

$10MIncremental Petco vendor program revenue

567%Increase in Petco social engagement

25%Year over year portfolio growth at TDBBS

8.7xReturn on ad spend at ProCaps

$5M+Quarterly campaign budgets managed

Brand and integrated marketing

Brand positioning, go-to-market strategy, creative direction, campaign development, content strategy, storytelling and integrated marketing across technology, retail, pet wellness and purpose-led organizations.

PR, media and events

Public relations, earned media, executive visibility, broadcast appearances, sponsorships, experiential marketing, trade shows, cultural moments and national programs tied to the Grammys, Sundance, the Oscars and American Idol.

Digital, lifecycle and MarTech

Shopify, Klaviyo, Salesforce, Salsify, CRM, email and SMS strategy, loyalty, customer service, reviews, contests, sweepstakes, segmentation, automation, personalization, retention, subscription, winback and customer lifecycle programs.

Commerce and paid growth

DTC ecommerce, Amazon, Chewy, Walmart, Target, social commerce, retail marketing, marketplace content, CRO, A/B testing, paid social media, Meta, Google, YouTube, affiliate, influencer and performance media.

Partnerships and community

Creator and influencer programs, nonprofit partnerships, corporate giving, cause marketing, community engagement, board leadership, volunteer programs, donor communications and mutually beneficial growth ecosystems.

Research, analytics and operations

Customer research, behavioral analytics, cohort analysis, dashboards, CAC, ROAS, LTV, demand planning, Microsoft Teams, agency leadership, cross-functional team building and executive operating rhythms.

Engagement and branded content

Social branding, short and long form video, creator content, contests, sweepstakes, promotions, product launches, customer engagement and channel-specific campaigns designed to earn participation.

Modern marketing systems

Practical fluency in research, synthesis, strategy, content systems and workflow design, guided by experienced judgment and exacting brand standards.

Platforms and channels include: Microsoft Teams, Shopify and Shopify Plus, Klaviyo, Salesforce, Salsify PIM, Zendesk, Gorgias, FastSimon, Brandfolder, Figma, Asana, Monday.com, DonorPerfect, GA4, Lifetimely, LoyaltyLion, Stamped, Yotpo, Meta, Google, Bing, YouTube, Amazon, Chewy, Walmart, Target, Instacart and emerging retail media networks.

Work in the wild / Real people and communities

The strategy
becomes visible.

Madison tilting her head beside a pink bag of original Sojos Complete dog food

PurposeSojos photographed with joy

CommunityCycle Gear

CultureThe Hana Road

From Kat’s world

Every door leads
somewhere interesting.

Best Kept Social is the strategic engine. These are the living brands, experiments and communities that show the same philosophy in motion.

Desert Kat Life

Animals, Sonoran wildlife, beautiful chaos and life in the high desert. DKL is the warm, funny proof that Kat’s community-building philosophy works in her own world.

Visit Desert Kat Life ↗

Best Kept Tucson

Useful local intelligence, trusted introductions and growth stories for the businesses, nonprofits and institutions shaping Tucson and Oro Valley.

Explore Best Kept Tucson ↗

The Brat Ranch

The long-term vision: a connected home, gathering place and animal-centered platform where rescue, hospitality, creativity and community can create something larger together.

The vision is taking shape

thrifTbrat

Great taste without precious prices. Curated secondhand finds, vintage Southwestern character and the thrill of recognizing value before everybody else does.

First finds coming soon

Bratty Style

An age-positive style and beauty world with personality, confidence and permission to be visible, interesting and entirely yourself.

Style dispatches coming soon

Growth is social.

Let’s put the right people
at the right table.

Email Kat ↗

MeetKat Smith.

Executive discipline.Social instinct.