Founder Brand Director

About Cymbiotika At Cymbiotika, we believe that wellness starts with trust. That’s why we’re committed to creating supplements that are not only effective but also transparent. From the moment you pick up one of our products, you’ll know exactly what’s inside—no hidden ingredients, no confusing labels. We take pride in using only the highest-quality ingredients, carefully sourced and backed by science, to ensure you’re getting the best of nature and innovation in every supplement.

We understand that health is personal, which is why our supplements are designed to work with your body, not against it. By focusing on bioavailability and using advanced liposomal delivery systems, we ensure that your body can absorb and use the nutrients to their fullest potential. Our goal is simple: to help you feel your best, with products you can trust, made with ingredients you feel good about.

With Cymbiotika, you’re not just taking a supplement—you’re joining a community of people who value wellness, science, and the power of transparency. We’re here to empower you on your journey to better health, every step of the way.

Role Summary

We are looking for a highly strategic, culturally connected, and entrepreneurial Founder Brand Director to lead the next chapter of Durana Elmi’s personal brand.

Working directly with Durana and in close partnership with the Director, Creative & Social Media and Founder Brand & Social Specialist this person will help shape and drive the strategy, positioning, growth, and external ecosystem surrounding Durana’s personal brand.

The goal is not to turn Durana into an influencer, but to position her as a modern founder and tastemaker at the intersection of wellness, fashion, beauty, business, motherhood, travel, and culture.

This is a high-trust role for someone who understands how to build cultural relevance, cultivate meaningful relationships, identify high-value opportunities, and translate a founder’s point of view into a distinctive and lasting personal brand.

Key Responsibilities

Founder Brand Strategy & Positioning

• Own the overall strategy, positioning, and long-term vision for Durana’s personal brand.
• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to Durana, bringing forward ideas, perspectives, and opportunities that strengthen her brand.
• Establish annual and quarterly priorities that support Durana’s visibility, cultural relevance, credibility, and long-term growth.
• Develop and continuously evolve Durana’s point of view as a founder, entrepreneur, tastemaker, and cultural voice.
• Evaluate opportunities based on brand alignment, strategic value, audience relevance, authenticity, and long-term brand equity.

Partnerships & Relationship Development

• Build and lead a high-value ecosystem of relationships across brands, founders, executives, media, fashion, beauty, hospitality, entertainment, and cultural communities.
• Identify, develop, and lead strategic partnerships and collaborations aligned with Durana’s values, lifestyle, and positioning.
• Proactively source high-impact opportunities while thoughtfully evaluating inbound requests and recommendations.
• Cultivate long-term relationships with key brands, founders, creatives, media, and cultural connectors.
• Represent Durana externally and lead partnership discussions and negotiations as appropriate.

Cultural, Media & Visibility Opportunities

• Identify and secure strategic events, speaking opportunities, podcasts, press, collaborations, travel, brand activations, and cultural moments that build meaningful brand equity.
• Maintain a forward-looking calendar of relevant cultural moments, events, launches, travel opportunities, and visibility opportunities.
• Identify platforms and conversations that align with Durana’s perspective, expertise, and areas of influence.
• Partner with PR, media, creative, and external agencies to maximize strategic visibility opportunities.
• Ensure Durana is prepared with the context, relationships, talking points, and logistics needed to show up effectively.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead the Founder Brand & Social Manager, providing strategic direction, priorities, and mentorship across founder brand initiatives and execution.
• Partner closely with the Director, Creative & Social Media to ensure Durana’s real-world presence and digital presence operate as one cohesive brand.
• Collaborate with Cymbiotika’s Brand Marketing, Creative, PR, and leadership teams to ensure alignment between Durana’s personal brand and the company’s broader brand strategy.
• Lead external agencies, vendors, consultants, and strategic partners supporting Durana’s personal brand.
• Establish clear priorities, processes, and ways of working that allow the founder brand ecosystem to scale thoughtfully and efficiently.

Director Level Ownership

• Act as a trusted, discreet, and highly organized strategic partner to Durana.
• Protect Durana’s time, energy, and positioning by maintaining a clear understanding of priorities and determining where her involvement creates the most value.
• Anticipate needs, opportunities, and potential challenges well in advance.
• Own priority opportunities from initial identification through relationship development, strategy, execution, and follow-through.
• Build systems and processes that support the long-term growth and evolution of the founder brand function.
• Exercise strong judgment around when to move quickly, push back, or recommend passing on an opportunity.

Additional Duties: Perform other related duties, responsibilities, and special projects as assigned based on business needs and organizational priorities.

How You Will Partner

The Founder Brand Director will own the strategy, positioning, external relationships, partnerships, cultural opportunities, and overall growth of Durana’s personal brand.

The Founder Brand & Social Specialist will support the day-to-day execution and translation of the founder brand across social channels, including content, storytelling, community, research, coordination, and digital presence.

The Director, Creative & Social Media will partner closely with the Founder Brand Director to ensure Durana’s creative direction, social presence, and broader founder brand strategy are aligned.

Together, the team will ensure Durana’s real-world presence and digital presence operate as one cohesive and differentiated brand.

The Vision

Durana's personal brand should feel like an extension of who she already is—not a manufactured persona. She is a founder first. Her personal brand should build equity around her taste, perspective, lifestyle, relationships, leadership, and the world she has created without turning every moment into an advertisement.

We want to build the kind of founder presence where people are genuinely interested in what she's wearing, where she's going, what she's building, who she's spending time with, what she's learning, and what she thinks. The right person understands the nuance between being visible and overexposed, between being aspirational and inaccessible, and between building influence and simply becoming an influencer.

Who You Are

• Strategic, entrepreneurial, and highly autonomous.
• A trusted advisor who can bring a strong point of view while understanding a founder’s vision.
• Highly connected across fashion, beauty, wellness, hospitality, media, entertainment, business, and culture.
• High taste with a strong understanding of what feels elevated, relevant, authentic, and culturally credible.
• A strong relationship builder who knows how to navigate founders, executives, creatives, brands, and high-profile individuals.
• Commercially minded with strong judgment around partnerships and opportunities.
• Extremely organized, proactive, resourceful, and comfortable operating in ambiguity.
• Discreet and trustworthy with a high level of professionalism and emotional intelligence.

Qualifications

• 5–10+ years of experience across founder/personal brand, partnerships, PR, VIP relations, fashion, beauty, wellness, hospitality, entertainment, media, or a related field
• Experience working directly with a founder, executive, public figure, or high-profile individual
• Strong experience in brand strategy, partnerships, relationship development, and external opportunities
• Well-connected across relevant cultural, media, brand, and business communities
• Exceptional communication, organization, discretion, and follow-through
• Strong business judgment and ability to evaluate opportunities based on long-term brand value
• Experience leading external agencies, vendors, and strategic partners preferred
• Comfortable operating independently in a fast-moving, high-trust environment

Work Location & Schedule

This position follows an enforced hybrid schedule, requiring team members to be present in our San Diego, California office at least four days per week (Monday–Thursday). Fridays are available for remote work. This role also requires attendance at all in-person monthly team meetings and quarterly company events.

The role requires travel and flexibility to work outside of regular business hours as needed to support founder, partnership, event, and business needs.

Physical Requirements

This role primarily involves office-based work and requires the ability to occasionally lift, carry, or move items up to 20–30 pounds, such as files or office supplies. Employees should be able to sit or stand for extended periods and perform frequent computer-based tasks, including prolonged exposure to a computer screen. 

Compensation & Total Rewards

The salary range for this position is $120,000-170,000 annually. Final compensation will be determined based on experience, skills, and qualifications relevant to the role.

Cymbiotika offers a comprehensive total rewards package designed to support employee wellness, growth, and work-life balance. Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage with employer-paid plan options, 401(k) with company match, paid holidays and PTO, flexible work-from-home Fridays, wellness and fitness perks, employee product discounts, catered team lunches, team-building events, and additional lifestyle benefits!