About MATRIARC
Where Purpose Meets Possibility
Our clients understand that real impact is measured in how people feel, trust, and belong - at work, at home, and in their communities.
The future we work toward with our clients is one where brand experience brings out the best in people — where teams move with trust and shared purpose, and where the brand reflects not just what an organization offers, but what it stands for.
Our model integrates strategic planning, brand expression, and culture activation so the work is not only defined, but lived.
From Fortune 500 and national consumer brands to middle-market organizations, universities, foundations, and early-stage startups — we work where purpose, culture, and public experience intersect.
How We're Different
Matriarc is different because it doesn’t separate brand, culture, and leadership into different lanes. Most firms focus on one of these areas and outsource or ignore the others. We work at the point where these things intersect, which is where organizations get stuck and where momentum is either made or lost.
Our approach is not advisory-from-a-distance. We come in as a thought partner who can both diagnose and execute. We’re able to translate vision into the decisions that affect messaging, team alignment, internal communication, and external presence. This reduces confusion, politics, and wheel-spinning.
The other key differentiator is pace and clarity. We work fast, cutting through chaos and simplifying complexity into clear direction. Organizations don’t just get a plan or a bench of junior analysts – they get someone who knows how to move a team through it, without getting stuck in layers of needless process.
How We're Different
Matriarc is different because it doesn’t separate brand, culture, and leadership into different lanes. Most firms focus on one of these areas and outsource or ignore the others. We work at the point where these things intersect, which is where organizations get stuck and where momentum is either made or lost.
Our approach is not advisory-from-a-distance. We come in as a thought partner who can both diagnose and execute. We’re able to translate vision into the decisions that affect messaging, team alignment, internal communication, and external presence. This reduces confusion, politics, and wheel-spinning.
The other key differentiator is pace and clarity. We work fast, cutting through chaos and simplifying complexity into clear direction. Organizations don’t just get a plan or a bench of junior analysts – they get someone who knows how to move a team through it, without getting stuck in layers of needless process.
Leadership
Dee Heffernan, Founder & Collaborative Lead
Dee Heffernan is the Founder of Matriarc.
With a background in creative direction, brand storytelling, and executive marketing leadership, she has spent over two decades guiding teams through growth, change, and reinvention across sectors including education, healthcare, consumer goods, retail, finance, and early-stage ventures.
Known for distilling complexity into clarity and inspiring teams to move with purpose, Dee brings equal parts strategic insight and creative precision to every engagement.
Dee is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where she studied Human Development and played varsity basketball. She later drew on her personal experience navigating performance and pressure in her TEDx talk, How to Stop Highlight Reel Living. That talk informed the development of the REAL™ Framework, Matriarc’s proprietary strategic lens.
Beyond Matriarc, Dee contributes communications leadership to community initiatives throughout Chicagoland and has served on the University of Chicago LGBTQ+ Alumni Board of Directors.
Speaking
Dee speaks on the tension between ambition and authenticity, the cost of over-performance, and practical ways leaders can build trust and momentum.
Topics include:
Beyond the Highlight Reel: What performance culture gets wrong
Leadership, Rewired: Intuition, soft power, and decision quality
Brand With Backbone: Aligning inside reality with outside promise
Leadership
Speaking
Dee speaks on the tension between ambition and authenticity, the cost of over-performance, and practical ways leaders can build trust and momentum.
Topics include:
Beyond the Highlight Reel: What performance culture gets wrong
Leadership, Rewired: Intuition, soft power, and decision quality
Brand With Backbone: Aligning inside reality with outside promise
Dee Heffernan, Founder & Collaborative Lead
Dee Heffernan is the Founder of Matriarc.
With a background in creative direction, brand storytelling, and executive marketing leadership, she has spent over two decades guiding teams through growth, change, and reinvention across sectors including education, healthcare, consumer goods, retail, finance, and early-stage ventures.
Known for distilling complexity into clarity and inspiring teams to move with purpose, Dee brings equal parts strategic insight and creative precision to every engagement.
Dee is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where she studied Human Development and played varsity basketball. She later drew on her personal experience navigating performance and pressure in her TEDx talk, How to Stop Highlight Reel Living. That talk informed the development of the REAL™ Framework, Matriarc’s proprietary strategic lens.
Beyond Matriarc, Dee contributes communications leadership to community initiatives throughout Chicagoland and has served on the University of Chicago LGBTQ+ Alumni Board of Directors.
How We Work
Matriarc operates as a senior-led consultancy and creative collective. Our work is grounded in a clear, repeatable approach to aligning purpose, identity, and culture. Engagements are guided by a lead partner from our core group, supported by a curated bench of strategists, designers, and facilitators brought in based on the scope.
We maintain a stable network of collaborators who work with us consistently – not a rotating list of freelancers. This lets us expand or contract teams to match the work, without unnecessary overhead or layers.
The value is in the clarity of direction, the quality of execution, and the way we move work forward efficiently.
Let's have a conversation.
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