Kris Hughes, Founder

What’s up, everyone? I’m Kris, the Founder of Zanate Ventures. I’m several things to different types of clients: a ghostwriter, a brand strategy coach, an accountability coach, and a fractional marketer.

I wear many hats, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve always been a content creator and communicator. Following a short career in professional sports, I pivoted back to lean in on my writing and started my own sports blogs in 2007, eventually selling those to another network in 2012, before helping to build a large digital publisher here in Austin for the next four years pre-pandemic.

That opportunity gave me the opening and the chance to build Zanate and work with people like me: solopreneurs who are looking to do something and build a life that’s supported by their businesses, not dominated by them.

I love helping people find their voice and craft a powerful story that tells who they are, how they help and the transformation that their ideal client will encounter during the course of their work.

In my free time (lol), I’m a rabid soccer fan (#VHLM), homebrewer, and explorer who’s always in search of the next great brewery, coffee shop, or hidden spot to plop down and do great work for my clients.

To learn more about how I got here, check out my LinkedIn profile.

Thanks for visiting our website!

Julie Fiore, Creative Director

Hi, y’all, I’m Julie, an integrative & agile marketer for artists, creatives, arts organizations, and small agencies. My specialty is community building & connective digital strategy – I love learning about people and what motivates them.

Audience engagement & storytelling are the through-lines of my career. With two degrees in music performance and a lifetime spent on stage, I recognize personas & relationships and search for subtext. I uncover what your organization really needs to say, filter that meaning through your unique voice, and then watch as your audience grows.

I am a builder by nature. I thrive when connecting threads to form a strategy. Ever curious, I’ve been lovingly called both a generalist and a Swiss Army Knife. From telling an organization’s story to crafting a creative plan for a re-brand, from coordinating product releases to launching a thought leader’s podcast, I find it uniquely satisfying to leverage customer-centric communication to connect with people, places, and things.

I love the power of good, well-placed, well-timed content almost as much as I love a good queso.

In 2012, I founded a performing arts company dedicated to re-imagining opera in unexpected spaces, where I serve as the Artistic Director & CEO. Production management, events coordination, and stage direction pepper my landscape, and I impart a marketing edge to nonprofit organizations nationwide. As a fractional CMO, I work to create cross-functional teams and believe that messaging should be cohesive – whether it’s sent from Development or from Marketing, or whether it’s in a grant or in an email. To see my past positions and experience, hop on over to my LinkedIn profile – don’t forget to say hello!