Auna Jornayvaz is an American and Australian marketing strategist and research consultant with 18+ years as a founder, advertising sales leader, keynote speaker, and journalist — turning research into positioning, pipeline, and closed accounts.
"Onboarded 100+ clients including The Four Seasons, Marriott, and Vail Resorts."
A committed, thoughtful and strategic problem-solver ready to get your business ahead of your competitors.
After 18+ years in media strategy, Auna brings a razor-sharp understanding of how AI will change both the local and global business landscape. She helps companies turn audience insight into revenue, then accelerates that advantage with AI tools that sharpen research, content, and go-to-market execution. She was the co-founder and CEO of Gold Calendar, a scheduling-technology platform that onboarded 100+ clients including The Four Seasons, Marriott Hotels, and Vail Resorts. Her career spans founder-led venture building, national advertising sales, qualitative and quantitative research, and journalism — including an exclusive interview with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for the Democratic National Convention.
Auna serves as a Trustee for the University of Denver and The Denver Health Foundation, and served on advisory boards for DU's Graduate School of Professional Psychology and Colorado Ballet. She completed her MA in Media Studies at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and is completing her MBA ('27) with a focus on growth mindset — equipping employees with the tools their leadership requires so everyone can row in the same direction.
Her additional training includes the Denver Publishing Institute, Faber Writing Academy, and Varuna Writers House, NSW — a background that lets her move fluently between data, narrative, and executive decision-making.
Today's strongest media strategies layer legacy reach with social precision. Social media now reaches roughly two-thirds of the planet, but scale alone isn't the win — knowing which channels actually convert is. LinkedIn engagement keeps climbing even as public likes and comments decline, while smaller accounts consistently out-engage the giants on Instagram. That's why a media strategist matters: matching the right message to the right channel, then proving it with data.
PR today isn't about landing one big cover story — it's about becoming part of the ongoing conversation. That means targeting the right influencers and voices within an industry, showing up consistently in the spaces where that dialogue happens, and normalizing your brand name until it's simply part of the vocabulary of that sphere. Earned media still carries outsized trust, but the real win is presence: being woven into the industry narrative, not just mentioned once and forgotten.
Many companies overlook their most valuable asset: the customers they already have. Word of mouth remains the single most powerful tool behind any product, and a media strategist knows how to equip your current customers with the story and tools to sell it for you. That means ongoing content that genuinely serves their business needs, keeps them engaged, and brings them back for more — turning satisfied customers into your most credible voice. We build the strategic social media presence that delivers real impact and grows your visibility, one loyal customer at a time.
The strongest partnerships aren't always the obvious ones. Some of the most effective ways to reach your audience come from aligning with businesses and nonprofits who are already speaking to the same consumer group — in low-pressure, high-goodwill settings like a 5K, a charity dinner, or a community event. I help brands find those natural overlaps and get in front of large, engaged audiences while genuinely giving back. It's a way to grow your visibility and make a real impact in the community you're trying to build — at the same time, not as a trade-off.
The most powerful strategies are fully integrated — public relations, marketing, creative, and nontraditional partnerships all working together toward one goal: conversion. It now takes an average of six touchpoints in spaces a customer trusts before they'll switch from a competitor. I find those six different locations, so your brand shows up as a trusted presence across their journey — never in the same place twice.
A full day with your team means a real reset: auditing your branding, analyzing performance, and building fresh AI-driven strategies your competitors haven't touched yet. 87% of marketers already use generative AI in their workflows — I'll make sure you're using it right, not just using it. Most companies still lack job-specific AI training; that gap is exactly where early movers pull ahead.
Ongoing social media management and media buying, built to compound. I develop the strategy, deploy the resources, and track the data over 6–12 months, bringing in a social media consultant to create content that supports existing data and generates new insight in return. Every social strategy is part of a larger brand and growth plan — never a standalone effort.
Launching a product, running a campaign, or managing a crisis? I step in with focused, high-impact support built around that one goal — no long-term commitment required.
“I've had the chance to work with a lot of people over the years, but very few think as far outside the box as Auna does — especially when it comes to partnerships. She has this uncanny ability to look at a challenge and immediately see three connections nobody else in the room would have thought of. Auna is one of the most connected people I know, and it's never transactional with her — she genuinely seems to have someone for something, no matter how specific or unusual the need is. What really sets her apart, though, is that she makes the work fun. She brings humor and joy into every project, and somehow that lightness never gets in the way of how sharp and strategic she is. Working alongside her, you end up laughing your way to some of the best ideas you've ever had.”
— Mary
“Auna shaped strategy based on what we discovered about our customers and used this data to help with our sales efforts and content direction. Auna streamlined our research approach using both qualitative and quantitative research, prompting desirable insight from both a B2B and B2C perspective. She developed sales copy both for our B2B and B2C companies based on the descriptive statistics and insight from the research. She also led a day on our strategy retreat, focusing on new ways we can tackle share, monetise existing assets and become more competitive in our vertical spaces.”
— Rosie
“Auna and I have been collaborating for almost four years now on everything from freelance projects to social issues to special events. She is brilliant not only in her writing, but the way she works with people. Auna is incredible at giving people a voice and using every resource at her fingertips to make a difference. It's an honor to know someone so involved locally and globally. She's powerful, personable, outgoing and oh-so-determined. I'm always on the lookout for what she'll do next.”
— Quinn
I partner with consulting teams, founders, and institutions on positioning, research, and brand strategy that stands up to real markets.
Denver, Colorado