Meet Founder Ramatu Kandakai
With more than a decade of experience across brand marketing and strategy, Ramatu brings an educator’s lens to personal branding—making it practical, human, and transformative.
Your Personal Branding Consultant
Ramatu Kandakai, MBA
Ramatu Kandakai is a brand strategist, speaker, and educator with over a decade of experience leading brand marketing across healthcare, consulting, consumer goods, and nonprofit sectors. She has held roles at Humana, SC Johnson, Ernst & Young, and Korn Ferry, and advised the University of Chicago’s Duality Accelerator Program.
As the Founder of Tutu Brand Strategies Ramatu helps individuals and teams align identity, purpose, and professional presence. Her workshops and talks have been hosted by Salesforce, Twitch, DoorDash, HubSpot, and Johns Hopkins University. Her insights have been featured in AfroTech, Yahoo Finance, Canvas Rebel, and the ANA.
2025 Summer Interns
Each intern was part of the go-to- market strategy for the My Hyphen Brand
Enru Chi
Enru Chi is a junior at the University of Chicago studying Honors Economics. He spent the Summer of 2025 as a Business Development Intern where he built the launch infrastructure, delivered the brand’s first corporate pitch deck, and developed a CRM system to support outreach and partnerships. His work shaped MyHyphen’s client strategy and helped establish its entry into the corporate learning and development space.
LinkedIn | enruchi@uchicago.edu
Business Development Lead 
Sebastian Davis
Sebastian Davis is a senior at the University of Chicago majoring in Economics. As the Marketing Operations Intern he enhanced client experience and streamlined internal systems by creating a client journey map, identifying opportunities for automation, and improving operational efficiency. His work helped build a more seamless experience for both the team and clients. Looking ahead, Sebastian aspires to pursue a career in management consulting and ultimately transition into the fashion industry.
LinkedIn | sebastiand@uchicago.edu
Marketing Operations Lead
Marketing Research LeadEleanor Parks
Tahra Minowada studies Economics and Psychology at the Univeristy of Chicago and contributed as the Market Research Intern during the summer of 2025. She worked cross-functionally to create personas and buyer profiles for both B2B and B2C, which became the foundation for My Hyphen’s target audience and audience segmentation. She is interested in a future role in healthcare or tech consulting.
LinkedIn | tahram@uchicago.edu
Our Story
Ramatu’s journey into personal branding began during a difficult job search. She was qualified, experienced, and motivated, but still overlooked. To get the attention of recruiters, she turned to LinkedIn and made a simple decision: She would start sharing her expertise with clarity and honesty.
She began posting daily about marketing, culture, and brand strategy under the hashtag mytutucents, and everything shifted. Showing up consistently created visibility that her résumé alone could not. Recruiters reached out, interviews increased, and one connection became a paid 4-figure contract. That moment gave Ramatu the confidence to launch Tutu Brand Strategies LLC.
As she continued sharing her insights, new opportunities followed. Speaking invitations, workshops, and corporate engagements grew naturally because her personal brand was aligned with the value she had to offer. Ramatu saw firsthand how clarity in her voice and alignment in how she showed up can unlock opportunities that once felt out of reach.
That experience shapes our mission at Tutu Brand Strategies. We help others use personal branding with intention so they can show up with clarity, communicate with confidence, and create their own opportunities. When you align who you are with how you show up, you do not wait to be noticed. You attract the right doors to open.
Corporate Partners & Workshops
Ramatu creates educational experiences that transform how individuals and teams understand and apply personal branding.
HUMANA employee resource group (2025) - From Passion to Purpose: Branding What You Love Into What You Do, personal branding workshop aligning passion to purpose.
Salesforce Connections (2025) – Marketing Yourself: Why Your Brand Is Your Best Channel empowering marketers to build visibility through authentic personal branding.
Black@Doordash (2025) – From Passion to Purpose: Branding What You Love Into What You Do, personal branding workshop aligning passion to purpose for upward mobility.
Twitch Women’s Leadership Summit (2024) –Bridging the Gap: Aligning Personal and Employer Brand, a 90-minute session for senior women leaders at Twitch.
African American Marketing Association (MFTC Summit, 2024) – Decoding Black Gen Z, a workshop to help brands leverage AI to connect authentically with young Black audiences.
Community & Entrepreneurship
Rooted in Chicago’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, Ramatu partners with grassroots organizations and national platforms to expand access, mentorship, and representation for underrepresented communities.
National Black MBA Association (Chicago Chapter- LOT Program) – Panelist and mentor for high school students on marketing and professional pathways.
THINKChicago x Illinois Tech (in partnership with World Business Chicago) – Served as a panelist, sharing my entrepreneurial journey to inspire others.
EmpowerHer Breakfast Series (TechNexus) – Led a workshop equipping Black women entrepreneurs how use personal branding to overcome systemic inequities.
MetroBoard, Chicago Urban League – Recognized for leadership as a Networking Facilitator, helping young professionals navigate professional development.
Black Woman Owned – Partnered with Black Woman Owned and Hiihat global for Beyond the Linen: How to Activate Your Black Business.
Higher Education and Academic Partnerships
From teaching university courses to advising accelerator programs, Ramatu brings personal branding education to students, founders, and emerging leaders across academic spaces.
Northwestern University (Ms. JD Program, 2024 & 2025) –The Power of Perception and Make Your Case, workshops helping women law students build confident brands.
Johns Hopkins University (Odyssey Program, 2024) – The Psychology of Personal Brands in Media, a 6-week course equipping Johns Hopkins alumni and students with frameworks for authentic brand-building.
University of Chicago (Duality Accelerator, Polsky Center, 2024) – Branding for Accelerated Growth. Designed Branding for Accelerated Growth, teaching quantum startups on brand equity.
Ready to Work Together?
How you show up and what you say matters—for you, your team, and your brand.