emma bates

i'm an award-winning founder, CEO, brand strategist and marketer with 12+ years experience building & scaling consumer and tech brands.

i co-founded Diem (ChatGPT x Reddit for the girls), raising $5M from leading venture capitalists and scaling the app to hundreds of thousands of downloads, with best-in-class engagement metrics. we've also created a brand with a cult-like following across Instagram, TikTok & Substack that reached over 6M people each month with zero ad spend.

i co-host the podcast Can I Call You? with Éva Goicochea & Charlotte Palermino. i also write Hearsay on Substack.

i've been recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30 (Consumer Tech) and invited to address UNESCO on building an “Internet for Trust.” my work has also been featured across TechCrunch, The Cut, Business Insider, FORTUNE, i-D, MSNBC, Hypebae, Girlboss and many more.

prior to Diem, i was a very early hire at direct-to-consumer brand Away and before that, very early at the now leading creator commerce company, Whalar. my entry into marketing was untraditional, creating a blog with 200k+ readers when i was a teenager that i ran through college generating over $100k in revenue.

i have a proven track record of zero-to-one business development, go-to-market strategy, fundraising, community building, brand marketing & strategy, partnerships, product development, experiential marketing, and high-impact storytelling.

i'm really passionate about building unique brands, fostering community and creating a kinder internet through more equitable technology.

want me to speak at something, come on your podcast or help you with something you're building? hmu emma.bates@me.com