Founder & Owner

Leslie Short is an internationally recognized brand strategist, business advisor, marketing executive, author, speaker, and experiential designer with more than 25 years of leadership spanning branding, marketing, culture, accessibility, business strategy, corporate operations, entertainment, fashion, and consumer engagement.

Leslie is the Founder and CEO of K.I.M. Media LLC., an award-winning branding, marketing, and experiential agency established in 2000. Through K.I.M. Media, she develops integrated marketing strategies, consumer engagement campaigns, product launches, executive and personal branding, luxury events, curated experiences, and creative design for corporations, entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and public figures. The agency also includes Design by K.I.M., specializing in creative environments and interior styling, and K.I.M. Weddings, which produces a limited number of highly personalized luxury weddings each year.

She is the Founder and CEO of The Cavu Group, a strategic advisory firm that helps corporations, nonprofits, and executive leaders strengthen their organizations through brand strategy, organizational culture, accessibility, inclusive leadership, executive advisory, and business transformation. Working at the intersection of business, brand, culture, and human connection, Leslie partners with organizations to develop practical strategies that drive innovation, improve workplace culture, strengthen customer relationships, and create measurable business growth.

Her career began as a classical ballet dancer at the age of seven, becoming a professional performer at twelve before expanding her career throughout Paris, Europe, and Asia. While living in Japan, Leslie founded the country's first-of-its-kind entertainment business, recognized as one of Japan's Best Businesses in 1994. She later built an executive career leading marketing, television production, fashion, entertainment, advertising, and strategic communications for globally recognized brands.

Throughout her career, Leslie has advised organizations on brand growth, cultural understanding, accessibility, organizational effectiveness, and consumer engagement while helping leaders navigate change through strategic planning, executive coaching, workshops, conflict resolution, and facilitated conversations. Her approach centers on creating authentic connections between people, brands, and businesses to deliver sustainable results.

An award-winning executive and respected thought leader, Leslie has received numerous honors, including recognition by Ebony Magazine as an Outstanding Woman in Marketing & Communications, Today's Black Woman Magazine, the New York Business Journal's Women of Influence, Forbes Black Women to Watch, the Impact Power 50 of Pennsylvania, and inclusion in the NASA Astrophysics IDEA Practitioners Database.

A dynamic keynote speaker, moderator, and workshop facilitator, Leslie works with organizations around the world on leadership, brand strategy, culture, accessibility, inclusive business practices, marketing, and organizational transformation.

She is the author of Expand Beyond Your Current Culture: Diversity & Inclusion for CEOs & Leadership and her memoir Someone Has to Be the First.