Your special forces.

About Us

Gone are the days when you could just advertise something out in the world and hope for the best. Today, your story-telling must build trust on the inside with employees as must as it does on the outside with customers.

We take a special forces approach to helping our clients pinpoint and then operationalize their special.

Courageous follows a phased approach to helping you gather knowledge, build faith, then take action. The founders of our company have a track record of doing this on both the brand and creative sides of the fence. Together, we ensure you land on a believable narrative that can run through the veins of your business.

Courageous values.

Sacrifice

We help drive hard choices. Not everything can be the most important thing.

Magic

We’re in the business of making people believe. We make others think, feel and do.

Clarity

We breakthrough the clarity epidemic. We act as a special forces that pinpoints your special.

Change

Your future is safe with change. We partner with you to drive transformation and lead change.

Billy Collins

Billy Collins

Co-founder / Knowledge Lead
From Listerine to Lubriderm, Billy cut his teeth in the land of consumer package goods on the brand side.

A seasoned marketer who spent 7 years leading businesses for Johnson & Johnson, Billy now runs the knowledge-gathering unit for Courageous.

Billy is a graduate of Duke with an MBA UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Billy expertly guides our clients across brand strategy, digital marketing and marketing implementation services, to various DTC, retail and technology companies.

Billy has served as a fractional CMO/Head of Marketing and is responsible for brand positioning development, CRM programs, social media campaign implementation and analysis. Past clients include OGX, Church & Dwight, Global Listerine, and Johnson & Johnson Oral Care.

Ryan Berman

Ryan Berman

Co-founder / Faith Lead
Ryan has worked with some of the most relevant companies in the world including Google, charity: water, Major League Baseball, Kellogg’s, General Mills, PUMA, Kraft Heinz and US Ski & Snowboard.

He is a seasoned entrepreneur and story maker who has spent the last decade and a half running and growing his own creative businesses.

In 2019 he “fired himself” from his last agency to start Courageous. In tandem, he published his now best-selling book, Return on Courage: a Business Playbook For Change, which has been covered in Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Inc., and Forbes. The process unveiled in the book is at the center of all programs brought forward by Courageous.

Ryan believes in these courage deficient-times, courage is a competitive advantage waiting to be unlocked. He also has his own Courage Brand called Sock Problems—an altruistic sock company that “socks” different problems in the world.

Nicole Miller

Nicole Miller

Action Lead

Enthusiastic and empathetic, Nicole leads the Action team for Courageous. She has spent her career toggling between brands she’s passionate about and agencies she can produce for. Most recently coming from the professional sports arena as the Senior Director of Marketing for the San Diego Padres, Nicole has created and executed marketing strategies that drive revenue, generate leads and increase fan engagement. It has given her a unique perspective on how some companies can rise to the occasion while other brands simply won’t make the necessary steps to take on change. She has led brands like Kashi, Mead, Harrah’s, Macy’s, and Sun-Maid from strategy to execution. As a lover of people, building and maintaining relationships is where Nicole shines.

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