Grace Freeman

Strategy Lead + Social Expert
grace.e.free@gmail.com || 404.285.5957

experience

Barbarian | NYC | August 2021 - Present
Director of Strategy

  • Interim Head of Strategy: Sole manager of strategy team since November 2023

  • Clients: American Express, Samsung, JBL, HubSpot (WIN), new business

  • Set overall holistic social strategy for American Express & Samsung

    • American Express: Elevated Membership, Small Business Saturday, NBA, Coachella; launched F1 partnership with Amex’s top performing paid creative on TikTok; team’s primary research secured increased YoY scope

    • Samsung: Global strategy for Black Friday/Holiday, Global social strategy for Flagship launch 

  • Oversee strategic campaigns, activations, social playbooks and thought leadership across client portfolio

  • Led strategy + war room for JBL x Doja Cat partnership during the Grammys that resulted in over 31.5M TikTok Views, 2.8B PR impressions, $1.6M in ad value and TikTok naming it “Hands down, best TikTok of the week” (Drum Award: Best Celebrity and Influencer Brand Partnership 2022, Silver Shorty, Silver Clio )

  • Originated and implemented TikTok Pod process and Creator Manager process to enable teams to move at the speed of social

  • Developed strategy department career map and made 7 new hires

  • Published in Adweek, featured guest on The Overthinkers podcast, recruited as a judge for the 2024 Effies

McCann | NYC | July 2018 - August 2021
Associate Social Strategy Director

  • Social Strategy Lead for New York Lottery, MGM Resorts and Hornitos

  • Led social strategy workshops, created + implemented community engagement playbooks, worked across teams to bring social-first ideas to life, conducted social listening + research to identify emerging opportunities across social platforms

  • Directly managed 3 strategists

Miami Ad School | NYC | Jan 2015 - Present
Strategy Bootcamp Director, Instructor

  • Director of Social Media Bootcamp + Account Planning Bootcamp

  • Social Media teacher for full-time creative students

  • Workshops: Social Media 101, Social Strategy, Influencer Strategy

SHOPTHAT | NYC | Aug 2017 - Feb 2018
Creative Strategist 

  • Led social and marketing teams during the launch of a beauty tech startup

  • Implemented social strategy, oversaw daily content creation and social engagement

  • Created influencer events + brand activations

Freelance | Nov 2011 - June 2018
Social Strategist + Content Creator

  • Focus: digital strategy for small businesses, startups and nonprofits

  • Select Clients: Ellevest, Good Scout, VFILES, Good Amplified, Michelson Found animals, Jo+Jax

  • Offerings: marketing leadership, social strategy, engagement strategy, content planning, influencer strategy & management, social reporting, social-first content production, community management

education

NYU Gallatin (BA with Honors), 2009
Major: “Creative Revolution: Visual Culture and Social Change”

NYU Stern School of Business 2007-2009
Certification: Entertainment, Media and Technology

Awards:

  • 2009 NYU Founder’s Day Award

  • Gallatin 2007-2008 Edward J. Bergman Social Entrepreneurship Fellow

  • 2008 Everett Public Service Internship Recipient

  • Fellowship Finalist, Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship (NYU, Harvard)

SKILLS

Creative Strategy, Social Media Strategy, Integrated Campaign Building, Team Management, Junior Development, Content Planning, Engagement Strategy, Influencer Programming