Meet Kristen Sweeney, the latest guest on Go To Market with Dr. Amy Cook. Kristen’s path to becoming a sought-after expert in content and thought leadership wasn’t a straight line. Instead, it was a winding, organic journey fueled by curiosity, creativity, and grit. With a background in musical theater, Kristen was no stranger to juggling multiple “day jobs” at once, and freelance writing was initially just one of them. But over time, her knack for crafting compelling stories and supporting clients grew into something much bigger—her primary career and eventually her business.
On this episode, Kristen opens up about her approach to thought leadership, how she differentiates it from personal branding and broader expert-led content, and why consistency and clarity are the secret weapons for anyone looking to amplify their voice.
Here are some interview highlights:
Amy: Could you start by telling us a little about your background and how you became the CEO and founder of Every Little Word?
Kristen: Most of my marketing and communications skills are self-taught over the last 15 years. My formal training is actually in musical theatre. And if you know theatre folks, you know we often juggle anywhere from one to seven day jobs at a time. For me, freelance writing was one of those jobs, and over time, it became a bigger and bigger part of what I was doing, and eventually became my main economic engine.
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I’m actually a trained musical theater actor, and if you know anything about that world, you know we usually have somewhere between one and seven day jobs at a time. For me, freelance writing was one of those “day jobs,” but over time it started to grow—eventually becoming the main economic engine for my career.
Fast forward: after living in New York for nearly a decade, I moved to Boston, got married, started a family—big life pivot points. When my first daughter was born and I came back from maternity leave, I decided it was time to take stock. At the time, I was still juggling a thousand things, but I realized that my content work—grown entirely through word of mouth—was where I was making most of my money. Plus, it was flexible enough to work with life as a new mom.
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So I asked myself, “What would happen if I focused entirely on this?” That was the beginning of Every Little Word. By 2020, we’d formed a big channel partnership, which meant I needed to learn how to hire, build, and lead a team. Pretty quickly, I went from being a solo freelancer to running a “real” business.
Click here for the complete interview.
