Meet Tracey Felicidade Jones | Creative brand builder, avid traveller and music lover

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tracey Felicidade Jones and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tracey, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I never thought I would be a brand builder, I wanted to be a surgeon when I grew up 🙂 I studied a B.Sc Dietetics at college and after taking a “gap year” (which turned into 2 years travelling in the USA), I ended up in medical sales for 4 years as I was not loving the dietician work in the hospitals in Johannesburg.

I was in the corporate world for over a decade and that is where my passion for marketing began after i realised that all the cool things happened in the marketing department. I was fortunate to work with amazing companies in the pharmaceutical and CPG world and to work on superbrands such as Nestle, Maggi and MILO to name a few.

I have always been a creative person and found that the storytelling potential behind building great brands and entrenching consumer love was fascinating, and was a passion I have since persued.

After being the marketing manager at various companies, I felt that the corporate wheel was spinning very slowly and that there was a gap in the market for a brand building agency that was quick to act, fun to work with and most importantly creative and innovative. I took the plunge, and opened my own agency in South Africa in 2011. I have since expanded to an office in Denver, Colorado and could not be happier with my decision

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I have a creative branding agency called Trace Brand Building.

We approach things in a very novel way by ensuring our clients know what their brand archetype is and then we build their communication and brand story around this. This allows them to have outstanding creative campaigns , messaging and design which tells a story to the consumer and grows their brand.

We believe in helping brands and companies tell fabulous stories about why they exist and how they can be loved by their target audience. We offer unbelievable creative design and have been priviledged to recently rebrand the Cherry Creek Chamber of Commerce, Cherry Creek Alliance and Tribute Barbershop to name just a few

In South Africa, our business faced many challenges as it is a very politically and racially challenged country. Crime and corruption are rife and it is not the environment i wanted to continue to be a part of. Considering I was born in the USA, I felt that it was a good opportunity to start over and offer my son a better life than what he would have in South Africa. It was not an easy thing to do as my whole family and group of friends still live there but we have adapted and love our new forever home.

I have always told my clients that they need to “look the part” to their customers or they will not be adopted easily. I found this to be true for my agency as well. We are called Brand Spanking Marketing in South Africa. We opened the USA division with the same name but after a year we realised that the word “spanking” could be contentious and that many clients did not know what the word “marketing ” would offer them.

We felt that the USA market also likes to know what your niche is , and we are brand builders, so we rebranded ourselves to Trace Brand Building in September 2022. And of course, as story tellers, there is a story to our name change…… Trace is used as it talks about me tracing my steps back to the USA after being born here and living in Africa for most of my life, Trace also talks about tracing the growth of our clients brands , and obviously it is a shortened version of my name. We chose Brand Building to tag onto that as it explains what our zone of genius is

Lessons I have learned along the way are “if you can dream it, you can achieve it”. Many people I meet feel that the USA may be going through challenges , but every country has its problems. The key is to work with what you have and lean in to your passions and expertise and remain positive. This truly is the land of opportunity and if one has the passion, purpose and discipline, you can achieve your dreams.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love to explore and see and try new things ….

I would start them off with a great cup of coffee at any of the Aviano coffee bars in Cherry Creek.
We would then perhaps go for a mountain bike or walk along the Lee Gulch trail to Chatfield Park where we could then admire the gorgeous foothills of Sterling Ranch.

We would go and eat at some of the fab restaurants around town. 2 of my favorites are Sierra near Lonetree which has amazing food, views and ambience, and then Seasons 52 which has the most divine menu , super friendly staff and is also healthy without lacking in taste.

I would take them to a concert at Red Rocks, that is a non negotiable ! Best music venue ever ! We would have to go and visit Breckenridge and Vail seeing as though they are so close and in the evenings we would go and have sundowners at many of the rooftop bars including the ones at the Halcyon and the Jacquard.

Denver has some great farmers markets so we would go to some of the ones around the city and also walk around Cherry Creek and stop for ice-cream at Heaven.

I would also have many of my friends around to my home and we would do a BBQ for our visitors, as some of the best times and memories are made at home where the music and laughter flows freely

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I grew up in a medical family. My father is a heart surgeon and passed his great work ethic onto us. He taught us to always try our best, be kind, fair and always do the right thing in life so we can sleep well at night. He allowed us to follow our passions and dreams and was incredible supportive in anything we wanted to try. Most importantly he also reminded me to stay humble at all times

He passed on his passion for travel, sports , music and sense of humor to me 🙂

Other people who played a pivotal role in who I am today would be my mother. We had a complicated relationship and after she passed away 2 years ago,I realised this relationship allowed me to become the independent and strong person I am today.

My family and friends have always been a large part of my life and are invaluable to me. Shared experiences,laughter and a circle of trust have helped mould me in so many ways.

My husband and son have also played an important role in my life. Having started our life over in the USA 2 years ago, we have had to rely on each other to figure out living in a new world and adjusting to anything life throws our way. We try to travel and experience things and see the lighter side of life

Website: www.tracebrandbuilding.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracey-felicidade-jones-15997036/