The Mixologist Behind the Signature Brand Movement
I bottle business owners’ brilliance into signature brands that are unmistakable and the obvious choice.
Most businesses are trying to be visible. I’m interested in making them unforgettable.
I help business owners build signature brands that carry their weight and evolve with them. Brands that earn attention before you ask for it and keep working long after the campaign ends.
After 25 years inside media, national nonprofits, political campaigns, consulting, and digital marketing, I’ve watched what makes brands stick and what makes them fade. It isn’t volume, trends or posting more.
It’s alignment and clarity. It’s the confidence to claim a distinct point of view and build everything around it.
Through my Signature Brand Framework, I guide solopreneurs and small businesses in defining what makes them unmistakable and turning that identity into structure.
And I don’t stop at strategy.
I build brands for the era we’re actually in. AI is part of that. I use it the way a great bartender uses the right tool at the right moment. To analyze faster, personalize deeper and spot patterns you’re too close to see. And I build AI systems that keep your brand aligned long after we’ve clinked glasses.
This is brand strategy built for the next era.
Meet Kristin Lawton
Founder of District Brand Bar | Washington, DC
If you’re looking to collaborate, feature signature brand strategy in your program or event, or refer clients who are ready to elevate how they show up, I’d love to partner.
the Mixology Philosophy
The Bar is a Metaphor. The Experience is Real.
Where No One Cocktail Is the Same
I am not reaching for a default recipe when crafting your brand. I start with a bottle of your own brilliance and mix in the flavors that pack a punch: your personality, authority, perspective, and lived experience. No one leaves here tasting like someone else.
Where You Can Get Behind the Bar
Once your cocktail is crafted, you do not need to reinvent it every season. You need the right tools. I act as your barback, handing you the ratios, refinements, and structure that keep your brand signature while you focus on serving the room.
Where Everyone Knows Your Name
When you step into the District Brand Bar, you are not a transaction. You are a regular. I celebrate your wins, support your pivots, and collaborate with intention. Whether we build together or refer work across the bar, the goal is the same: stronger brands and thriving businesses.
The District Brand Bar House Rules
This is not a vodka soda establishment. We do not serve flavorless brands. We do not hand you a standard menu and call it strategy. And we do not believe clarity should cost you the price of buying the whole bar.
No gatekeeping. Everyone gets the good stuff.
You get the strategy behind the strategy. The why behind the moves. Real tools. Real thinking. If you are in this bar, you have access.Your brand should make you a little giddy.
Being deeply strategic and wildly excited about what you are building can exist in the same glass. If your brand feels heavy, stiff, or like someone else wrote it, we fix that.Unmistakable is not reserved for the elite.
You do not need a certain revenue milestone, follower count, or résumé to build a signature brand. Clarity and conviction are available at every stage.Difference is not a liability here.
Your culture, identity, background, and lived experience are not things to dilute. They are part of the flavor and I’m here to celebrate it. This bar believes in equity, inclusion, and building businesses that expand opportunity, not shrink it.Empathy is the default setting.
You are a human building something brave. That matters at this bar. We lead with compassion, pour generously, and toast every damn milestone.
These rules were shaped over a 25-year career in Washington, DC. I have watched brands carry rooms, and I have watched them disappear. The ones that last know who they are and stand in it.
That’s why this bar exists.
From Newsrooms to Nonprofits to Business Owners in Washington, DC
I’ve spent 25 years inside brand and communications ecosystems.
I started my university’s TV station as a communications and political science major, already fascinated by how messaging shapes influence. That curiosity brought me to Washington, DC, where I worked in national media at NBC Newschannel and MSNBC and on a presidential campaign. I learned quickly that headlines shape perception, framing changes meaning, and timing can make or break momentum.
From there, I moved into public relations, cold-pitching brands all day and seeing in real time what earns attention and what gets ignored.
I then spent nearly 15 years leading communications at a national nonprofit in the middle of Washington’s alphabet soup. I supported policy, programs, research, fundraising, and large-scale events while rebuilding websites, launching social channels, and shaping major advocacy and fundraising campaigns. I also led a full organizational rebrand from CFED to Prosperity Now, guiding the shift from an acronym to a name that carried clarity and confidence.
Across media, campaigns, nonprofits, and consulting, I’ve rebuilt brands from the inside and helped organizations reposition in crowded markets.
I’ve seen what happens when a brand carries its weight and what happens when it doesn’t.
And I’ve had fun doing it!
A few favorites, in case you’re wondering who’s behind the bar:
Favorite cocktails: A Negroni in the winter, an Aperol Spritz in the Summer, and a spicy passionfruit mezcalita on vacation.
Favorite adventures: Paragliding in Slovakia, surfing in South Africa, and climbing a mountain in Peru to eat lunch in a pod hanging off a cliff.
Favorite weekend activity: Escaping to our off-the-grid Shenandoah cabin that we built during the pandemic.
Favorite way to procrastinate: Bravo marathons, a good puzzle, a Taylor Swift deep dive or a big cooking project.
Favorite personality traits: 5/2 Generator with ADHD, Enneagram 7, and CliftonStrengths in Communication, Empathy, Individualization, Strategic and Woo.
Sips + Soundbites: Where I’ve Been Featured
Want to hear the Signature Brand philosophy in action? This playlist features podcast conversations where I share how brands become unmistakable and the obvious choice.
From brand drift to AI as your barback to building a brand system that carries the weight of your marketing, these episodes go beyond surface-level strategy.
Press play. The pour is generous.
Let’s Partner Together
Speaking & Workshops
Bring signature brand strategy into your room.
I lead high-impact sessions on building brands that are unmistakable, memorable, and built to carry their weight. From private masterminds to live stages, I deliver strategy your audience can apply immediately.
If your community is ready to think differently about branding, let’s create something memorable.
Referral Partners and Affiliates
Earn by sharing signature brand strategy.
You can refer clients to the Signature Brand Experience, become an affiliate for The Brand Bar, or create a formal referral partnership if our audiences align.
If your clients need sharper positioning before design, copy, or launch strategy, this is a natural fit. I believe in clear compensation and partnerships that make business sense.
Brand Tools for Your Program
Elevate your client experience.
The Signature Brand Dossier and other brand tools can be licensed, customized, bulk-purchased, or integrated into your event, mastermind, or program. Whether you want to gift them, embed them, or co-create something tailored, we can design it intentionally.
This adds real brand clarity to your ecosystem, not another forgettable bonus.
Media & Podcast Converations
Let’s talk brands in public.
I join podcasts, panels, and interviews to talk about building signature brands, why most rebrands are unnecessary, and how AI can sharpen identity instead of flatten it. If your audience appreciates strong opinions, practical strategy, and a little cocktail metaphor, I’m your guest.