Branding 101: Finding Your Voice and Building a Brand That Sounds Like You

Branding is not a logo. It’s not colours. It’s not a clever Instagram bio.

Branding is how people understand you, trust you, and decide whether your work is for them.

In this Branding 101 workshop, Harc Creative invites queer entrepreneurs to slow down and get clear about the voice behind their business. We’ll explore branding as an act of self-articulation, not self-promotion, and look at how your values, lived experience, and way of speaking all shape how your work lands in the world.

This session is especially for folks who feel stuck between sounding “professional” and sounding like themselves, or who know what they do but struggle to put it into words that feel true.

We’ll focus less on trends and tactics, and more on clarity, language, and alignment. You’ll leave with a stronger sense of what your brand is really saying, and how to communicate that with confidence without flattening or filtering yourself.

Who It’s For

This workshop is for queer entrepreneurs, creatives, and small business owners who:

• Are early-stage or evolving their business
• Feel unsure how to describe what they do in a way that feels like them
• Want a brand that reflects their real voice, not a template
• Are curious about branding but resistant to corporate or coaching-heavy approaches

No prior branding knowledge required.

What To Expect

Participants will:

• Understand what branding actually is, and what it isn’t
• Learn how voice, language, and identity shape brand perception
• Identify what makes their brand distinct without forcing a niche
• Explore how values show up in branding without turning into jargon
• Leave with clearer language they can use immediately, on their website, socials, or pitches

Cost

$15 General Admission

QBBC Members get 100% off! This discount code was emailed to members, check your inbox or reach out to marketing@queerbusinessbc.ca for support.

If cost is a barrier to entry, please reach out to hello@queerbusinessbc.ca.

Venue Details

• Coal Harbour Meeting Room inside FUNK Coffee Bar at Bentall Four (1025 Dunsmuir)
• Access via FUNK Coffee Bar

Accessibility

This venue is wheelchair accessible.

Parking/Transit

• This venue is easily accessible via multiple transit lines (bus and skytrain)
• Multiple paid-parking options within 500m radius

Meet the Facilitators, Harc Creative

Harc Creative is a queer-owned brand strategy and facilitation studio based in Vancouver. We work with founders, leaders, and organisations who are tired of sounding like everyone else and want their work to actually sound like them.

Co-founded by Parker McLean (he/they) and Jarren MacDougall (he/him), Harc’s work sits at the intersection of brand, voice, and meaning-making. We help people articulate what they actually mean, then build brands that can carry that truth into the world with clarity, confidence, and care.

Our approach is relational, values-aware, and deeply practical. We believe branding isn’t about polish or performance, it’s about coherence. When your language lines up with who you are and how you work, everything else gets easier.

Venue Partner: Bentall Centre

We're grateful to partner with Bentall Centre for QBBC's 2026 Educational Programming Series.

About Bentall Centre

Bentall Centre is a 1.5 million-square-foot office and retail campus in Vancouver’s central business district. It is a landmark destination for Vancouver’s leading companies and includes offerings such as reactivated public spaces, community events, arts and culture programming. Bentall Centre is operated by Hudson Pacific Properties and co-owned by Blackstone and Hudson Pacific.

Learn more at bentallcentre.com.