The Inspiration Behind Ruby
She inspired me to evolve my former agency, 3am Strategies, and rename it after my great-aunt Ruby — a rare, radiant woman whose warmth, style, and honest storytelling lit up every room.
That family legacy shapes the spirit of Ruby today: a brand built on clarity, heart, and precision, and a belief that the most resonant brands are both distinctive and deeply human.
Ruby exists to help brands uncover what makes them distinct and shape into stories that resonate in the boardroom, the marketplace, and culture.
Who We Are
Ruby is a brand strategy and marketing consultancy at the intersection of innovation and culture. We partner with funded startups and established brands to sharpen positioning, reach the right audiences, and create momentum for growth. With experience spanning the Americas, Europe and Asia, Ruby helps leaders make clear, confident brand moves in categories where culture, taste, and timing shape perception.
Our work sits across Sports & Entertainment, Retail & Fashion, Lifestyle, and Higher Education — spaces where audiences know the difference and only the clearest brands break through. We bring together strategy, creativity, research, and marketing to build brands that feel distinct, relevant, and built for where the market is going next. From brand strategy and storytelling to omni-channel campaigns, partnerships, and launches, we help turn strong ideas into meaningful presence and commercial traction.
Ruby also serves as an incubator for young and aspiring marketers, creating opportunities to work on real-world challenges, build portfolios, and learn the craft alongside experienced leadership. That commitment reflects what Ruby stands for: sharp thinking, meaningful work, and building brands — and talent — with intention.
Founder
Angela Sikes, Founder & Principal, is a global brand marketing leader with more than 20 years of experience helping brands sharpen their positioning, connect with the right audiences, and drive growth. Her background spans top-tier agencies and global brand leadership at Under Armour, where she architected a $1.3 billion sportswear strategy and leading product launches across the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Angela’s experience spans Sports & Entertainment, Retail & Fashion, and Lifestyle, with additional work across higher education, hospitality, gaming, healthcare and pharmaceutical, financial services and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), food and beverage and quick‑serve restaurants, logistics and transportation, utilities, and energy. She brings particular perspective to food and hospitality through formal culinary training and firsthand experience building a catering business, giving her an operator’s understanding of what it takes to build and execute a brand from the ground up.
She also invests in the next generation of marketers. Angela teaches Consumer Research & Insights at Georgetown University’s Integrated Marketing Communications master’s program and guest lectures at other leading universities including Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University and Bowie State University, bringing a strategist’s, operator’s, and educator’s perspective to every engagement.
Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Angela is a a graduate of Cass Technical High School, Florida A&M University where she earned a Bachelor's of Science (B.S.) in Economics, and a Master's of Business Administration (MBA) in Global Marketing from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan.