Hi.
I am Cerstin Hannestad.
I help people and brands to recognize, name, and translate internal or external ambiguity into the next, realistic decision.
Orientation – Translation – Action.
Superpower 1: Pattern Recognition.
'I spy with my little eye what you don't see – just yet!
Superpower 2: Creative + Strategist
I’m both a creative mind and a strategic thinker — and I’ve learned how powerful that combination can be.
As a Creative Strategist, Brand Consultant, Startup-Mentor and Creative Director, I guide solopreneurs and startups through every step of their brand development process — from vision to market and beyond.
Together, we build brands that are distinctive, compelling and ready to grow.
While I love to be an excellent 'fire extinguisher', I am also burning for interim leadership and high-impact projects.
Looking forward for you to get in touch!
HISTORY
Where transformation meets strategy – turning challenges into clarity, strategy and growth – as a human being, mentor, strategist and creative.
One decade in advertising, and one decade in the startup world.
For over a decade I worked in agencies with a strong reputation, and another decade with various startups – helping founders and brands turn complexity into clarity, turn ideas into action, create strategies that deliver, and guide teams and leaders through growth and change.
Business expertise meets personal experience
Yet my expertise doesn’t come from business experience alone. My personal journey has shaped me fundamentally. I had to learn how to navigate uncertainty, rebuild orientation, rethink and create new paths – from an early age on, again and again.
Undoubtably, this made me the person I am today.
Those experiences gave me not only resilience and the ability to turn change into opportunity, but also a deep understanding of how transformation truly works.
MILESTONES
Professional background
Long-term freelance
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Brand Consultant I VOLKSWAGEN Group Info Services AG
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Creative Strategist I Superpeers, Hamburg
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Creative Director I LOFINO GmbH
Own Startups
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CHCC Coaching & Consulting
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LUVVA LTX Club Wear
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JOY TOY BERLIN
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bakery. Brand Bakery Berlin
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Craft Beer Club Berlin
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CH Creative Content
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FitCrowd – Sports App
Agencies
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Senior Creative l Familie Redlich, Berlin
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Art Directors Swap l Ogilvy, Singapore
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Junior Art Director Digital l OgilvyOne, Frankfurt
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Creative @ Pitch Unit l Publicis Group, Frankfurt
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Copy Writer l McCann M.E.C.H., Berlin
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Assistant Creation l MRM, McCann Erickson, Frankfurt
Education
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DIPLOMA Communication Design Ø1 – University of Applied Sciences I Wiesbaden, Germany
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Graduate Art College I P.ART Design, Stuttgart
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A-Levels l Ev. Mörike Gymnasium, Stuttgart
TODAY
Today I combine those worlds:
🌟 In TRANSITION COACHING, I support people in finding clarity, stability, and new direction when life feels overwhelming.
I offer coaching for HSP people who perceive more than others: see HSP Couceling Offers.
🌟 In STARTUP MENTORING, I help entrepreneurs organize their ideas, set priorities, and move from vision to execution.
🌟 In BRAND CONSULTANCY, I work with companies to shape distinctive, future-ready brands that resonate and grow.
What connects all three? I know from lived experience what it means to face obstacles and to start fresh. I’ve learned to see the gift and opportunity in any situation – and to turn challenges into concrete strategies and real results.
My work is both human and strategic – empathetic, clear, and always focussed on action.
Whats it like to work with me
In other people’s words
'Cerstin is one of those rare individuals who refuses to be pigeonholed — her spectrum can’t be reduced to a single role or label.
She has an unerring sense for what is real — for depth, truth, and resonance. In her presence, the frequency easily shifts — to an atmosphere much sharper, clearer, and more vivid.
She is both head and heart.
A strategist with vision.
For years, she has accompanied people at turning points — those who sense that more awaits them than their old role, their secure job, their familiar story.
With keen intuition, clear thinking, and an extraordinary ability to recognise patterns, she guides them to their own clarity.
She calls it Transition Coaching, but it’s really soul navigation: a space where people rediscover themselves.
When you work, talk, or simply spend time with her, you feel that everything you are may be.
She hears what you say — and what you can’t yet say. She senses where you’re stuck — and meets you exactly there.
Through honest reflection and with clarity, insight, and guidance, she helps you find your way forward and move on with purpose.
That is her true strengths:
she connects worlds — external and internal. Brands and people, inner truth and consciousness, strategy and soul.
And she always stays true to herself — genuine, awake, incorruptible.
Cerstin always creates — and in everything she does, she reminds you that you can do it too.
Working with Cerstin is a beginning — one that invites clarity, courage, and joy.
To end up motivated and clear about where your professional development should go and what needs to be done next in a sustainable way.
Buckle up and enjoy the ride!'
CERSTIN HANNESTAD
COACHING & CONSULTING
Instinctive · Creative · Leadership
CAREER- & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ·
STRATEGIC SPARRING · BRAND STRATEGY ·
FOR STARTUPS & SOLOPRENEURS
Transition Coaching
Startup Mentoring
Strategic Brand Development
Creative Direction
