When I was a young girl, I dreamed of becoming a writer. I wanted to live in the worlds that spilled from the pages of the books that littered my floor: Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Little Women. They were stories of curiosity, courage, and connection. I read them so often the corners curled, the spines cracked, and the pages began to loosen. They were gifts from my grandmother, who believed that a good story could change how you see the world.

Years later, her gifts still live on in me through that same belief. Only now, instead of writing novels, I write scripts for conversations - surveys to help people connect with what they believe in, what they need, and what they hope for. Through GoodChat, we help mission-driven organizations listen more deeply, engage more meaningfully, and build communities that feel seen. The stories are still there; they just arrive one response at a time.

Before GoodChat, Jake and I started a small venture studio in early 2020, Small Great Ventures, with a simple but ambitious idea: build a future where business nurtures both humanity and the planet. Along the way, we experimented, learned, and evolved. We acquired a brand in the civic tech space attempting to redefine data ownership. We found that while data can illuminate, what truly drives change is dialogue. We built a powerful research tool, but what leaders and their communities alike were really seeking was not insight, but connection.

That realization reshaped everything. We took what we had built, kept the pieces that mattered, and reimagined the rest. We called it GoodChat because while we may not share everything in common, every relationship worth keeping begins with a good chat.

GoodChat is not about transactions; it’s about transformation.

GoodChat is not about transactions; it’s about transformation. About seeing people not as targets, but as stories. About showing organizations that behind every click, every form fill, and every data point is a person waiting to be understood.

The inspiration for the GoodChat brand

Living in and near Washington, D.C., surrounded by a wealth of museums, we found ourselves inspired by both the spaces and the works within them. For GoodChat, the art gallery itself became our muse: a place of light and possibility. White walls and open space. Bright colors framed in black. The quiet hum as people gather around the same piece, each taking away something different.

A gallery is where interpretation lives. It is a space for curiosity, reflection, and conversation. That is the energy we wanted to capture: the belief that discovery happens when there is room to look closer, feel deeper, and make meaning together.

At GoodChat, the art is people.

We do not paint with oil or pigment. We paint with conversation. Every question we ask, every survey we build, and every story we listen to becomes a brushstroke in a living portrait - an evolving picture of what matters most. Who are they really? What moves them? What do they care about deeply enough to act? Data gives us the outline, but dialogue fills in the color. We use insight the way an artist uses paint, layer by layer and stroke by stroke, until something alive takes shape.

Our brand reflects that same process of creation and care.

Sorts Mill Goudy, our headline font, holds the quiet confidence of a gallery placard. It is elegant, timeless, and deeply intentional. It is the curator’s voice: calm, assured, and always grounded in meaning.

Poppins Bold brings modernity to the space. It is our signage, our guide, our nudge forward. The clear voice that helps visitors move through the gallery with energy and purpose.

Crimson Pro is the warmth underneath it all. It is the conversation happening in the corner of the room, the story behind the art, the human voice that keeps everything grounded.

Our palette of primaries - red, blue, yellow - echoes the simplicity of raw materials. Alone, they are basic. Together, they can make anything. That is what we believe about people too. Our differences, when brought together with intention, create something extraordinary.

The painted portraits at the heart of our brand celebrate individuality: the single human story rendered in texture and color. The geometric shapes and overlapping patterns that accompany them represent community: the intersections where stories meet, connect, and form something larger. Expression and connection. Art and architecture. Humanity and design. 

Every campaign we run, every survey we write, and every small act of listening adds another stroke to the canvas. Over time, what emerges is not just a collection of data points. It is a portrait of collective purpose. A gallery of causes and communities, each one alive with color and possibility.

This is the world of GoodChat: a gallery of human insight.