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Samantha Choi

CEO | Chief Creative OfficerManual Labor Studio

New York, NY

Skills

Brand Design and Strategy
Brand Building
Creative Strategy

About

Born in Seoul, Korea, I immigrated to the US with my family at the age of 4. While assimilating into New York life, products like Wonder Bread and Kraft Cheese became symbols of what it meant to be American. Though I didn’t know it then, this was my first experience with the power of brands. After decades at Ralph Lauren and Gap, in 2012 I launched the creative and marketing agency Manual Labor. With a mission to “Do Great Work with Good People,” my team and I help companies unlock brand value, identify the “why” behind their existence, and build the ideal customer experience. I didn't know it then but I inherited the entrepreneurial spirit, from my immigrant parents, allowing me to build a company rooted in diverse backgrounds and ideas — diversity that shapes Manual Labor’s present and future.

Published content

Here's what executive coaching taught 15 business leaders

expert panel

Learn to lead with confidence and teach others to do the same. You don't need to have all the right answers to be an effective leader. It’s about fostering a work environment where your team can thrive and collaborate on discovering better solutions. Executive coaching can help leaders develop a more adaptive and insightful leadership style, enabling them to better support their team’s growth and navigate complex challenges. From refining the corporate decision-making process to improving their interpersonal skills, coaching can have a profound impact on any leader's journey.  Below, 15 thought leaders from Fast Company Executive Board each share their experiences with executive coaching, how it transformed their leadership style, and why they highly recommend it to other managers.

Is your business purpose propelling your company to thrive?

expert panel

18 leaders each discuss their company's mission statement and how passion plays a positive role in business branding overall. Launching and maintaining a successful business is not for everyone, but if you do decide to go for it, make sure it's a space that you are willing and able to put your heart and soul into for the long haul.  Whether you simply want to pay it forward and give back to the next generation of leaders based on your experience and knowledge, or there is a void to be filled in an underrepresented community, there are plenty of good reasons to add your brand's voice to the mix as a viable industry solution to address the latest client and customer pain points. If you're second-guessing your decision to be in business and your ability to make a real difference, 18 experts from Fast Company Executive Board explain what inspired their business ideas and mission statements. The passion these leaders demonstrate for what they're doing is motivational and plays a huge role in their approach to branding.

12 ways to show clients and biz partners you care in the new year

expert panel

Taking their insights to heart underscores the value they bring to your business.  In a shifting and competitive marketplace, attracting and retaining loyal clients or partnerships to help your business thrive is not what it used to be. Leaders and their teams must work even harder to gain the time, respect, trust, and financial investment of others if they want their company to grow. With the start of a new year and unforeseen challenges awaiting, now is the time to rethink how best to show up for your biggest supporters—not only when the holidays roll around again, but also throughout the year. To help you put a strategy in place to strengthen your business relationships and brand reputation further, below, 12 experts from Fast Company Executive Board each offer one best practice to express how much you truly appreciate customer loyalty and brand partnerships year after year. Here's how to make your thank yous much more memorable.

Rethinking the advice given to leaders and CEOs

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I’ve been flooded with advice on “how to be” a CEO or leader. This advice from the current ruling class of CEOs has been helpful—but only because I did the opposite. 

Making a change to your product or service? 12 steps to take first

expert panel

Consider these best practices before your loyal audience is thrown off by the company's latest innovations. If you're thinking about upgrading your legacy product or service that loyal customers have come to recognize and respect, it's okay to make some necessary tweaks to keep up with the times, but it's also more crucial to engage your audience in the conversation about potential changes. This will help you better understand their views from a user's perspective.  To help company leaders maintain their credibility while staying relevant in the marketplace, 12 Fast Company Executive Board members discuss other steps business professionals can take to develop an innovative mindset when it comes to revamping a traditional item or creating a new one altogether.

Is your business’s creative content becoming too bland?

expert panel

Here's what you might be missing when it comes to attracting and retaining new audiences. In the business world, content is king. This is especially true when you're trying to capture a long-term, loyal audience of potential clients and customers who can help your company grow. But it's not just about promoting your brand of products and services. Being too salesy too soon is often a turn-off for most potential customers. If you take the time to get to know them and their company on a deeper level, you'll have a better opportunity to turn your business into one that is worthy of their long-term trust and loyalty.  To better equip content teams in the coming year, 16 experts from Fast Company Executive Board each share one detail to help them understand how to create relevant content that speaks to their potential and current customers—whether it be through the company website, social media channels, video blogs, or email newsletters.

Company details

Manual Labor Studio

Company bio

Manual Labor is a creative and marketing studio rooted in the mission to "Do Great Work With Good People.™ " We sit at the intersection of brand and business helping brands accelerate growth through strategy, purpose and execution.

Industry

Marketing & advertising

Area of focus

Brand Marketing
Creative Agency
Marketing

Company size

11 - 50