About Us

We’re here

to solve tactical business problems

For over 15 years we have deployed highly trained, specialist teams to solve strategic client problems, working overtly as external consultants or covertly within client organizations. Our relentless focus on efficiency and effectiveness, makes us an invaluable partner to our roster of Fortune 100 clients.

All our clients are referral-based and are mostly long-term relationships built over 10 years or more. Special Forces has built a stellar reputation for delivering high-impact solutions across a breadth of complex marketing challenges and businesses.

Meet the Team

Agent Bryant

Founder, Managing Partner
Ilana Bryant is the Founder of Special Forces and a brand strategy consultant with over two decades of experience, working with clients like Accenture, American Express, Sony, and Nike. She has been a marketing commentator for the BBC and a Grand Jury Judge for the Effie Awards for over 10 years. Ilana has served as an Expert Witness in marketing effectiveness for legal cases, including for the Attorney General of Massachusetts. She holds a BA from Columbia University and an MA from the University of Oxford.

Agent Mantravadi

Founder, Managing Partner
Uma Mantravadi is a strategy consultant and qualitative researcher with over 20 years of experience, working with brands like Pepsi, Colgate, and Navitas. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Emory University and a BA from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Uma also serves on two boards at UNC-Chapel Hill: the Alumni Committee for Racial and Ethnic Diversity and the Hussman School of Journalism and Media.

Agent Daley

Research Consultant
Liam Daley is a career researcher specializing in brand strategy, innovation, and creative development, with notable projects including research films for Bill Gates and debriefs attended by a White House staff and senators. He has led global research projects for Converse, H&M, and Tommy Hilfiger, focusing on Gen Z lifestyles, sustainability, and inclusive clothing. A Brit living in Brooklyn since 2001, Liam holds a BA in Social Sciences from Manchester University and shares a home with his wife, two kids, a dog, and a lizard.

Agent Baldridge

Research Consultant
Jake Baldridge has spent the last decade creating strategy and conducting custom research for a wide range of clients, after working on diverse global brands earlier in his career. He has developed brand strategies and uncovered insights in unique settings, from rural Illinois to a rainy Moscow parking lot. Jake holds a BA in English Literature and History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives in Durham, NC with his wife, two children, and dog.

Agent Spencer

Cultural Semiotician
Alfie Spencer builds growth strategies across business activities, from product innovation to brand purpose and communications, using semiotic analysis of ads, themes, and cultures. With decades of experience in consumer perception and cultural insight, he has worked on major projects for the BBC, Google, Universal Music, Unilever, and William Grant & Sons. Alfie holds a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.

Agent Corral

Lead Marketing Consultant
Joseph Corral is a digital strategy consultant with over two decades experience in the digital marketing and mobile space. As an independent consultant and through his work at Google, Joseph has spent the majority of his career helping businesses to execute successful digital transformation despite the challenges of content changes to the digital ecosystem. Such businesses included LG, Hyundai, Clorox, L’Oréal, FoMoCo, Macy’s, and AirBnB, to name a few.

At Google, Joseph led a team of B2B marketing teams focused on vertical marketing, industry thought leadership, and best practices content, including developing ‘Micro Moments’, Google’s most successful engagement platform for mobile marketing best practice.

Joseph holds an SB and M.Eng from MIT in Computer Science and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Agent Wright

Lead Marketing Consultant
Jacob has over 20 yrs of award winning marketing, communications and brand strategy experience both agency and client-side around the world.

He’s worked in Europe and Asia at the best communications agencies in the world (Droga5, Mother, BBH), been part of the leadership teams as Chief Strategy Officer and helped global brands (IKEA, Johnnie Walker, Samsung) achieve transformative growth in Europe, Asia and Worldwide.

Jacob holds a Masters of Arts in Natural Science and Experimental Psychology from the University of Cambridge.

Agent Soares

Research Consultant
Tom recently joined the research collective at Special Forces following a career switch from a previous career in Law.

Tom has experience in quantitative and qualitative research projects for brands such as: DraftKings, Casamigos, LG Electronics, the ACT Organization and Vacation Sunscreen. He is also trained by the Market Research Society in the UK in qualitative research research moderation and analysis.

Tom has a 1st Class Honors Degree in Musical Performance from from the London College of Music (UWL) and is also a recovering civil litigation lawyer with a BA in Law from BBP Law School in London, England.

Agent Dunlap-Fowler

Cultural Research / Semiotics Partner
For more than 12 years, Whitney Dunlap-Fowler has worked alongside some of the most coveted brands and companies across the world as a Cultural Anthropologist and Semiotician. Utilizing her vast knowledge of cultural analysis, semiotics and brand strategy, she works to highlight new & meaningful ways for clients to leverage the constantly shifting nature of culture.

In her previous role at Kantar Added Value Research, she excelled as a strategist across two teams: Brand Strategy and Cultural Insights, and took on a third role as the Multicultural Practice Lead for North America.

Whitney has a Masters degree in Media Culture and Communications from NYU.

Agent Hayes

Cultural Research / Semiotics Partner
Emily Hayes has been working in commercial semiotics for over 20 years. She specialises in making rich cultural insights relevant to specific brands and champions down-to-earth semiotics in consumer-friendly language. Her heartland is health, beauty, family, non-profit and food/drinks brands. She specialises in working in collaborative partnerships, particularly with semio combined with consumer-facing research because she believes the combination of cultural and consumer input gets to the best 360 degree insights.

Previous semiotics experience includes Unilver, MillerCoors, Innocent, Starbucks, Coca Cola and Kellogg’s, De Beers Diamonds, Dove, Nivea Men, Mind, CRUK, The BBC and Lego

Emily has a BA in English and Cultural Theory from University of Sussex.

Agent Joost

Chief Financial Officer
Joseph Corral is a digital strategy consultant with over two decades experience in the digital marketing and mobile space.

George comes to the role with over 35 years of finance and accounting experience. He has held Director /CFO roles for both global and boutique advertising agencies including, McCann Worldgroup, Grey Advertising, 215 McCann, and Muh-Tay-Zik/Hof-Fer.

It has been said that he “never met a number he didn’t like, unless it was red”. Truth is George is much more than strictly a numbers guy and brings a full complement of business, legal, operational, human resource, and creative knowledge and experience to every client we serve.

George has degrees in Accounting and Finance from San Francisco State University and is a former CPA.