In my early 20s, every Thursday was wine night.

There were four of us.

• Michael brought the wine (usually fancy, sometimes boxed, always red).
• Rebecca always had the good crackers — the kind I pretend to just “have on hand", she seemed to actually always have them on hand.
• Caroline brought the salami or random deli meats.

I was the cheese plug. I worked the farmers market circuit for an Atlanta cheesemonger, which meant I always had something tangy, creamy, or deliciously herby on hand.

I’d show up with something weird or indulgent to try: a tangy goat cheese rolled in cranberries, or a dill havarti that lit up when paired with a little orange jam.

The rest of the board was a perfect mix of whatever we had on hand:

• Half a sleeve of crackers or potato chips.
• Canned olives or the final spears from a jar of pickles.
• A single Dove chocolate someone fished out of their purse.

Nothing matched, and somehow that made it better.

I've been reminiscing on those days recently.

We were underpaid, figuring out life, and still made a basic weeknight feel like a real occasion.

That’s why I named this newsletter Content Tapas.

I wanted this newsletter, and the content within it, to feel like the conversations had over a charcuterie board: Insightful, warm, and something you look forward to.

Some of my favorite thought leaders and marketing brains aren't spending a small fortune on content creation — they're spending the time it takes to make connections with people you actually wanna work with.

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How to Build Your Board: A Content Tapas Framework

Let's build a content spread like I'd build a last-minute charcuterie board for wine night:

• The Cheese 🧀 : Your main content topic. This is what people know you for: Your POV on leadership, a campaign style performs every time, an offer that is your bread and butter. (For me, it's social media and content strategy.
• The Fruit or Jam 🍓: The relatable pieces that are fun and make your brand feel human. These are memes, personal updates, rants, “day in the life” videos, etc.
• The Crackers 🧂: The foundation or structure your content works within (a charctuerie board without some kind of bread is just toppings...) It's your recurring content series, product how-tos, or tips that ground your content in industry relevance.
• The Olives 🫒: This is your differentiator. This is the fun stuff that only you can do. Here's how I know something is olive-worthy: Imagine if someone wrote an article about your content approach, what would the headline be?

If you’re the in-house marketer juggling five campaigns, a million brand assets, and no time to build from scratch—this is your reminder that you don’t have to.

You just need to know what you have on hand and how to throw it together.

That’s one of the ways clients use a 30-minute consulting call.

• First, we Identify the star of the show: The piece of content or strategy that everything else orbits around.
• Then, we build out the rest of the content board based on what is in stock and what’s working.
• Lastly, clients walk away with a plan that’s clear, flexible, and fun.

Normally, these clarity calls are $200/hr.

As a summer pick-me-up, newsletter subscribers can get this for $75 OFF for a 30-min call with the promo code "TAPAS75".

Let’s build your charcuterie board or tapas spread together.

Shareables: What I'm Consuming

Music: The Shucked Soundtrack

Last Friday, Tyler took me to see Shucked at the Fabulous Fox for my big 3-0, and y’all... Corn is making a comeback. 🌽 It's campy, country, and punny. It’s about corn, Tampa (?), and love.

If you were around for Raven’s Newsletter 1.0 circa 2020, you already know I’m a musical theater fangirl at heart. Missed my shot at Broadway, so now I belt showtunes while building content calendars.

While this soundtrack doesn't have as many bangers as Waitress, the real showstopper is the belter “Independently Owned”. It’s the single girl anthem you didn’t know you needed.

If you need a pick-me-up over the next few days, listen to that song. When someone inevitably stops you to ask where you got all that gumption, tell em Raven sent ya. 😉

Shucked (Original Broadway C... Overture • Original Broadway... PREVIEW   ​

Singing showtunes and scheduling content,