In this episode, I talk to brand strategist James Wu, founder of Studio Tomo, about creativity as a collective practice rather than a solo pursuit. James shares how his early love of album art, magazines, and design shaped his understanding of brand as feeling and experience. He traces his career from digital advertising to nonprofit work, and eventually to founding Studio Tomo, a studio built around collaboration, empathy, and mission-driven work. We explore how creative teams function best when they reflect the communities they serve, why relationship-building matters more than efficiency, and how misunderstandings can be navigated through trust, vulnerability, and time. James also reflects on parenting, leadership, burnout, and the cost of empathy when it becomes overextended. This is a conversation about building creative ecosystems, honoring lived experience, and sustaining work that is thoughtful, relational, and grounded in care. About James James Wu has 20+ years experience partnering with leaders building a more just, fair, and interdependent world. As the Founder and Managing Director of Studio Tomo, and as a freelance strategist with agencies like Pentagram, Gretel, Johnson Banks, and Hyperakt, he's had the privilege of working with National Geographic, Duolingo, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Natural Resources Defense Council, WITNESS, PolicyLink, Philadelphia Art Museum, Kripalu, and the United Nations Development Programme. Previously, he was a Partner and Head of Strategy at A—B Partners (now NewWorld) where he was a member of the executive leadership team and helped build brands and campaigns for organizations working on climate justice, disinformation, reparations, criminal justice reform, and gender and reproductive justice. Prior to this role, James served as a Senior Strategist at SYP where he led Fortune 500 executives through large-scale transformation; Head of Branding for the nonprofit impact investor, Acumen; Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Planning & Development at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM); and Director of Business Development for the digital agency, Modea. James is an Emeritus member and former President of the Marketing Advisory Board at Virginia Tech, and serves on the board of the Asian Mental Health Collective. He has guest lectured for the Virginia Tech Honors College Presidential Global Scholars in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, the University of Warwick in the UK, John Jay College for Criminal Justice’s Moelis Social Entrepreneurship Fellows, University of Texas’s McCombs School of Business, and Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He lives in Brooklyn, NY (though his heart is often found in North London, COYG! UTA!).
