Lydia Michael, Owner | Lead Consultant
“BY CREATING MY OWN PATH, MY MISSION IS TO INSPIRE WOMEN ALONG THE WAY TO DO THE SAME.”
Lydia is an entrepreneur, speaker, and published author with a passion for marketing and cultures. Born and raised trilingual in Germany, Lydia brings a unique global perspective to her work.
She began her career in digital media and marketing at the Detroit Jazz Festival, where she helped launch the first U.S. jazz festival app and managed impactful marketing campaigns. She later transitioned into the entertainment and music industry, managing Grammy-winning artists and their brands internationally while leading global marketing and operations efforts.
Following her time in the music industry, Lydia launched her first business, providing English and German business, language, and cultural services to global automotive expatriates in the metro Detroit area. This venture allowed her to further her understanding of cross-cultural communication and global business practices.
Her time in Germany opened doors to projects with organizations like Deloitte and L’Oréal in Düsseldorf, where she expanded her expertise in global branding and marketing.
In 2017, Lydia founded Blended Collective, inspired by her multicultural upbringing and international experience. Since then, she has worked with small businesses, nonprofits, corporations, and government entities to develop brand strategies and marketing efforts that drive both relevance and impact.
Lydia’s first book, Brand Love – Building Strong Consumer–Brand Connections, explores how brands can create emotional and lasting relationships with their audiences to build trust and loyalty. The book features case studies, multicultural insights, and interviews with industry leaders and is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
Beyond her work at Blended Collective, Lydia is actively involved in the arts and culture community as a member of the Board of Trustees at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She holds a B.S. in Marketing from Wayne State University and an M.B.A. in International Management from Pforzheim University in Germany where she has taught global marketing and branding as a guest professor since 2024. She also teaches digital marketing at Lawrence Technological University, and is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. Lydia’s work has been recognized with several marketing awards.
For more about Lydia or to invite her to speak, click here.