Helping organizations turn complex ideas into strategies that move people.

Narrative strategy for business, public impact, and civic life.

DutchWorks partners with organizations navigating high-stakes communication challenges: complex work, skeptical audiences, and paths forward that require both strategic clarity and human resonance.

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Who I Work With

Organizations building something that matters.

I tend to work with people at inflection points — a launch, a pivot, a moment where the stakes are high and the story needs to land.

Mission-driven startups

Founders who need to articulate what they’re building and why it matters — to investors, users, and the public.

Nonprofits & foundations

Organizations scaling their impact and needing communications that match their ambition.

Public sector & advocacy

Government agencies, transit authorities, and advocacy groups navigating public trust.

EU/US partnerships

Dutch and European organizations that need someone who understands both cultures and can bridge them.

Services

What I do.

I work as a strategist, researcher, creative, and hands-on advisor. Most engagements combine several of these, because real impact work doesn’t come in neat categories.

Strategic Communications & Narrative

Messaging architecture, media strategy, and communications planning for campaigns, launches, and moments of institutional change. Finding the through-line that connects what you do to why it matters, and turning it into a story people want to follow.

Launch Strategy & Execution

End-to-end strategy and hands-on support for product launches, campaign rollouts, and public engagement efforts. From content calendars and team coordination to the actual copy that goes out the door. I don’t just plan — I build alongside you.

Product Strategy & Positioning

Translating product vision into clear value propositions. Defining who you’re for, what you offer, and how to say it — across your website, pitch deck, onboarding, and marketing. From concept to launch narrative.

Strategic Advising

Acting as an embedded strategic partner for founders and leadership teams. Thinking through decisions, shaping direction, pressure-testing plans. The kind of clear-eyed counsel that’s hard to find inside your own organization.

Content Strategy & Production

Building content ecosystems that actually work: email sequences, social campaigns, editorial calendars, brand voice guidelines. Not just strategy documents — finished, usable content your team can run with.

Cross-Cultural Communications

Bridging Dutch directness and American storytelling. Helping European organizations land in the US market, and helping American organizations communicate with clarity and substance. Fluent in both worlds.

Selected Work

A few things I’ve helped build.

I’ve worked across public infrastructure, social impact, advocacy, and tech. Here’s a sample.

Platform Launch

Lorenz — Netwerkkracht

Strategic advisor for the launch of a membership platform for professionals in healthcare, social services, and public safety in the Netherlands. Built the full launch strategy, content ecosystem, email campaigns, social media rollout, and go-to-market communications.

Media & Research

News Not Noise

Investigative reporting for Jessica Yellin’s news platform, helping translate complex current events into clear, accessible narratives that cut through the noise and reach audiences where they are.

Philanthropy & Impact

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

Storytelling and narrative strategy for one of the largest private foundations in the US, focused on transforming the lives of children living in urban poverty through education, health, and economic opportunity.

Civic Architecture

$1 Billion for Trust

Strategic advisory for a national initiative to rebuild trust in America. Helping shape the narrative and engagement strategy for a movement aiming to connect millions of Americans with organizations working on trust-building across communities and institutions.

→ 1billionfortrust.org

How I Work

Strategy that ships.

I don’t hand over a deck and disappear. I stay close to the work, the team, and the decisions that matter.

Listen & Map

Understand the landscape, the stakeholders, what’s been tried, and what’s actually at stake.

Frame & Focus

Find the core narrative. Identify what to say, to whom, and in what order. Kill the noise.

Build & Execute

Write the copy. Build the calendar. Create the templates. Coordinate the team. Produce the work.

Refine & Scale

Review what lands, adjust what doesn’t, and build systems so the team can sustain it without me.

Side Project

Mixtape

A personal legacy tool for people going through difficult times. Mixtape helps you create curated collections of comfort for the people you love: playlists, messages, memories, moments of connection. Whether you’re supporting a friend through illness, celebrating a milestone, or leaving something meaningful behind — Mixtape turns care into something tangible.

Try it free →

About

I’m Mariette Hummel — a strategist, writer, and communications leader with fifteen years of experience helping organizations navigate complexity and find their voice.

My background spans investigative journalism, public diplomacy, and advocacy at the highest levels. I’ve led communications for Austin’s $7.1 billion transit investment, served as Chief Communications Officer at Meals on Wheels of Central Texas, and directed advocacy campaigns at the Lubetzky Family Foundation that resulted in Ukrainian children testifying at the United Nations and bipartisan Congressional action.

Before moving into strategic communications, I worked as an investigative journalist for outlets including De Groene Amsterdammer and NBC, covering stories on digital privacy, political extremism, and domestic violence that led to parliamentary inquiries in the Netherlands.

Dutch-born, US-based. I move between cultures, languages, and sectors, which means I bring an outsider’s clarity to insider problems. The name DutchWorks reflects that: strategy should be direct, practical, and built to work in the real world.

I currently split my time between client work and serving as a strategic advisor for Lorenz, a Dutch organization building the next generation of cross-sector professional development.