Strategy for what comes next.

Comma partners with founders and leaders in moments of creation, growth, and change — helping clarify where the business is going, define what will get it there, and make it happen.

A brand-led approach to business strategy, growth, and leadership.

Comma mark
How Comma Works Work With Me
Why Comma?

A comma marks the moment between what came before and what comes next.

Businesses have those moments too — in creation, growth, and change.

Comma exists for those moments.

Perspective to see clearly. Strategy to chart what comes next. Experience to make it happen.

When Comma Can Help
01

You’re building something.

New company, brand, offer, category, or idea.
02

You’ve outgrown something.

The business has evolved faster than the positioning, story, or priorities.
03

You’re looking for growth.

Find the opportunity and decide where to focus.
04

You’re navigating change.

New leadership, market, transformation, acquisition, or repositioning.
05

You need a senior thought partner.

Challenge the thinking, sharpen the choices, see what’s being missed.
06

You need someone to step in.

Senior ownership for a leadership gap or critical initiative.
How Comma Helps

Diagnose

See clearly. Sometimes the first need isn’t a strategy — it’s understanding the real problem. Comma gets inside the business, asks the right questions, and identifies what’s working, what’s getting in the way, and where the greatest opportunities lie.

Define

Choose the direction. Positioning, brand and business strategy, growth priorities, narrative, portfolio, innovation, go-to-market — whatever strategic choices the particular problem requires.

Lead

Make it happen. When the need goes beyond advice, Comma can step in as an interim or fractional leader — setting priorities, leading teams and partners, and moving the work forward.
Sherry El-Gawly
About

Comma brings together the perspective of an advisor, the instincts of a brand builder, and the experience of an operator.

Founded by Sherry El-Gawly, Comma draws on nearly two decades of building and leading businesses and brands across luxury, beauty, fragrance, consumer, and professional services.

Sherry has worked inside global organizations and alongside founders — shaping strategy, building brands, leading teams, launching new ideas, navigating transformation, and turning ambition into action.

Her approach is distinctly brand-led: a belief that the strongest business strategies begin with a clear understanding of what a company stands for, whom it serves, and why it should matter.

Learn More
What Sets the Work Apart
01 Strategist + operator Advice grounded in the experience of owning outcomes.
02 Brand + business fluency Brand understood as a business lever, not a communications layer.
03 Global perspective Experience across markets, cultures, categories, and organizations.
04 A sensory and cultural lens Understanding how brands are experienced and felt, not simply communicated.
05 Meaning as strategy A belief that meaning creates differentiation, affinity, and enduring value.
Select Experience

Experience across global brands, founder-led businesses, and ambitious organizations.

Brand logos including Kiehl's, Maison Margiela, YSL, Ralph Lauren, and more
Frontier 25 Novus Global

What comes next?

If you're building something, changing something, or figuring out what comes next, let's talk.

Start a Conversation →
Work With Me

I partner with a select number of brands and founders each year.

01

Fractional CMO /
Head of Marketing

Senior marketing leadership for brands that need strategic direction, clarity, and executional oversight — without a full-time hire.

  • For founders and teams ready for senior marketing leadership
  • Strategic direction, brand oversight, and go-to-market execution
  • Flexible engagement — retainer-based or set days per week
02

Brand Strategy
& Advisory

Positioning, narrative, and go-to-market strategy to help brands sharpen their voice, elevate their presence, and grow with intention.

  • Positioning & brand architecture
  • Narrative development & brand voice
  • Launch strategy & go-to-market planning
03

Experiences

Immersive, sensory-led experiences that connect people to brands, memory, and meaning.

  • Power of Scent® — curated fragrance experiences
  • Custom workshops for teams, events, and brand activations

Ready to start?

Book a conversation and let's explore how we can work together.

Book a Conversation
A Scent Experience

The Power of Scent®

the power, the principles & the pleasure of fragrance

Everything has a smell — fruit on the table, rain on warm pavement, a brand-new book, the person sitting beside you. Yet of all our senses, smell is the one we most often overlook. We go to a concert for sound, a restaurant for taste, a gallery for sight — but rarely do we stop to truly smell.

This guided session is an invitation to slow down and pay attention. Part sensory tasting, part conversation, it reawakens one of our most emotional and underestimated senses — and gives you the language to understand, choose, and enjoy fragrance with new confidence. Scents to smell are woven throughout.

01

The Power of Scent®

Why fragrance moves us. We explore scent as transportation, memory, mood, self-expression, and seduction.

02

The Principles of Scent

The craft behind the bottle. Concentrations, scent families, and how a perfume is composed.

03

The Pleasure of Scent

Hands-on discovery. A guided journey through a curated assortment of fragrances.

60–120 Minutes  ·  Guided Group Experience  ·  Curated Sampling Throughout

Designed for the curious — no experience required, just an open nose.

Your Guide

Sherry brings deep experience in the fragrance world — including her background at L’Oréal — translating a perfumer’s craft into approachable, joyful experiences. Her sessions blend expertise with warmth, designed to leave you noticing the world a little more vividly than before.

Bring Power of Scent® to Your Team

An unexpected shared experience for leadership teams, company gatherings, retreats, communities and client events. Each session can be tailored around connection, creativity, memory, identity and the remarkable ways scent shapes human experience.

Inquire About an Experience
Keep Exploring

Join the Power of Scent list for upcoming salons, experiences, stories and new ways to explore the world’s most overlooked sense.

Follow Sherry for more on the Power of Scent → @sherryelgawly

What People Are Saying

“I can’t stop talking about this class! It was a truly immersive experience that showed me how much scent is tied to my emotions, identity and memory. Sherry is a fascinating person and brings so much passion and depth of knowledge to the topic. Truly inspiring!”

Amber

“As a woman in her midlife, by now I know a lot about my own preferences on fashion, makeup, wine… the list goes on. But until Power of Scent, I had no sophisticated language to describe my scent preferences. Now I’m excited to go perfume shopping again and hone in on what I love. Sherry’s extensive knowledge and amazing stories from her years in the industry was such a delight. The Power of Scent was a perfect blend of practical, educational, and fun.”

Sally

“Power of Scent is a truly delightful experience that engages your senses in surprising ways. Sherry is a deeply knowledgeable and charismatic guide and I loved engaging firsthand the strong connection between scent and memory. I’m excited to put what I learned into practice!”

Vanessa

“I stepped away from the Power of Scent workshop having gained so much more of an understanding for scent which is empowering. I feel confident, informed and excited to go shopping for my next perfume. Sherry was a fabulous expert who made her wealth of knowledge incredibly engaging and accessible. Smelling all of the amazing fragrances and then learning all about them was a highlight!”

Marisa

“Sherry is a great group leader and teacher! Has great knowledge and a fun, interactive class format. Such an enjoyable and informative experience. I walked away with so many questions answered and ready to go out and purchase new fragrance!”

Christa Lou

“I didn’t expect to learn so many new things about fragrance and to be so engaged and enjoy the exercise so much. It was a great way to get to know the others since fragrance is so personal — it was sort of a portal into our personalities and histories.”

Ellen

“If you’d like to understand which aromas work best for you and be able to describe them accurately like a pro when you go to a store to pick a parfum or eau de toilette, this workshop is a must.”

Nazli

“This is such a fun and different experience to do with a group. Highly recommend!”

Workshop Attendee
Swipe to read more →
Past Sessions Hosted For
Next Jump Soho House & Co Bain & Company
About

Sherry El-Gawly

Brand strategist, marketing leader, and creator of sensory brand experiences.

Sherry El-Gawly

I'm Sherry El-Gawly, a brand strategist and marketing leader with over 20 years of experience building and growing luxury and global brands.

I began my career in advertising with Procter & Gamble at Leo Burnett, and spent over a decade at L'Oréal leading fragrance and beauty brands including Yves Saint Laurent, Viktor & Rolf, Atelier Cologne, and Ralph Lauren Fragrances.

Most recently, I served as Chief Marketing Officer at Novus Global, where I led brand, content, and demand generation to support the firm's growth and evolution.

Today, through Comma, I partner with founders and organizations to build brands that are not only strategic — but meaningful, sensory, and enduring.

More coming soon.

Contact

Let's connect.

Whether you have a project in mind or just want to say hello — I'd love to hear from you.

hello@comma.nyc LinkedIn →