Build Your Own Boat

What does it look like to launch a strategic communications firm in the middle of a global pandemic — and build it entirely around a commitment to equity and social justice? Angelle Fouther did exactly that when she co-founded Kindred Communications in 2020 with her daughter, Darren. In this episode of Build Your Own Boat, Angelle shares the real story behind the leap: the years of frustration working inside nonprofit hierarchies, the pandemic that stranded her daughter in Africa, the first client call that changed everything, and the day she handed back a significant retainer because her dignity was worth more than the paycheck. Six years in, Kindred is thriving — working exclusively with organizations committed to equity and social justice — even as the political climate makes that work harder than ever. This is an honest, grounded conversation about what it actually means to build a business that reflects who you are, not just what you can sell.

Angelle Fouther is the co-founder and principal of Kindred Communications, a Denver-based strategic communications firm that works exclusively with organizations committed to equity and social justice. With more than two decades of experience in marketing, storytelling, and strategic communications — including leadership roles at Denver Botanic Gardens and the Denver Foundation — Angelle brings deep community roots and a sharp eye for authentic narrative to every client engagement. In 2020, she launched Kindred alongside her daughter Daryn, a designer and communications strategist, building a fully remote, intergenerational partnership that has operated seamlessly across continents. Kindred's current work includes communications and impact storytelling for the Colorado Health Foundation's annual symposium and impact investment portfolio, and ongoing partnership with Justice for Black Coloradans. Angelle is also a recent member of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce's Women's Chamber.

Angelle filed Kindred Communications with the Colorado Secretary of State in December 2019, then nearly abandoned the idea when a nonprofit job opened up. The COVID-19 pandemic — and her daughter Daryn being stranded in Africa with no way home for 16 months — pushed her to commit. When Janine Vanderburg called looking for communications support, Angelle brought Daryn in, and they operated as a cross-continental team from the start. Angelle ran Kindred alongside full-time employment until September 2022, when she made the full leap into entrepreneurship.

Kindred Communications is a strategic communications firm specializing in storytelling, brand development, messaging strategy, and communications planning for nonprofits, foundations, and mission-driven organizations committed to equity, inclusion, and social justice. Services range from full brand identity and website development to long-term embedded communications partnerships.

Angelle handles strategy, business development, and messaging; Daryn leads design, technology, and visual communications. They share equal pay and operate as true collaborators — not boss and employee. Disagreements are resolved through what they call "collaborative honesty": neither gives empty praise, and both are willing to defer when the other's idea is stronger. Angelle describes it as a practice in real equity, even at a two-person scale.

Angelle is clear-eyed about the political moment: funders are pulling back, clients are being pressured to sanitize language, and the environment is genuinely difficult. Kindred has worked with some clients on strategic language shifts when survival — and continued service to vulnerable populations — requires it. But Angelle draws a firm line: she will not work with organizations whose core commitment to equity has actually changed, only those that are navigating external pressure while holding to their values internally.

"Take the leap." Angelle spent decades wanting to run her own business and kept returning to the safety of a paycheck. Her experience is that clarity of purpose, aligned clients, and unexpected opportunities tend to appear after you commit — not before. She describes entrepreneurship not as guaranteed financial success, but as the freedom to live and work in alignment with your own convictions: "Every day that we do this, I feel like I'm living in courage."

The professional relationships Angelle built over two decades — particularly through the Denver Foundation, which sits at the hub of Colorado's nonprofit ecosystem — became direct sources of client work when Kindred launched. She also points to the strategic value of institutional memory: knowing what has been tried before, what the landscape looked like a decade ago, and which relationships have been built on real trust, not just proximity.

Build Your Own Boat is a podcast series hosted by Janine Vanderburg — award-winning three-time entrepreneur and anti-ageism advocate — featuring women who have launched new entrepreneurial ventures in midlife and beyond. The series is part of a larger storytelling project that includes a Substack publication and a forthcoming book, all built around one goal: changing the narrative about who entrepreneurs are and making women in midlife and beyond visible as builders of wealth, freedom, and possibility.