Majela Fonseca

Co-Founder

Carolina Climate

Nonprofit, peer-led community of climate and clean tech founders across North Carolina.

• Built the community from zero, facilitating three founder listening sessions to define its purpose, needs, and programming before launch, which created the member ownership that sustained early growth.
• Grew to 45 Founders Circle members, 65 founders and 58 companies tracked, and 480 newsletter subscribers with a 57% open rate in year one.
• Assembled the six-organization anchor partner coalition that underwrites the community (Hutchison PLLC, First Flight Venture Center, CED, NC IDEA, Blueridge Climate Ventures, and Raleigh-Durham Startup Co.), negotiating each partnership directly.
• Lead fundraising: secured a $20K City of Raleigh Impact Partner Grant and NC IDEA ENGAGE funding to launch a founder programming pilot.
• Write and design the impact reports, partnership prospectus, and funder materials used to raise and renew support.
• Own brand, positioning, website, newsletter, and social channels; produce event photography and video.
• Launched Climate Tech Day (85+ attendees) as the opening event of Raleigh-Durham Startup Week, and run founder dinners, workshops, and community happy hours.

Co-Chair

Raleigh-Durham Climate Week

• Co-lead the inaugural Raleigh-Durham Climate Week (November 2 to 6, 2026), a regional convening of climate tech founders, investors, universities, corporations, and economic development partners.
• Lead the volunteer team delivering the week, and own sponsorship, programming, and partnership strategy with regional startup and economic development organizations.
• Secured and steward grant funding supporting Climate Tech Day and week-long programming.
• Shape the brand, narrative, website, and go-to-market for a first-year initiative positioning the Triangle as a national climate innovation hub.

Founder & Principal Consultant, Marketing & Growth Strategy

The Marketing Fix, LLC

• Advise founders, small businesses, and mission-driven organizations on go-to-market, positioning, messaging, partnership, and content strategy, with a growing focus on climate tech.
• Design and build conversion-focused websites end to end with AI-assisted development tools including Claude Code: Raleigh-Durham Climate Week, Carolina Climate, First Discovery Links Learning Center, Pure Health Water System, and themarketingfixllc.com.
• Lead branding and visual identity projects: brand direction, logo and design systems, and messaging frameworks.
• Architect AI-enabled workflows for content creation, reporting, and marketing operations, giving resource-constrained teams capacity they could not otherwise staff.

Director of Marketing & Business Development

Hutchison PLLC

Venture and emerging-company law firm serving technology, life sciences, and climate startups.

Business development & partnerships

• Sourced new firm clients through direct business development and through climate tech ecosystem partnerships I built independently.
• Built and owned the client success and referral program, the firm's largest growth channel.
• Built and managed a partner ecosystem of accelerators, universities, investors, corporations, and industry organizations that drove referrals, visibility, and deal flow, and positioned the firm as an anchor partner in the regional climate ecosystem.
• Aligned 21 attorneys around annual and quarterly business development plans, defining target clients, priority relationships, and industry focus.
• Designed and produced 20+ executive, founder, investor, and client events a year as a partnership and pipeline channel, from messaging and speakers to follow-up.

Marketing & communications

• Owned firm-wide marketing across the venture, technology, life sciences, and climate practices, including the narrative and editorial calendar across website, email, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and events.
• Grew the firm's LinkedIn following 155% (500 to 1,270+), launched its Instagram, and coordinated the Founder Shares podcast and its YouTube Shorts, with top performers reaching 1K+ views.
• Ran segmented email campaigns averaging about 35% open and 15% click-through rates, using performance data to refine content and timing.
• Directed digital and content programs that became a tracked source of new clients.

Operations, budget & systems

• Managed a $450K annual marketing budget across advertising, sponsorships, and content, hiring and directing creative and production vendors.
• Led CRM selection, implementation, and firm-wide adoption, building source attribution and ROI reporting across every growth channel.
• Championed AI adoption across marketing and business development workflows, piloting tools to improve efficiency, consistency, and scale.
• Managed the firm's workplace giving partnership with United Way and its community sponsorships.

Director of Marketing

Brownlee Whitlow & Praet, PLLC

• Built and led the firm's marketing department from scratch, driving a 15% increase in client acquisition.
• Led business development and market research for the launch of the firm's Atlanta office, its first new market entry.
• Directed digital, content, video, and event marketing, increasing brand visibility 20%.

Digital Evaluator & Facilitator

3 Birds Marketing, LLC

• Conducted website reviews and advised clients on optimization, UX, and engagement.
• Led email marketing automation and campaign reporting, improving customer satisfaction 10%.