Testimonials

Working with Stellate Communications has genuinely been one of my most refreshing agency partnerships. I've worked with Caitlin and several of her staff in one capacity or another across a significant portion of my career and can personally attest to their consistency and dedication to excellence.

Stellate partnered with my current company after we had been years into an incredibly frustrating and delayed website redesign with a different agency. They immediately helped us not only reimagine the creative direction, but they also diagnosed and cleaned up backend infrastructure issues that had been holding back the project.

What sets the Stellate team apart is their rare combination of visual brand excellence, scientific fluency, and operational rigor. In my experience, most agencies come with some kind of tradeoff — cost over quality, design over scientific depth, or creativity without structure. With this team, there are none of those tradeoffs.

We've experienced strategic thinking, deep technical know-how, scientific accuracy, stunning design, and a highly organized, cost-effective partnership that truly feels like a partner and extension of our internal team.

I had a wonderful time working with the Stellate team building my new lab website. They did an amazing job bringing my vision to life. They were always prompt, provided thoughtful ideas and suggestions, and were incredibly easy to communicate with throughout the process. The final product exceeded my expectations, and I couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a creative, responsive, and professional team.

Collaborating with Stellate was an absolute joy, and I wholeheartedly recommend them to any scientist looking to elevate their science outreach. The experience was outstanding in so many ways, but what stood out was their exceptional responsiveness, meticulous attention to detail, and commitment to delivering a high-quality product. The team worked with professionalism, creativity, and a friendly approach to bring my vision for the website to life. I am so grateful for their support and hope to work with them again!

Stellate is amazing!  I needed to update my lab website to help us launch a new technology and get private investment.  They understood this short-term goal, as well as long-term goals, and asked all the right questions to figure out what I needed, even questions I did not know myself were important.  They were super understanding and creative the entire time!

I came to Stellate with two big goals in mind: first, to create a home base for the Ramirez Lab that could capture our science, our team, and our philosophy in one clean, intuitive platform; and second, to help us organize the Optogenetics Gordon Research Conference — a task that traditionally eats up a ton of bandwidth across emails, links, meetings, grants, and documents.

Stellate offered an all-in-one platform that was easy to use (e.g. Slack, emails), easy to customize, and genuinely fun to build with. The team is AWESOME. They gave us the freedom to focus on content rather than getting lost in the weeds of web design. We had our full lab site up and running quickly — with sections for publications, team bios, lab culture, and even our talks and media. When it came to the GRC, Stellate allowed us to coordinate meetings, speakers, venues, and fundraising, as well as to consolidate everything from speaker bios to schedules and travel info in one streamlined and professional format.

The positive ripple effects have been huge. Our lab's visibility has gone up, and prospective students, collaborators, and press now have a clear and engaging place to learn about what we do. For the Optogenetics GRC, Stellate helped us run a smoother, more coordinated event with fewer logistical headaches and a more polished presence overall. They kind of saved our lives time and time again. And, we got so many compliments on how everything was laid out!

Working with Stellate was seamless and pretty much a dream come true. Their support is kind, brilliant, and intuitive. The support team is lightning-fast and genuinely uplifting, and there's a clear sense that the company was built by scientists for scientists and with a heck of an A-team since then! Every step has felt collaborative, and when we had questions or needed tweaks, we got thoughtful responses and helpful solutions immediately.

Absolutely. I've already recommended Stellate to over literally hundreds of colleagues, and I'll keep doing so. If you're running a lab, organizing a conference, or just looking for a digital space that makes your science shine — Stellate is the move. They rock. It's like having a tech-savvy lab member who knows everything that you don't and who is dedicated to making your work look and feel professional.

I came to Stellate because it had been difficult to find communications help that  understood intellectual and academic worlds. I'm a neuroscientist and science journalist, and I needed a team that wouldn't insist I dumb down my writing to make it more marketable. Stellate got it immediately.

The context is I was launching a Substack newsletter and needed help with positioning, distribution, and community-building. Stellate was flexible and collaborative from the start. When I pushed back on audience framing that felt too prescriptive, they suggested I think of it more as "finding audiences for what I already write" rather than "change your writing to gain specific audiences," which was the reframe I needed. Their social media post retrospectives were concrete and specific,  and their media training helped me develop sound bites that didn't sacrifice nuance.

I'd recommend Stellate to anyone whose work doesn't fit squarely into a standard communications playbook

Stellate Communications was an invaluable partner as I launched my research program as a new faculty member. Balancing the demands of building a lab while keeping pace with multiple grant applications can be overwhelming, and Stellate helped make the process both strategic and manageable. They were especially effective at identifying strong funding opportunities and helping me to tailor each application to align with the specific priorities of different funding organizations. Their guidance significantly strengthened my proposals and reduced the burden of navigating the grant landscape.

Stellate keeps everything in my work life organized and on track, freeing up my time and mental space to focus on what truly matters: my lab and my research. It’s such a relief knowing they’re right there alongside me. With Stellate, I get more done, stress less, and know the work is always top-notch.

More recently, Stellate helped me organize a conference and the event was an incredible success. It was beyond my wildest dreams, and I have very high expectations. Stellate’s support took so much of the work off of me. They made sure every little detail was tracked and accounted for and I knew they were handling all the hurdles - I didn’t have to deal with any headaches. Their help gave me so much time back to focus on my trainees, collaborators, and research.

I’m not the only one who notices their efficient streamlining and organization skills; whenever I travel and give talks or attend conferences, I always have colleagues asking me who the Stellate team are. Hosts and conference coordinators have told me that coordinating through Stellate made the process of arranging my talks and travel so much easier and seamless. 

Stellate allows me to be a more present mentor to my trainees, more invested in my collaborators and research, and gives me back time to be the mom I want to be to my kids, all while pursuing my goals as a scientist. It’s such a relief knowing they are helping me keep track of tasks, deadlines, and deliverables.

My lab has told me that the best thing I’ve ever done was to hire Stellate. I am now more present to do science with them and can give them the time and focus they need and deserve. One of the best things about working with Stellate is that they can anticipate my needs before I even know I need them. They prevent hurdles from even popping up and getting in my way, putting out fires so I don’t have to deal with them.

I came to Stellate in need of a strategic communications partner who understood science. It was refreshing to come into meetings with everyone in the room knowing exactly how research stories make their way into the world. The Stellate team is there for the big-picture planning, from raising a scientist's profile to launching a new AI model, as well as the nitty-gritty, such as correcting my run-on sentences or organizing a reporter interview. They get it, they do it, and they're not afraid to gently push back. This means our working sessions are engaging, productive, and are meetings that I authentically look forward to each week. I've truly come to lean on and trust Caitlin and her team.

Stellate helped me increase my capacity to apply for more early career investigator awards. Their scientific training made it such that they could provide meaningful feedback and accurate editorial work on my awards. In addition, I believe part of my success securing funding comes from the excellent feedback on my NIH applications.

After 20 years as co-directors, our research portfolio had become so diverse that even we struggled to explain the throughline of our work. Stellate's team asked the kinds of questions we should have been asking ourselves, about our core values, our target audiences, and what makes our work distinctive, then translated our answers into a website and brand identity that finally makes sense. The difference is practical: we can now point prospective students, collaborators, and funders to a site that clearly communicates who we are without jargon or confusion. As busy researchers, we also appreciated their respect for our time. They operate like a well-oiled machine: their technical team, web designers, graphic artists, media specialists, collaborated seamlessly in the background, while we received clear tasks, actionable strategies, and regular check-ins with focused agendas. Every meeting had a purpose, and things moved forward quickly. For fellow scientists who know they need better communication tools but don't know where to start, Stellate brings the expertise we weren't trained in, they make the process manageable rather than overwhelming, and the outcomes are outstanding.

When we first partnered with Stellate Communications, we were looking for more than just a narrative—we were searching for a story structure strong enough to carry the weight of a scientific institute and warm enough to invite others in.

VBRI, as the research engine of Versiti, carries an extraordinary mandate: to translate donor altruism into scientific breakthroughs and patient cures. But until Stellate, we lacked the narrative clarity to share that calling in a way that resonated beyond our walls.

Stellate didn’t just listen—they translated.

Through an elegant blend of journalistic precision, scientific fluency, and strategic empathy, they helped us craft a narrative architecture that honors the science without overwhelming the soul. What they delivered—our VBRI narrative framework and storytelling toolkit—has already begun to reshape how we show up in the world: from our LinkedIn growth metrics to donor engagements to op-ed placements. We now speak with a unified voice across platforms and teams, because we finally have a shared language rooted in our purpose: We research cures.

Working with Stellate felt like being seen. Their team understood that we are scientists and servants—that the work we do begins in a lab but must end in a life changed. Their process respected our pace, challenged our assumptions, and gently but powerfully elevated our standards.

If you're leading a mission-driven brand that needs to match impact with voice, I cannot recommend Stellate highly enough. They helped us do more than tell stories—they helped us ignite a movement. And they did it with the kind of clarity, heart, and brilliance that matches the promise of our work.

Hope. It’s in our blood. Stellate helped us say that—without ever needing to say it.

Stellate worked with me on a slide deck for a lecture. The task was somewhat complex, and the deadline was relatively short. Stellate did an excellent job, and Caitlin Vander Weele and the staff were very responsive to my requests to make changes. The final work product was great.

I reached out to the Stallate team for assistance with my R01 grant renewal, as I was feeling overwhelmed by the submission timeline and the amount of preliminary data I had. Working with Dr. Croxson and her team was a delight; they provided clear and concise insights into my writing and helped me communicate the work more effectively. I was particularly impressed with the designers' work, which illustrated a complex framework beautifully. Their constant communication ensured that I was able to submit the grant on time.

Our organization came to Stellate looking for a website revamp to improve aesthetics and functionality. Stellate has exceeded our expectations, building a website that truly reflects who we are as an organization. They listened carefully, translated our ideas into a thoughtful design, and created a site that fits our needs. Not only that, but Stellate is very open to brainstorming through follow-on requests and promptly meeting needs. We’re so appreciative of the team's creativity, dedication, and flexibility. Beyond our website, we have utilized several of Stellate's other services - they are experts in content generation and strategic planning from a communications perspective as well. Highly recommend working with the team!

Stellate helps my team translate our research findings into accessible, impactful narratives while maintaining scientific accuracy.

I’d definitely recommend Stellate to anyone looking to amplify the impact of their science communication. Their ability to bridge the gap between complex research and public understanding is invaluable.

The Stellate team is an excellent partner for full-service science communications support. We’ve worked with them for the past year to support the dissemination of research funded by the Misophonia Research Fund (MRF) and amplify a consensus definition of misophonia, raising awareness of the disorder and new scientific advances in the field with other scientists and the public. The Stellate team learned the landscape of the misophonia field in a very short time and effectively helped us better position the MRF within the broader scientific community. Stellate integrated their capabilities in technical writing, graphic design, social media strategy, and media relations with their deep knowledge of the scientific ecosystem to really understand what MRF needed and how to enhance the organization’s credibility with scientists and non-scientists. They were competent, creative, efficient, and passionate about the work that we did together, and I look forward to our next opportunity to collaborate.

Stellate is the only agency with specific expertise in building credibility & awareness within the scientific community. I've worked with Caitlin for six years across multiple organizations for a reason: speed, value, impact & legitimate ROI.

Stellate is in the top 1% of communications firms & I cannot recommend them enough to any organization seeking a powerful partner to help them navigate everything from funding announcements, to media, to scientific brand building.

We had a fantastic experience working with Stellate. They crafted a tailor-made communications strategy that reflected our organization’s unique culture and goals rather than offering a generic solution. The Stellate team provided valuable expertise, helping us clarify how to position ourselves and providing actionable next steps for getting started.

Stellate is a unicorn agency. They have both science & PR chops that enable their clients to reach an audience that most firms miss: the research community. They’ve been instrumental in helping us think through funding announcements, while simultaneously working with our current grantees to drive scientific progress, that together, advances our mission & movement. We think highly of their work and team.

Stellate’s team helped us repackage an R01 that had a mixed history of perceived strengths and weaknesses. Their holistic synthesis of multiple summary statements and suggestions for restructuring were pragmatic and eye opening. Their input helped us step outside our comfort zone, emphasize the big picture and simplify the science, which led to an improved grant that is an easier read. The help with figures also made it look much nicer! In our meetings, the Stellate team always presented a unified message/strategy and was respectful of and efficient with the time allotted. I could tell there was a lot of work going on behind the scenes to make the most of the time we had to improve the grant. I am grateful for the help and look forward to working together more in the future!

I asked Stellate to help me create a lab logo and website. I was blown away by both the professionalism and collaborative spirit of everyone I interacted with at Stellate. During logo discussions, it felt like we were all part of the same creative team. For the website, Stellate has developed interactive documents for easy deposition of 'assets' for the different pages. From start to finish, Stellate was a pleasure to work with.

Simplying my complex ideas for maximum impact on the final website was the unexpected benefit. Overall responsiveness and attention to detail of the entire team was the happy part. No improvements could have been made. Perfect customer service in my opinion!

I was happy with the workflow, it gave deadlines to complete the contents of my webpage which would be challenging or procrastinated most likely. I liked the logo design, that is something I tried to mediate with my own initial versions, but I realized that my ideas are nowhere from those of the trained professionals. Importantly, the communication with Stellate was very smooth.

My experience with Stellate was great.The brainstorming period to design on my logo, website elements and palette were productive, and the Stellate team was consistently receptive to my input. What we came up with in the end exceeded my expectations and captured many aspects of our core lab identity. I also had a complicated pre-existing website with a fair number of technical demands, and they patiently accommodated all of them and helped me find an individualized hosting decision that worked for our data archival needs. The training on Webflow was effective and I have been able to fine-tune the website on my own. When I needed their help for this, from time to time, they were quick to respond, so the high quality of service continued well after the moment the website was delivered.

Stellate helped me clarify my ideas and made me reflect on the purpose of our lab’s website– who it is for and what our aims are. I loved working with people who 'get it'. It was awesome to know that I didn't need to explain the weirdness of academic research in any way. I was a very enjoyable process.