About us
Behind Austley
Austley helps marketing and communications teams put AI to work, not just adopt it.
Buying AI is easy. Using AI in ways that actually change how a team works is the harder, longer, more human work.
We help marketing and communications teams do that, with strategy, training, advisory, and the kind of partnership that makes AI part of how the work actually gets done.
Who we work with
We work with marketing and communications teams whose function needs to do more, not just produce more.
Founders and operators
Those who are building marketing and comms from scratch, with AI built into the foundation
Lean teams
Teams ready to move past AI for content production into AI as how the work gets done.
Established organizations
Companies rolling out AI across the enterprise, who need both the strategy and the change management
Marcomm leaders
Leaders who want ongoing AI advisory for themselves, or coaching for the person leading AI inside their team
If you're building from zero, scaling a lean team, transforming an enterprise function, or leading AI inside one of those teams, we are a great fit.
How we work
We start with strategy and people, not tactics and tools.
Most AI work fails because someone tried to bolt the technology onto a function that wasn't ready for it. We do the foundational work first. We get the strategy clear, the people aligned, the workflows redesigned, and only then bring AI into the work in a way that actually sticks.
Practitioners helping practitioners. That's what we do.
Leah Dergachev
Leah founded Austley after spending two decades inside the work. From agencies to in-house marketing teams. Leah's led marketing and communications functions across health tech, technology, government, and non-profits. She's owned everything from crisis comms to brand launches to change management at enterprise scale. The work that doesn't always make it into a headline, but determines whether a company actually moves.
What makes Leah's lens different is that she has led both marketing and communications functions. Most marketers don't fully understand comms, and most communicators don't fully understand growth. The two disciplines have always been more powerful together, and AI makes that even more true.
When AI started reshaping how marketing and comms teams work, Leah saw the same gap everywhere. The consultants showing up to help came from engineering backgrounds. They knew the tools but not the craft. Teams ended up with shiny systems and no one who could help them apply AI to the work that actually mattered. Austley exists to close that gap.
Beyond Austley, Leah founded The MarComm Grind, a free community for marketers and communicators navigating real-world challenges with limited resources and big goals. As a woman and minority-owned business leader, she is also committed to creating opportunities for underrepresented voices in marketing, communications, and AI.
Leah holds a BS in Communications Media from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, an MS in Public Relations and Marketing from the University of Denver, and an MBA from Louisiana State University. She is a two-time recipient of international Gold AVA Digital Awards, past President of PRSA National Capital Chapter, and was named one of PRNEWS' 2024 Top Women Entrepreneurs. She speaks at universities and mentors emerging marketing and communications professionals.
Our values
What we believe.
Five values shape how we show up, how we scope, and how we deliver.
Champion the underdog.
We work with brands and leaders who are often overlooked, underestimated, or under-resourced. We bring senior thinking and real partnership to teams who are used to being told they need to figure it out themselves.
Build boldly.
We don't wait for the safe move. We design new playbooks, name what is changing, and back the choices that will hold up over time.
Partner obsessed.
Your wins are our wins. We embed deeply, scope honestly, and stay accountable for outcomes, not just deliverables.
Move intentionally.
We work fast where it matters and slow down where it counts. Every choice is deliberate.
One team, big impact.
Marketing and comms work better together. So do internal teams and external partners. We act as one team with our clients, because that is when the work changes the business.
