Bold & Boutique is the brainchild of Phoebe Ohayon — an audio engineer turned design leader who built a niche agency (Voice Branding) trusted by global enterprises since 2015. In an industry obsessed with scale, she doubled down on what mattered most: expertise, agility, and care. Now, alongside co-host Maikel van der Wouden, Phoebe steps in front of the camera to share insights from a decade at the edge of AI, voice, interaction, and design.
Bold & Boutique isn’t just about voice, design or AI — it’s about building something meaningful by going deep, not wide. It’s a show for creatives, strategists, and entrepreneurs who believe that staying niche can be a superpower. Let’s explore what it really takes to grow a business rooted in expertise.
Season 1 dives into the rise of AI characters and virtual brand ambassadors, but future seasons will open up to a wide range of topics shaping the creative and technological landscape, all with the same boutique lens: focused & intentional.
In our debut episode we explore how AI-powered virtual characters are reshaping the branding playbook. From voice assistants like “Hey Mercedes” to Puma’s Instagram-native avatar Laila…
This episode traces the influencer journey from 1950 s silver-screen endorsements to today’s AI-generated brand ambassadors—and everything in between.
What actually goes into creating a virtual character—or voice—for a brand? In this episode, Phoebe and Maikel talk about the creative pipeline that turns brand values into an engaging AI characters.
The blank-canvas magic is over—now the real work begins. In the second half of our deep dive, Phoebe walks Maikel through the refinement and optimization phases.
Now that the standout virtual-character concepts have been refined through qualitative feedback, Phoebe and Maikel jump into the numbers phase—where data matters.
After user research and quantitative testing comes the real force multiplier: a design system that lets every team spin up on-brand AI characters and leverage them.