Built by Someone Who's Been in Your Shoes

Strategic Peak Marketing Agency was founded by Sanetra Payne — a Washington, DC-based marketing and events strategist with more than 15 years of experience leading some of the most complex event and marketing programs in the industry. 

Before launching Strategic Peak, Sanetra held senior marketing leadership roles at two well-known Washington, DC organizations:

As Vice President of Marketing at Leading Authorities, Inc. — one of the nation's premier speaker bureaus, Emmy Award-winning video communications, and event production companies — she directed a portfolio of 35+ annual events including invite-only C-suite dinners, co-branded conferences, and executive engagement programs across the U.S. and London. She built the company's first event investment framework, generated significant new business pipeline from event programs, and scaled the marketing team from 3 to 8 people.

Before that, she spent 11 years at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), where she was promoted four times and ultimately served as the primary marketing and event lead for the NAHB International Builders' Show (IBS) — a flagship trade event with 60K+ attendees from more than 100 countries, 1,200+ exhibitors, and 200+ concurrent education sessions. She also contributed to Design & Construction Week (DCW), the largest residential construction and design industry event in the country, co-produced alongside the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) for 100K+ combined attendees.

Earlier in her career, Sanetra served as Meeting & Supplier Sales Coordinator at the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), managing the tradeshow component of their annual Travel Advisor Conference — closing sponsorships and coordinating tradeshow sales.

Her event career began on the production floor. As an Exhibitor Services Representative at Freeman — one of the world's largest event production and experiential marketing companies — she managed concurrent event programs across industries, leading exhibitor communications, billing reconciliation, and onsite execution across multiple simultaneous shows. That foundation gave her a ground-level understanding of event operations, vendor dynamics, and production logistics that still informs how she approaches complex programs today.

She has owned P&L accountability. She has built and scaled high-performing teams. She has presented strategy and budget recommendations to boards, CFOs, and C-suite leadership. She knows what it takes to run large-scale, high-stakes programs with real accountability — and she brings that same level of thinking to every client.

Why Strategic Peak Exists

After years of leading teams through the pressure and complexity of large-scale events, Sanetra kept seeing the same pattern: talented, capable teams stretched too thin, executing tactics without a clear strategic foundation, and measuring success by activity instead of outcomes.

Strategic Peak was built to solve that. Not by adding more to your team's plate — but by bringing the senior-level clarity, focus, and leadership that transforms a busy team into a high-performing one.

What You Get When You Work With Strategic Peak

This isn't a junior agency learning on your event. It's not a consultant who hands you a framework and steps back. Strategic Peak works as a true extension of your team — someone who understands the full picture, can talk strategy with your leadership and execution with your team, and stays accountable to the outcomes you're actually trying to achieve.