By branding do you mean for your parent company or for the specific app? For example the branding for Microsoft is a different type of project than say branding Office. And by branding are you thinking on a big scale (everything from coming up with the name to the marketing) or on a small scale (i.e. an icon for an app)?

My advice to you as a designer is that you should start small, take baby steps and keep your budget low. I'd also advise you to work with a local designer (if you can find a good one) who can meet with you face to face.

By the way I did a quick google search and found this studio after some hunting: http://www.holbeinruiz.com