about me
From stage to screen, but not in the movie musical way.
When I started college, I dreamt of being on stage for the rest of my life — what could go wrong with pursuing a degree in theater?* Through a departmental “lab” requirement for underclassmen, I assisted the prop master and head of costuming for two years where I got my earliest taste of — what I would come to later identify as — user experience design and visual storytelling.
While building pieces of cake from sponges, hot glue, and spray paint at 8 AM on Saturday mornings wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time, I learned a lot about creativity, resourcefulness, and collaboration. It wasn’t until I became a costume assistant, where I joined production meetings with the entire creative staff, assisted with actor fittings, and observed rehearsals, that it all clicked.
In production meetings, we discussed and debated the overall vision and message for a show and the role each creative department played in bringing that to life. There were negotiations, updates, and creative problems to solve and suddenly I realized I was thriving. I fell in love with the process, research, and creativity that told these beautiful stories.
Through this, I very quickly learned that if an actor is going to use, wear, or interact with anything during a performance, it has to work with their movement, the character they’ve built, the historical period, and more. I’d later come to find this was not unlike the principles of great brand design.
*No offense to anyone with a theater degree — you’re incredible and have much more emotional stamina than me
My Experience
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Since August 2018
Optoro is a Returns Management System for retailers, brands, and third-party logistics providers (B2B SaaS) that optimizes the reverse supply chain to delight shoppers, reduce costs, and retain revenue. This is an in-house role.
Spearheaded brand revitalization, implementing strategic visual identity updates and driving positioning shifts to align with evolving target audiences
Leveraged design, user experience, and marketing expertise to create cross-functional processes and systems, boosting overall brand team productivity by 70% while driving high-quality design executions and digital marketing strategies
Managed internal and external brand communications, including stakeholder relations, content creation, website management, and strategy development
Led the redesign and rebuild of Optoro’s website back end, resulting in 80% self-service capability and a substantial reduction in development costs, while improving overall efficiency
Designed and implemented self-service templates and resources, significantly reducing presentation creation time and enhancing brand consistency and storytelling across customer-facing teams
Led campaign, collateral, and digital design from initiation and concepting through final launch, including running workshops, building campaign and creative briefs, editing copy, and final design
Facilitated semi-annual workshops across marketing, sales, product, and design to improve cross-functional planning and communication for go-to-market movements
Reimagined the product demo experience by developing prototypes and content systems to overcome resource constraints and adapt to virtual sales environments, accelerating the sales cycle
Mentored brand designers and marketers, fostering career growth and instilling best practices for creative, concept-driven work across the team
Elevated company-wide understanding of the impact of design on brand trust, resulting in frequent consultations for guidance and expertise on customer-facing materials
Additional titles: Associate Creative Director, Brand Design Lead
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September 2016 - August 2018 (2 years)
Capital One is a leading Financial Technology company with a mission to reimagine banking. This is an in-house role.
Led in-house social creative development as the founding art director for the Capital One Brand Social Media and Engagement Team. Included project management, design and animation, photo shoot planning, and art direction.
Orchestrated cross-functional process development, fostering creative collaboration and significantly improving team productivity and work quality.
Enabled brand consistency and design quality across the organization with the first-of-its-kind Social Media Brand Standards — a playbook for creative best practices and guidelines for social media platforms
Partnered with business units and employee resource groups — from DEI and Recruiting to military, women, LGBTQIA+, and more — to create social media campaigns and experiences that engaged and celebrated Capital One’s employees
Designed social campaigns and experiences for partnerships like the Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards, NCAA March Madness, iHeartRadio Jingle Ball, iHeartRadio Music Festival, and more that amplified Capital One’s brand reach to younger audiences.
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August 2013-September 2016 (3 years)
Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (MXM) was a first-of-its-kind social media agency specializing in entertainment and CPG. MXM was acquired by Accenture Song in March of 2018. This is an agency role.
Drove year-over-year account growth by consistently delivering innovative, high-quality campaigns and visuals that exceeded client goals, enhancing and fostering long-term partnerships
Directed and designed creative and campaigns for over 30 clients, including AMC TV, SyFy Network, Fandango, Sundance TV, PBS, Midol, Diageo Wines, Cambria Hotels and Suites, Beiersdorf Skincare Brands, and Lavazza Coffee
Mentored and guided a team of designers, nurturing talent through creative direction, career development, and ongoing education initiatives
Additional titles: Production Artist
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Visual Identity design, website design and content, marketing collateral
Investor pitch story and collateral, marketing collateral
Investor pitch story and collateral, data visualizations
Property branding, event branding, marketing collateral, presentations, video editing