Senior Creative Director

10/2022 - Present

Mayo Clinic

United States

Mayo Clinic’s mission is to inspire hope and contribute to health and well-being by providing the best care to every patient through integrated clinical practice, education, and research. Mayo Clinic has been recognized as the best hospital in the nation for 2022-2023 by U.S. News & World Report with the primary value being “The needs of the patient come first.”

  • Responsible for the management of all agency and freelance talent relationships within the Marketing Brand Strategy department including contract negotiation, budgeting, resource allocation, and talent sourcing for all brand design and creative strategy portfolios

  • Creative oversight of a collection of portfolio projects including clinical practice, education, and research

  • Onboarding, brand training, remote access setup, invoicing, and overall supervision of creative agencies, recruitment agencies, multimedia production companies, art directors, designers, copywriters, stylists, talent agencies, audio specialists, and 3D artists supporting multiple teams

  • Team player, problem solver, communicator, advocate, mentor, continuously learning new things every day

Creative Director, 3D Product Development

11/2017-07/2022

Overstock, Inc.

Salt Lake City, Utah

Overstock.com is a tech-driven e-commerce retailer who's mission is to provide dream homes for all by providing smart value, quality merchandise, and exceptional service. Since starting in 1999, the exclusively online retailer has grown from a start up into a multi-billion dollar company using the latest in machine learning, automation, algorithms, and evolving technology.

  • Assembled multi-year team roadmaps, strategic initiatives, and OKRs to efficiently create e-commerce product and marketing content at scale

  • Delivered executive presentations to C-suite detailing team development and growth proposals, production scalability objectives, and brand strategy

  • Managed internal and outsourced vendor teams, allocated $5M annual team budget, directed product management, automation tool development and production workflows, directed and coached technical artists and designers, trained machine-learning-enabled content tools

  • Worked cross-functionally with product, UX, marketing, and analytics teams to launch product features, test prototypes, conduct user research studies, and analyze ROI

  • Created style guides to improve content standardization, quality, and consistency based on SEO best practices, analyzed competitive landscape and trends

  • Leadership Positions: Content Leadership Team, Merchandising Leadership Team, Studio Leadership Team, Marketing Leadership Team, Overstock Leadership Council, 3D Mentorship Director

 

Photography Director, Marketing

05/2014-09/2017

Scandinavian Designs

Petaluma, California

Interline is a European furniture & home decor retailer specializing in modern designs with a Nordic influence. Since launching in 1963, the family-owned company has encompassed four brands including Scandinavian Designs, Dania Furniture, Plummers Furniture, and Scandis. Currently, Interline has launched an e-commerce presence as well as brick and mortar showrooms across California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Illinois.

  • Created e-commerce product content and marketing style guides to ensure consistency across all channels, assisted in marketing calendar creation

  • Reviewed 3 company websites to assure branding guidelines were achieved in layout, image quality, copy, product accuracy, content consistency, typography, and UX

  • Photographed, edited, and optimized products for e-commerce, styled and directed editorial photo shoots for catalogs and marketing campaigns, created content management workflow and archival metadata standards

  • Drafted over 200 visual merchandising plans for 35 showrooms, allocated products nationwide according to regional market trends, inventory volume, average order size, and customer segmentations

  • Traveled to European markets to assist in furniture and textile buying, introduced merchandising opportunities that would expand customer reach, complete product assortment, and drive business growth

 

Sr. Product Photographer, Marketing

03/2012-09/2013

Forms+Surfaces

Carpenteria, California

Forms+Surfaces is a leading designer and manufacturer of commercial architectural and outdoor products used in public spaces around the world. From innovative surfaces, wall systems and elevator interiors to site furnishings, lighting, and doors their interrelated product lines invite creativity and provide real-world solutions to the challenges customers face every day. F+S has been family-owned since 1964 with offices in Carpenteria, CA, Pittsburgh, PA, and Phoenix, AZ.

  • Lead meetings with executive, marketing, and engineering teams to determine company content needs for website, marketing channels, advertising campaigns, designer portfolios, and design/development prototypes

  • Assisted in the design, development, and beta testing of company website and 3D rendering design tools including Augmented Reality, Elevator Design Studio, Virtual Quarry, and Zoom Digital Darkroom

  • Directed and produced all photography projects nationwide including scouting locations, arranging travel, obtaining permits, creating shot lists, directing photo shoots, editing digital photography, and overseeing content management database

  • Worked with marketing team to design and produce marketing materials including international advertising campaigns, omni-channel marketing content, catalogs, brochures, technical guides, case studies, promotional events, and multimedia demos

 

Sr. Designer, Marketing

08/2008-02/2012

Studio Capture

Houston, Texas

StudioCAPTURE was a photo studio in Houston, Texas with specialities in portrait, fashion, food, and commercial photography. After losing the visionary owner to cancer in 2010, the studio staff carried on for several years before going separate ways. James Tongol handed me my first camera, pushed me to be a self-starter, and will always be the very best mentor I have ever had.

  • Conducted photo and design consultations with clients, staff, and freelancers to determine specific project requirements, schedules, budgets, and contract restrictions

  • Directed photo shoots, edited digital photography, managed all graphic design projects, ordered and assessed quality of all print projects

  • Assisted in design of studio website, managed website content updates, created blog posts, designed content for social media, created all studio samples for client consultations, promotions, and trade show events

  • Monitored studio budget including invoicing clients, ordering equipment, hiring staff, managing vendors and contractors, and planning industry trade shows

Experience

My background and experience are heavily based on brand strategy, creative direction, and content production for marketing and merchandising teams. I enjoy building and mentoring design teams and collaborating cross-functionally with in-house and outsourced teams. My driving force is a balance of what is best for both strategic business initiatives and customer segmentation.

Education

Physical Therapy Masters Program

08/2006-08/2007

Texas Woman’s University

Houston, Texas

B.S. Psychology, Pre-Physical Therapy Neuroscience Focus

01/2002-05/2006

Texas A&M University

College Station, Texas

Leadership

I believe that effective leaders work from the ground up and have the ability to assess a team's strengths and weaknesses to help constructively determine what resources are required to successfully do the job.

Understanding the process and the resources each team member needs and being able to step in to fill the gaps when necessary is what makes both a resourceful team member and leader.

Skills

I enjoy building out, guiding, and mentoring creative content teams and look forward to not only sharing my expertise but also continuously learning new skills from others.

Hard Skills

  • Creative direction

  • Art direction

  • Brand strategy

  • Customer segmentation

  • Competitor analysis

  • Trend analysis

  • Brand design

  • Content production

  • Content management

  • E-commerce

  • Merchandising

  • Marketing

  • Project management

  • Product management

  • Workflow operations

  • Resource management

  • Budget management

  • Time management

  • Team management

  • Leadership

  • Presentations

  • Roadmap creation

  • OKRs

  • KPIs

  • Negotiating

  • Coaching

  • Mentoring

  • Hiring

  • Employee reviews

  • Photography

  • Graphic design

  • Social media

  • Case studies

  • Marketing campaigns

  • Advertising

  • Layout design

  • Copywriting

  • UX design

  • Catalog design

  • Brochure design

  • SEO

  • Data-driven decision making

  • A/B testing

  • Marketing analytics

Soft Skills

  • Active listening

  • Open communication

  • Transparency

  • Emotional intelligence

  • Team player mindset

  • Growth-oriented

  • Creative problem solver

  • Organized

  • Adaptable

  • Approachable

  • Dependable

  • Hard-working

  • Open to giving and receiving feedback

  • Ability to work independently or within a team

Software Skills

  • Microsoft Teams

  • Microsoft Office

  • Microsoft Word

  • Microsoft Excel

  • Microsoft Power Point

  • Microsoft Outlook

  • G Suite

  • Google Docs

  • Google Pages

  • Google Slides

  • Google Meet

  • Google Analytics

  • Google Drive

  • Google Vision

  • Apple Pages

  • Apple Keynote

  • Apple Numbers

  • Adobe Creative Cloud

  • Adobe Photoshop

  • Adobe Lightroom

  • Adobe InDesign

  • Adobe Acrobat

  • Zoom

  • Citrix

  • Workfront

  • Workday

  • Asana

  • Basecamp

  • Wordpress

  • Squarespace

Get Connected

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