For the past 10 years I’ve had the honor of spearheading creative for a multitude of amazing projects and products while collaborating with some ridiculously talented humans.
Creative Direction & DesignOps
For the past six years I have overseen dozens of projects ranging from whole-hog branding efforts, to responsive websites, to native mobile apps, to interactive live activations at festivals. I’ve built and managed a team of Creative Directors and designers (both on-site & remote), implementing workflows, frameworks and tools that best serve our work. Interfacing directly with clients from initial ideation, I’ve usher each project through assuring all set business goals are met.
UX & Research
At the conception of every project, I work with project managers and product owners to conduct industry landscape research, dissect business goals and survey stakeholders. I get to know the user base and help identify the target audience. These are the building blocks upon which the whole project stands. From there we can hit the ground running on user flows and content strategy. Read more about my UX approach & thoughts about UI Design.
Visual Design
This is where it all started for me. I get sad when days pass without opening Sketch, Figma or Photoshop. I enjoy shepherding projects but it’s important for me to be boots on the ground as well, always flexing my design eye. In our industry it’s paramount to put user experience, business goals and KPIs to the forefront… but at the end of the day, if the output is not visually appealing you’re ultimately losing the war.
Project Management
As a byproduct of my work I am well versed in various project management methodologies and have helped develop roadmaps for multiple large scale products. I believe that there’s a time and place for all PM schools of thought, and that the key is closely adhering to the path chosen. Did I mention that I also make a killer stand-in scrum master?
Remote Work
Yes, it’s a real skill… and it’s not for everyone! I’ve been managing a team of Creative Directors and designer from all sides of the country for the last four years. With the right tools and a real dedication to collaboration it can be exceptionally effective and beneficial. Working in your PJ bottoms is just an added bonus.
Education & Mentorship
My career began as an extension of an internship that I took while at Pratt Institute and since then it’s been a personal mission to keep passing that baton. I’ve made it a priority to conceive and manage internship programs at my places of employment. It’s a rewarding experience, but it also brings extraordinary value to students graduating with skewed expectations for their careers.
Originally from Moscow, Russia, I immigrated to the U.S. when I was 11 years old. I lived in Queens NY up until three years ago when I uprooted my life and moved to San Diego with my husband and our two rambunctious dogs.
I grew up in a family of artists, and knew I wanted to be a visual artist from a very young age. While attending high school I received a classical art eduction from the Bridgeview School of Fine Arts. I then got my Bachelors in Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, majoring in Graphic Design (with a minor in Art History). I got turned on to digital by means of a Flash web design class my senior year and things escalated from there.
I’m passionate about what I do. It’s never been just a means to an end. When I am not working, I am looking for any excuse to jump on my bike, a 2014 Triumph Bonneville T100. Read about why I ride.
Primary trade tools
Supporting arsenal
Smitten with:
Club Pilates, Pilgrimage Yoga, Triumph, Babes Ride Out, MotoFAM, Starbucks & dog kisses.
Experience
Plato Design, Creative Director / Chief Creative Officer
Oct '18 - Oct '19
- Employee number three of the early stage design startup, backed by Y Combinator, aimed at reinventing the agency model by augmenting creativity with machine learning. Plato’s mission is to provide affordable design services to passionate start-ups & offer creative freelancers a steady stream of work.
- Scaled team, as sole Creative Director overseeing 24+ client projects, to eight Creative Directors in four months, transitioning to managing the team. Hired talent and shaped onboarding protocol across all departments and roles.
- Implemented creative solutions allowing the agency to scale and reimagine its service offering of Brand, Web & UI design while expediting the creative process and maintaining quality output.
- Developed frameworks for vetting incoming engagements, onboarding clients, measuring team capacity and collaborating with our distributed creative network.
- Promoted to CCO, overseeing the agency side of Plato and responsible for increasing capacity for concurrent projects & managing agency operating expenses. Involved with strategic business planning at the executive level.
- Partnered with the CPO to align agency and engineering departments of Plato, assuring development of tools in support of the agency were strategically aligned.
Sanborn Agency, Creative Director
Apr '15 - Oct '18
- Audited and assured overall visual fidelity and integrity across all of Sanborn’s creative output. Validated that visuals either adhere to existing brand specifications, or that the branding we’ve conceived is realized to its full potential
- Codified design processes and tools to boost internal creative team collaboration and better support the remote nature of our work. Overhauled and streamlined the framework by which work is shared and conveyed to our clients.
- Screened, on-boarded, and managed designers of varied levels of seniority. Promoted individual growth by conducting quarterly performance reviews, assuring designers are steadily reaching their own professional goals.
- Scoped, priced, and owned the road-mapping and allocation of incoming work. Paired projects with optimal resources based on individual designers skill sets and areas of interest, assuring best creative output. Addressed proposals and helped secure projects.
- Oversaw and guided several branding and re-branding efforts for clients like Swearby, Clearpool and Alpha leading to higher brand recognition and discoverability.
- Filled in the gaps in our UX capabilities, conducting user-centric research and synthesizing workflows. Ideated and created rapid prototypes to validate solutions.
Sanborn Agency, Design Director
Dec '13 - Mar '15
- Led the user experience, architecture and design efforts behind multiple highly interactive subscription video-on-demand platforms, increasing overall fan engagement and stickiness.
- Closely collaborated with front-end and back-end developers from initial conception to final execution, making sure that all features and functions were feasible and executed to specs.
- Performed deep dive quality assurance testing from both a visual and technical standpoint.
- Assisted in client pitches and RFP responses, presenting user experience and visual design capabilities while leveraging competitor analysis documentation and past case studies.
Sanborn Agency, Interaction Designer
May '12 - Nov '13
- Took creative lead on interactive experiences for clients such as the Girl Scouts, AEG and Dan Brown, interfacing directly with clients to present and validate our solutions.
- Handled the execution of user flows, wireframes and fully realized designs for online campaigns, interfaces for interactive on-site kiosks, responsive websites, and native apps.
- Established and operated the internship program at Sanborn, vetting candidates and supporting their advancement.
Atlantic Records, Web Designer
Jun '09 - Apr '12
- Owned the design and re-design of dozens of Atlantic Record’s recording artist websites, making sure they reflected the latest artwork releases.
- Interfaced with overseas development resources to assure design specs were adhered to and that all intended features were executed upon.
- Bent and shaped the underlying fan engagement platforms (Fanbase, Cisco EOS) to their limits in order to achieve the most custom experiences catering to the individual unique artists.
- Inherited and ran the internship program, closely mentoring and training a handful of interns who later went on gain full time employment at Atlantic Records, and other highly sought after positions.
EastWest Marketing Group, Interaction/Web Designer
Sept '09 - Feb '10
- Spearheaded the design efforts on the Post and Nickelodeon accounts under the supervision of the Creative Director.
- Designed complex interactive flash banners, splash pages and other creative assets for new releases and campaigns.
- Aided in the production of promotional cereal box and accompanying collateral for Post, adhering to stringent brand guidelines, getting them into production ahead of set drop dates.
Education
Pratt Institute, BFA, Graphic Design
2005 - 2009
Minor in Art History. Graduated with Honors. Semester abroad with Pratt in Venice. Freelance Web Designer for Pratt’s Center for Sustainable Design Studies.
Bridgeview School of Fine Arts,
2003 - 2005
Completed various classical academic fine art drawing & painting courses.