An exceptional life and exceptional creative are both fabricated within constraints. 

In my time as a creative (since I was 3 years old), I’ve heard versions of the following ideas surrounding creativity. “You must have gone into art because it was easy.” “I can’t even draw a stick figure.” “We don't want to give you too many specifics so it doesn’t limit the creativity.” I advocate against these notions in my many roles.  

As an expert in creative problem-solving, I strive to create an environment where creativity flourishes, thrives, and produces unexpected results. I seek to reframe the expectations of creatives, partners and clients by modeling high (but achievable) standards, setting up spaces where people want to go there with me, and eventually can do it themselves.  

Many creatives want to skip to delivery. I’ve spent my years as a designer and art director with about 30% of my time devoted to actual idea creation and execution while the other 70% has been devoted to understanding the problem, building structures and processes to get the information I need to execute, developing skills I don’t have, noticing and articulating patterns, and working with others to get on the same page and ultimately make the day-to-day easier.  

My designers didn’t believe there was any value when I took them back to the basics and set up exercises to watch how they approached problem solving in the photo studio. The other managers’ eyes widened when I took over the whiteboards and asked them to help me construct a step-by-step timeline of the entire promotional process from start to finish. They were even more skeptical when they saw the pages of documentation and organizational tools they thought no one would ever use. But within a year, even 6 months, the trajectory of the creative teams and their ability to collaborate had done a one-eighty.  

I’m the designer who believes in creating systems that eliminate waste and redundancy. I label my layers in InDesign. I am precise to the pixel. In setting expectations and taking the time to develop and improve systems, it opens people and opportunities to be more than they think they can be. To find creative solutions they never would have had the time or mental energy to achieve otherwise. 

In my personal and professional life, I believe fulfillment comes from hard work and embracing the mundane to create the exceptional. There’s always a “what could be” on the other side of “what is”.