24/7, 365

My current gig is as Creative Director at Lucky Brand. I'm responsible for strategy, execution and integration of all design activities. I oversee a talented Creative Services team of copywriters, graphic designers, and project managers. I touch every piece of artwork that goes out to PR, advertising, direct mail, e-commerce, point of sale, in-store experience, licensees, wholesale and HQ. I create fun and creative strategies for all of our marketing endeavors. Denim is where it's at in Los Angeles, and I've been "lucky" enough to work for the best of them. 

This project pushed the boundaries of the brand and has filled me with so much personal pride and joy. Most notable was our diverse, strategic casting, our considerably younger spirit and most of all, the way we all contributed to a 360 campaign approach. From making props In-house, to the entire crew creating content on the day of, to personally writing a manifesto for the campaign. This was a group effort full of creative kismet.

How do you honor your heritage but make it relevant and modern?

We highlighted styles that we’e been making since Day One, but we featured them on an exciting cast, right in our back yard of DTLA. Fresh, clean, modern and totally about denim! Heritage is here to stay!

Shot in around downtown LA, this shoot starred some of my favorites, Camilla Costa and Lola McDonald. Shot by the prolific and hardworking Mario Sanchez. We chased pretty light all around the streets and had a blast doing so!

This influencer campaign for Spring 2018 challenged me to do story telling online, cast against high performing ROI, create an in-store experience and also fit the story into direct mail. The result was 2 days of shooting in our own backyard of DTLA with a wonderful cast of real people doing real good things in their field. Starring Atlanta Bean, singer Rainsford, Andre Hamman and the Wennertrom Family. We explored their personal styles and stories, and shot a hearty and successful 360 campaign.

In March of 2018, in a joint creative collaboration with Sarah de Brun of 23 Days Notice, we launched THE SADE PROJECT. An Instagram based photo tribute to Sade Adu. Our obsession with the iconic image of the Nigerian born singer, shot by David Montgomery in 1980, created a call to action for women to submit re-creations of the image. In addition, we host portrait sittings where women have access to creating the tribute image. The image represents a moment when Sade’s beauty was celebrated and women of color felt recognized and represented. We believe that, not only is the image aesthetically timeless and pleasing, but that the exercise itself is an empowering one for women of color. It really is The Sweetest Taboo.

We hit The Rose Hotel in Venice Beach to capture some of our favorite graphic tees. I love taking a very simple idea and making it feel special. A good edit, some unexpected graphics and tees suddenly feel very special.

The joy of working in LA is the endless amounts of places to shoot. Venice can get hectic, but it’s worth the chaos to shoot there. My favorites, Martiza Veer and Paul Kelly, shot by Mario Sanchez.

Part popsicle business, part creative outlet for Latina Artists.: Yello is where the intersection of art and food meet. Yello is an attempt to explore Latina archetypes via Latino flavors.

The creation of the flavors themselves were a personal creative exercise. Naming the flavors and creating the recipes was a long process of exploration and challenging of self, cultural and gender norms.

The goal is to invite Latina artists as part of an ongoing artists series that explores these flavors via their genre, be it photography, illustration, poetry and beyond.

It has been an exciting branding project from cart to voice, to food packaging, and even social media design. My partner and I have learned so much about building this business, but more importantly, offering a platform to female artists.

A labor of love.

In 2012 I walked into this startup and met the most hardworking crew I have ever worked with. This was my first foray into digital, and I must confess I am hooked on the medium.

I was tasked with creating the brand from screatch, the front-end site design and the general editorial direction for the entire site.  I managed a wonderful team of photographers, copywriters, graphic designers and even the merchandisers. 

It was a wild, fast-paced ride, trying to crack the e-commerce puzzle.  Looksy is a labor of love for sure. 

Friendship + Fashion

I have a long history with the two talented designers behind this label. Emily Current and Meritt Elliott came to me looking for identity and branding for the launch of their denim focused collection. I developed a logo, packaging and co-art directed select lookbooks. I love working with these girls and can't wait to continue collaborating with them on future projects. 

Maybe it’s because I’m a mom, but Kids campaigns are my favorite. The energy is so high and pure all day. We have so much fun on set! I like to make them laugh. I let them blow big bubble gum bubbles, and I encourage the use of po-go sticks. When it comes to kids, having fun is my first priority…the good pictures are just icing on the cake.

One of our first forays into influencer campaigns. This casting was super fun, we interested a female DJ, a musician, a first openly gay super hero actor, a male model and an immigrant ambassador for beauty. They had so much energy and spunk. It was fun focusing on their personalities versus the product. It was a complete success.

Lucky always produces exciting throwback capsules, and they are the funnest to shoot. For this one, we headed up into the Hollywood Hills to the mid-century Gem called the Simon House. We cruised around in a tiny fiery-red sportscar of our dreams.

Shot by Graham Dunn, this colorful and lively summer campaign lived across many channels, including in-store and direct mail. I’m proud of the diversity and thee energy in this laid back summer story.

We went to Venice beach to capture our favorite model, Maritza Veer, in some classic Denim looks. Tomboy cool with a soft confident vibe. Shot by denim goddess Hilary Walsh.

Licensing is a huge project that requires some heavy fulfillment of creative. They have a specific style of photography, special requirements and highly custom deliverables. I love the business side of my job, and licensing is a great way to express that number crunching. Here is an example of some more elevated images for our licensing partners, shot in Lancaster Valley at a dreamy farmhouse.

They trust me.

In 2005 I started partnering with Target to provide freelance art direction for their in-store signage and direct mail programs. I worked primarily with their kids and footwear divisions. It was a wonderful relationship, where I'd fly to Minneapolis and gather notes only to return to California and shoot here on their behalf. I feel honored by how much this client trusts me.  

Art directing for editorial is where I keep my tools of the trade sharp. I love the collaborative effort and the freedom that comes with these types of assignments. Here is some of my most recent work published in a variety of magazines in the US and in Europe.  

When Shel Pink, founder of SpaRitual, asked me to work with her, she not only had a great name, she had an even greater idea: To create a line of spa products that were organic, vegan and cruelty-free.  I not only built the logo from scratch, but worked closely with Shel to create the brand philosophy, product names and even color assortments. I created the lacquer bottle in partnership with the same company that designs for Ferrari in Italy. All of the packaging, the imagery and other creative assets have been as thoughtful as the line itself. I feel lucky to have worked with a brand whose values align so closely with my own.

Professionalism is not enough.

 I was hired as Creative Director at Guess, Inc. in 2006.  I worked directly with Paul Marciano to translate his vision into the fast paced $14 billion dollar global business Guess is today. The job was big. I oversaw creative for many layers of the business including store visuals, e-commerce, global advertising and licensing for all domestic and international divisions; which included womens, mens, kids, fragrance, footwear, handbags, eyewear, timepieces, and much more. It was exciting to be a part of an iconic brand. I was ecstatic to work with legendary photographers and personal heroes like Ellen Von Unwerth. This was an exciting time in my life and learned as much about business as I did about creative.

This is where the training wheels came off. 

Starting in 2000, I worked as a graphic designer for BCBG Max Azria. It was a great time to be with the company. The design house was booming and starting to make a serious name for itself in fashion,  becoming a global fashion brand overnight. I quickly moved up the ladder and into marketing as a senior designer. In fact at that time, I was the only designer!

I had the opportunity to work with Creative Directors like  Fabien Baron and Marc Atlan who allowed me to lead on projects and managed me from their studios. 

I feel so lucky that I was able to dive right into projects of all kinds from in-store graphics, packaging, and licensing to full blown ad campaigns. This is where my training wheels came off and for that I will always be grateful. 

I love a good logo project. I have worked on logos for a variety of companies and sectors. Here are a few of my most recent and favorites.