When I joined Modern Sprout, they had a very sparse catalog of lifestyle images. As we ramped up marketing across many channels, it was clear we needed a richer library of images that we could add to regularly at a low cost. I created a brand guide of lifestyle imagery to show Modern Sprout as a trend-setter in the home decor space, while appealing to a wide range of customer aesthetics. In a time when much lifestyle content is AI-generated, it was important to create something real and authentic. I engaged lifestyle photographer Heather Talbert, and together we held a series of short photo shoots that generated a ton of content for the brand. Sometimes we worked with an outside stylist, other times it was just Heather and me. We also used the shoots as an opportunity to capture digital clips to be used for feature organic social content and digital ads.

A series of editorial features for digital and direct mail to highlight the craftsmanship in our product. Included sending photographer and videographer overseas on buying trip to capture still and video assets that we then used to create campaigns.

The Land of Nod was initially created as a mail order catalog. The brand faced little direct competition in its early years, and the look and feel stagnated and ultimately felt dated. The product development team undertook a massive overhaul of the product. And I led a complete redesign of the brand look, feel and voice to return the brand to its original trend-setting roots. The update included a deep dive into the customer profile using both quantitative and qualitative research. From there, I led the development of five core brand pillars that were used organization-wide to keep all of our customer touchpoints on brand. This wasn't just a marketing endeavor, these pillars touched every corner of the organization.

I worked closely with other leadership throughout the organization to educate teams and get adoption of this brand ethos and vernacular across the entire company. Not only that, we used the language in customer-facing materials, and often had our customers speaking back to us in the language we'd created around the brand. It became a touchstone to hold everyone at the company accountable for serving the customer in the Nod way, and also empowered everyone to be decision makers in their area through the use of this very clear lens.

Redesigned website including defining brand voice and photography style to highlight design-forward items in real-life settings, with a goal of inspiring customers and positioning Modern Sprout as a trend-setter in indoor growing. Additionally, curated product collections around key gifting moments to grow sales velocity and further position Modern Sprout as go to in garden gifting.

When I joined Kid Made Modern, the vast majority of their business came from selling at Target. The brand existed only as the product and its packaging. Little in the way of additional brand visuals and voice existed. I redesigned the website including defining brand voice and photography style to bring the beautiful product front and center. The goal was to inspire creativity for customers, young and old. In addition, I set out to celebrate the artist-quality of the materials that were being used for our kids' product, since our competition in the space was using mostly cheap, ineffective supplies for their kids' lines. We believed that children are real artists, and that by equipping them with high-quality tools, we'd remove a frustration point that oftens turns people off to creative endeavors.

Created a full campaign to support the launch of the Camp Wandawega for Nod Collection. Campaign featured digital and direct mail marketing materials along with video assets, customer events and retail installations.

I conceived of The Nod Family Home as a way to showcase The Land of Nod brand pillar of "Design for the Family," which means that kids live throughout the whole house, and so does their stuff. But having kids doesn't have to mean turning your home over to plastic, licensed-character junk. Your home can be beautiful and functional.

We rented a 5-story brownstone in Chelsea, NY, and over the course of a week transformed every inch of the home into playful and functional family home. The house featured furnishings from The Land of Nod, as well as many artist installations and DIY projects executed by our creative team. We then spent a week photographing the house for our website, catalog, blog and social channels. Then hosted a press event for editors to tour the house and view the new collection. And, finally spent a week hosting intimate events with artists, influencers, tastemakers and customers.

Ultimately, we ended up with more than enough content to last half the year, at the same budget we'd typically spend. All while making a big splash across social media and traditional media. Not only that, the multi-million dollar house that had been on the market for several years sold while staged with our installation!

We designed a small footprint store to highlight our best-selling items with a focus on nursery product. Collaborated with artists on installation throughout the space including a custom-painted ceiling designed by Ampersand Studio and a one-of-a-kind rainbow sculpture as the centerpiece. Boutique was a test store to determine the success of a small store format in a market where we had no prior physical presence. Store was successful in driving nursery sales and baby registry signups, both of which led to our strongest LTV customers. In addition, the design elements were often photographed by customers and posted on their social media.

I created a monthly subscription service for Kid Made Modern customers in collaboration with craft influencer and artist, Meri Cherry. I led the project from concept and product design, to website interface and all marketing materials.

Customer response was very strong, with most signups lasting well beyond 6 months. In addition, we setup an easy way for gifting subscriptions and then allowing recipients to convert them easily to ongoing subscriptions once the gifted term was complete. This required customized UX design created in collaboration with Shopify app developers.

When the pandemic kept kids out of school, we saw a need to fill for our customers. Within just a couple of short weeks, we launched an online craft camp for kids of all ages. While many parents were scrambling to keep kids busy, we offered a robust camp experience complete with all the materials they needed delivered to their door. Better yet, we hired art teachers who themselves were temporarily out of work to teach the classes. It was such a huge success that we parlayed it into a complete class offering that extended well beyond the pandemic. Our repeat rate for the classes was beyond 60%.

We partnered with The Makerie, a creative retreat company, to put on their first parent-child event. The event was hosted at Camp Wandawega and spanned 3 days. During that time, our guests attended workshops put on by artists that had collaborated with Nod on the current product collection. Guests learned everything from weaving to gelee painting and more.

Though the event only accommodated about 50 guests, we created content for all the workshops that we shared online and through our social channels all weekend, so our entire community could participate.

What started as me helping a few customers with their nursery design on Twitter, soon became a growth engine for our company. After seeing the enthusiasm of our customers for one-on-one support, I concepted and piloted our first Design Services offering. The program featured a few key elements that set it apart from similar offerings from our competitors. First, rather than creating proprietary software, we created our moodboards where our customers were already gathering design inspo - Pinterest! Not only did that make them comfortable off the bat, but we also could get a sense of their design aesthetic very easily. In addition, we were growing our organic reach on Pinterest. Also, we didn't just deck out customer rooms with our items. We mostly used our product, but we also designed around existing customer pieces, suggested DIY projects, and even helped source one-of-a-kind vintage and artist-made pieces. These made the designs very unique, and also aligned with our customers' aesthetic. When the program became too large for me to run on my own, I built a team of interior designers and grew the program to over $1M in one year. And, eventually, it became the basis for Crate and Barrel's design offering today.

I began my pottery practice in early 2024, and immediately fell in love. I've spent the past 2+ years diving further into the craft, honing my skills while finding my creative aesthetic. I come from a long line of makers and find myself at my most creative professionally when I have a thriving art practice outside of work as well. I love making pottery for many reasons, but mostly because it's a very humbling endeavor that requires much skill and practice. It's in this practice that I find immense joy and peace.

After years of successful in-person events at our stores, we decided to take our show on the road. We bought a mini-school bus and transformed it into the Nod Tour Bus. Each season, we decked out the bus to match our current artist or partner collaboration, complete with a new mascot each time. Then we took the bus around the country to stops that aligned with each partnership. For example, we visited nature centers on the Charley Harper tour and libraries for the Golden Books tour. Each tour also featured a customer contest and a charitable partner, plus we hosted events alongside artists and influencers at each stop. To engage our full audience in the fun, we featured related content across our social media and blog.

At each of The Land of Nod stores, I collaborated with an artist to create an installation to hang at the point of purchase. Each installation was made from a small found object that when viewed from afar created a stunning visual, but when viewed up close elicited an emotional reaction of nostalgia and delight. I worked with the artists from All Kinds Studio on the installation for our University Village store. It was created from thousands of upcycled gumball machine pods. To further bring the piece to life, we installed a vending machine where kids could get a free temporary tattoo that was designed in collaboration with Tattly Tattoos.

Throughout my career I've had the opportunity to be the creative lead for many pop-up retail experiences. The goal of each of these shops was to make a lasting impact in a market where the brand didn't have a physical presence. We found that by creating a truly memorable experience for just a few short weeks in a market, we would see sustained market growth for several subsequent years.

Created a recurring editorial section showcasing our CEO, Michelle, and her family celebrating the everyday. The goal of this project was to give customers a chance to get to know Michelle. As part of these features, we also collaborated with Sweet Paul magazine on recipes and DIY projects for the photography, which were then featured on our blog. As a result of these editorials and other press placements of Michelle and her family, she formed many close relationships with our customers and become a recognizable and trusted part of their community.

I learned how to weave around 2015. I love creating geometric patterns in bright, bold colors. They add such an unexpected texture to the walls of my home. And the gorgeous fibers are a dream to work with.