*ENTERTAIMENT_SCROLL
PERFORMANCE AND EVENTS
HAVAS PRIDE 2020
HAVAS PRIDE 2020
Role: Senior Art Director/Creative Lead: Animation, Animation, Logo Mark, Animation and Video
Period: 2020
Platform: Social, Digital, Video
Lift: Corporate DEI/PRIDE Initiative during COVID
- Travis Hibbis, VP, CD
- Lisa Boosin, ACD
- Anthony Lowe, ACD
- Michelle Johnson, Studio Manager
- Hayden Griffin, Copywriter
- Kerry Goeller, Digital Production Artist
- Shirley Katz, Executive Director, Head of Resource Management
- Aileen Boyce, VP, Associate Creative Director
- Rob Conger, Presentation Designer
When you are exceedingly proud of the work that you and your team created, it is equally-easy to be proud to host, design and organize the Havas Pride 2020 initiative. With the restrictions and climate of COVID-19, everyone was forced into quarantine who was not an essential worker, postponing life, work and gathering as we know it. One of the largest and greatly-anticipated events of the year, PRIDE NYC, was cancelled for the year by the city health agencies, forcing all to find ways to improvise and celebrate diversity and accomplishment in the LGBTQIA+ community.
As part of the HXC 2020 Pride Committee, I created and lead the overall design direction below that was utilized from Instagram filters to being used as a template from which other committee members developed the assets that they required.
NEW YORK CITY PRIDE 2025
NEW YORK CITY PRIDE 2024
Role: Creative Lead: Animation, HTML5 and Video, Senior Art Director
Period: 2017-2019
Platform: Print, Digital, Video
Lift: 360 Evergreen Sports Campaign
- Sandra Perez, Executive Director, NYC Pride
- Kazz Alexander, Co-Chair, NYC Pride
- Sue Doster, Co-Chair, NYC Pride
- Evan Reed, Youth Pride Coordinator
- Veronica Ryzio, Media Coordinator
- Kayle Williams, Assistant Creative Director
“Heritage of Pride works toward a future without discrimination where all people have equal rights under the law. We do this by producing LGBTQIA+ Pride events that inspire, educate, commemorate and celebrate our diverse community.”
As creative director with NYC Pride 2024, I was skilled in understanding organizational and partner needs and translating key objectives into creative concepts rooted in the heritage of Pride. I breathed life throughout the experiential community journey (environmental, digital, video, and social). I brought hybrid experience in both art direction and copywriting, working across various tentpoles, mediums and platforms. Having brought live event experience from such outlets as Madison Square Garden, Major League Soccer and other premium event brands, I kept NYC Pride ahead of the latest innovations in the marketplace and integrated that knowledge into concepts that cut through the noise.<br>I oversaw high-value brand platforms and was therefore responsible for managing the full creative process – from conceptualization through execution. I thrived on being client-facing with C-suite executives such as MasterCard and utilized my storytelling skills to effectively communicate the team’s work in a design presentation. I was responsible for creatively leading many of our top existing client partners in developing award-winning Pride platforms. These sponsorship driven platforms ultimately helped our clients accomplish their business objectives and stand-out creatively in the marketplace to establish NYC Pride as a leading voice in the LGBTQIA+ community. I directed a cohesive creative vision and development of design direction for promotional materials (environmental design, stage design, special events, brand collateral, and multiple social media pieces ) based on creative briefs, conversations and wide-ranging internal brand strategies. I possesses outstanding interpersonal skills, a relentless work ethic, and a spirit of collaboration that inspires those around them to create work that represents NYC Pride as a thoughtful and powerful force in queer equality.
THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA ARTS
THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, NYC
Role: Art Director: Freelance
Period: 2016
Platform: Digital, Video
Lift: Broadcast Network Promotion, AMC/BBC
- CK Chen, Senior Creative Director, The Paley Center
PALEYFEST 2017 seminar honors “Orphan Black,” the dramatic science fiction series about the far-reaching consequences of a secret government cloning experiment.
“Orphan Black” PaleyFest: I was already a huge fan of The Paley Center and was working on a ton of print and digital assets from flyers to web banners promoting a variety of celebrity events. When I was chatting with Senior Creative Director Jack Chen about one of my favorite shows, “Orphan Black” was set to be hosted for a Q&A in a week, it was all that I could do to control my enthusiasm. I remember walking over and asking what I could do to help. Many things were already set in motion, with one of the last items outstanding being a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the event and characters from the show.
I volunteered and the creatives no longer had to try to educate themselves on a show and characters that they had never seen—I completely threw myself into it with it almost becoming a video feature. The Paley Center is an archive of all things entertainment-related. With it being a two-night engagement due to popular demand and fans overwhelming the venue, I took it upon myself to append the original presentation with video from the prior night. The result was a fun, engaging reel that had fans of the show taking photos in front of the screens. I knew that I had done something right.
SPORTS
DAZN
DAZN, U.S.
Role: Art Director: Freelance
Period: 2019
Platform: Print, Digital
Lift: Fight Promotional Campaign, Sports
DAZN is the leading global sports streaming service. Created by fans, for fans, it is leading the charge to give affordable access to sport anytime, anywhere. DAZN is available on most internet-connected devices, including smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, PCs, game consoles, streaming sticks and set-top boxes.
Overwhelmed by the establishment of their One World Trade headquarters in NYC and it’s quintessential “coolness,” I was enlisted by DAZN to create Instagram social assets for the Dec. 7, 2019 bout and introduction to the U.S. sports market, from the fight poster (far left,) to the fan-centric-targeted social media boxer profiles (center and right.)
Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II, was a heavyweight professional boxing rematch between the Andy Ruiz Jr. and former champion Anthony Joshua. Noting what I viewed to be a missing branding asset for this inaugural foray into the U.S. fight market, I also created a “3-D” rubik of the logo as a loader and screensaver for anything from phone takeovers to transition screens (animated, bottom last.)
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
NEW YORK RANGERS
Role: Senior Art Director
Period: 2013-2016
Platform: Print, Public Affairs and Media
Lift: 360 Evergreen Sports Campaign
- Anthony Zucconi, Manager, Marketing
- Dino Tichenelli, Public Relations Coodinator
- Tarek Awad, Design Director
- Michelle Cruz, Senior Art Director
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference.
As Art Director for Madison Square Garden, I created and lead team advertising across all touchpoints, with an emphasis on television, digital media and branded content with a focus on the print and digital media and playoff guides as my speciality. I never would have thought that I would become a hockey fan. Working with Dino Ticinelli, Tarek Awad and Michelle Cruz, I quickly became one without resistance. I took the enthusiasm that I grew for hockey and put it wholeheartedly (and sometimes from actual sun-up to sundown during playoffs) into creating print assets for The New York Rangers. A collective of team players, history, statistics and other essential team knowledge materials were provided in multiple formats throughout. As a world leader in live sports and entertainment, The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) sets a global standard for excellence in live experiences and forges deep and enduring connections with diverse and passionate audiences that span generations. Curating and documenting the dynamic history of such a magnanimous NHL club was accomplished by my efforts with the NY Ranger Public Affairs Department. Producing a 450-500 page essential media and playoff guides as well as other accompanying collateral took careful collection and consideration of the overall flow and pagination of this seasonal undertaking. Beyond this, it was critical to be constantly aware of all trades, stats and media chatter concerning the club and it’s fans—events like playoffs and trades could change not only the landscape of the club, but the overall content being provided by the public relations department.
- Mentored and trained team members, wrote performance reviews, and allocated work
- Championed curiosity and open mindset towards new ways of doing things
- Ensured that creative presentations to the client met the highest professional standards
- Brainstormed and developed campaigns while working with clients on multiple projects at once
THE NEW YORK RANGERS
NEW YORK RANGERS
Role: Senior Art Director
Period: 2013-2016
Platform: Print, Public Affairs and Media
Lift: 360 Evergreen Sports Campaign
- Anthony Zucconi, Manager, Marketing
- Dino Tichenelli, Public Relations Coodinator
- Tarek Awad, Design Director
- Michelle Cruz, Senior Art Director
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference.
As Art Director for Madison Square Garden, I created and lead team advertising across all touchpoints, with an emphasis on television, digital media and branded content with a focus on the print and digital media and playoff guides as my speciality. I never would have thought that I would become a hockey fan. Working with Dino Ticinelli, Tarek Awad and Michelle Cruz, I quickly became one without resistance. I took the enthusiasm that I grew for hockey and put it wholeheartedly (and sometimes from actual sun-up to sundown during playoffs) into creating print assets for The New York Rangers. A collective of team players, history, statistics and other essential team knowledge materials were provided in multiple formats throughout. As a world leader in live sports and entertainment, The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) sets a global standard for excellence in live experiences and forges deep and enduring connections with diverse and passionate audiences that span generations. Curating and documenting the dynamic history of such a magnanimous NHL club was accomplished by my efforts with the NY Ranger Public Affairs Department. Producing a 450-500 page essential media and playoff guides as well as other accompanying collateral took careful collection and consideration of the overall flow and pagination of this seasonal undertaking. Beyond this, it was critical to be constantly aware of all trades, stats and media chatter concerning the club and it’s fans—events like playoffs and trades could change not only the landscape of the club, but the overall content being provided by the public relations department.
- Mentored and trained team members, wrote performance reviews, and allocated work
- Championed curiosity and open mindset towards new ways of doing things
- Ensured that creative presentations to the client met the highest professional standards
- Brainstormed and developed campaigns while working with clients on multiple projects at once
NEW YORK RED BULLS
NEW YORK RED BULLS
Role: Art Director: Freelance
Period: 2016
Platform: Print, Digital
Lift: Corporate Promotional Campaign, Sports
- Michelle Cruz, SAD
- Joe Stetson, Chief Commercial Officer
The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area, dedicated to giving back to the community in which they live and work. As assistant art director for the 2016-2017 Seasons, I had the pleasure of working with Michelle Cruz again after our initial collaborations at Madison Square Garden. In her position at NYRB, she pulled me in as art director to undertake the creation of a 350+ print and digital media guide. Using every trick in the Adobe CSS book from InDesign pagination to Illustrator player bio artwork, I developed an overarching look and feel, initially creating befitting style guide for the media guide.
This photo, not that photo, is there a reshoot of that player, this typeface and not that one and here is exactly why based on this asset—the daily design decisions and briefs that I had the autonomous pleasure of having with everyone involved from design, social media and public relations. With great direction, I was able to create an accurate and engaging media guide for news outlets and other users.
- Worked with the Creative Director to evaluate performance, workflow, and quality issues and develop long-range plans for the team
- Curated a culture of trust with peers, clients and all stakeholders
- Set high-impact objectives and went above and beyond to exceed performance expectations
- Lead design direction by providing subordinate creatives key assets for each leg of the campaign build (print and digital color breakdowns, templated breakdowns for ratio/sizes, imagery selection and definition of photographic color treatment and adjustments)
- Developed concepts around brand touchpoints (e.g. campaigns, big events)
- Creative lead on big events bringing to life entire platform, including primary campaign marks, color schemes and secondary elements, to usage guidelines and applications
- Helped to identify best resources for creative production, e.g., online content, photography, talent, etc.
- Reviewed proofs and seeing projects through final production
- Prepared final files for production
- Attended internal calls and meetings as required
