Résumé / Work History

EXPERIENCE

Stampin’ Up!

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

January 2018 to Present

  • Lead nineteen communications employees organized into four teams, including Product & Marketing Communications, Sales & Events Communications, Newsroom & Social Media Communications, and Europe Communications. Regularly meet and work with four direct-report managers to evaluate workflow, develop and adapt processes, and carry out multi-level strategies to deliver on company vision for 50,000 demonstrators across 11 countries and 7 languages/localizations.

  • Responsible for corporate communication strategy and verbal brand integrity across multiple channels and applications, including websites, email, social media, print collateral, and corporate events. Utilize analytics from several sources to measure effectiveness of communication efforts.

  • Oversee creation of all written content, communication, and language standards—including creative/copywriting, SEO/SER, UI/UX, legal/policy, technical/instructional, script/speech, and journalistic writing disciplines. Includes multiple-language localization and translation functions. 

  • Drove cultural and functional shift in department from writing service provider to strategic communications partner mentality.

  • Coordinate urgent/crisis communication, including internal and public narrative influence and brand preservation through transparency and right message/right time approach—not spin. Organized COVID-19 pandemic and global supply chain crisis response communication and corporate communication strategy shift for over a year.

  • Established corporate social media strategy and oversee cross-functional/cross-division strategy and implementation teams to manage and generate content.

  • Key stakeholder and contributor in multi-year, complete overhaul of company e-commerce and distributor support platforms and sites.

  • Support CEO with specialized efforts, such as corporate values overhaul and abstract problem brainstorming. Advise on message approach and positioning for highly confidential, sensitive, and critical matters.

Stampin’ Up!

DIRECTOR, DEMONSTRATOR STORY INITIATIVE

May 2017 to January 2018

  • Led a cross-functional, six-member team organized by the CEO and focused on working with demonstrators (distributors) to develop their “why” stories—understanding their motivation and purpose—to use in their personal businesses and for company purposes.

  • Researched and utilized psychology and story theory to create processes and tools that established safety, inspired vulnerability, and drove self-realization in the development and telling of authentic and relatable demonstrator stories.

  • Organized and directed a story retreat with ten distributors flown in from across the U.S. and Canada, where team members developed story arcs with them in person and then recorded video interviews.

Stampin’ Up! / Apostrophe S

DIRECTOR, CREATIVE / PRODUCT / MARKETING

June 2013 to May 2017

  • Hand-picked by CEO and President to be part of this initial six-person innovation team from a company of 400+ employees.

  • Established a creative direct sales startup company from the ground up, within Stampin’ Up!, tasked with generating growth innovation and reaching a broader, younger audience for our parent company.

  • Business was built on Lean Startup and other innovation theories. Completed University of Phoenix’s Innovator’s Accelerator program.

  • Led The Paper Crepe business concept exploratory team, testing a hypothetical direct sales party plan opportunity centered on products that support party planning and event/occasion experience enhancement. Designed a website and social media presence, planned and held contests to identify and validate members of our target audience and specific personas, contacted bloggers, conducted interviews, and further defined our concept—all in a span of about five weeks. Organized events in Dallas, Chicago, Sacramento, and Salt Lake City (top cities for our target market), using Facebook and bloggers to generate interest in those markets. Traveled to each city equipped with a minimum viable product consisting of a concept presentation, and a few hypothetical project/product examples to test and validate interest. Learnings were incorporated into the business concept that became Apostrophe S.

  • Determined and documented overarching marketing strategy, including social media and blog content strategies.

  • Conducted customer and competitor analysis and profiling, including persona creation.

  • Developed visual and verbal brand, and oversaw application of brand across all channels, including packaging, web, print, trade show graphics, etc.

  • Directed, designed, and outsourced various creative assets and deliverables, including print collateral, web graphics, event/show materials and graphics, etc.

  • Coordinated and directed promotional and product instructional videos.

  • Stakeholder in UI/UX strategy and brand application in company website development.

  • Oversaw content creation outsourcing for various projects and properties.

  • Wrote and outsourced copywriting for product and marketing needs.

  • Determined and directed product development strategy.

  • Designed and engineered products that novice/new makers could understand and succeed with in the project making experience, responsibly produced within costing margins and sourcing timelines. 

  • Researched materials, tools, and manufacturing processes involved in a wide range of art, craft, tech, and other maker segments. Attended Maker Faire and multiple trade show.

  • Sourced and purchased raw goods and manufactured kit components.

Stampin’ Up!

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

August 2010 to June 2013

  • Led twenty-five creative employees organized into five teams, including Catalog Design, Communication Design (Collateral and Web Design), Event Design, Photography, and Concept Art. Regularly met and worked with five direct-report managers to evaluate workflow, develop and adapt processes, and carry out company, division, and department strategies.

  • Responsible for corporate visual brand integrity across multiple channels and applications.

  • Spearheaded relationship improvement between employees within the creative department and with partner groups in other departments/divisions.

  • Focused on integrating creative culture with larger corporate culture, educating and encouraging creative employees to understand other aspects of the company and see their roles in the bigger picture.

  • Initiated interdepartmental production processes and introduced tools for planning, tracking and communicating between project groups. Improved relationships, morale, and efficiency in multiple project environments. 

  • Storefront strategy team member for three years. Worked to reinvent the presentation and timing of our product offering over a multi-year period. Responsible for overhauling the catalog print program, saving Stampin’ Up! over $300,000.

  • Identified and defined a new target audience for Stampin’ Up!, to better focus corporate efforts and pursue growth. Educated company employees about audience demographic and psychographic information in multiple company-wide training sessions.

  • Designed, and/or facilitated design of exploratory products to test new materials, new target audience segments, and development processes.

Stampin’ Up!

COLLATERAL DESIGN MANAGER

October 2007 to August 2010

  • Lead 3-6 designers in producing a multitude of printed and digital communication pieces for domestic and foreign markets, including projects like Stampin’ Success, Impressions, event workbooks and support materials, marketing promotional flyers (our team established look and feel for marketing campaigns), etc. 

  • Assigned and coordinated educational, reference, and promotional design materials for print and web.

  • Introduced improvements to the promotions process by obtaining cross-department buy-in. Improvements included a project development system and tools that increased efficiency and communication.

  • Interacted with multiple departments to establish project parameters and determine best production plans, including timeline establishment and tracking.

  • Personal design projects included corporate branding, print advertisements, some magazine articles, Color Coach, and other projects that would disrupt design team workflow.

  • Documented visual standards and introduced project process improvements.

  • Supervised photo shoots and worked with photographers to create project visuals.

  • Maintained company type resources by advising, purchasing, organizing, and documenting transactions.

  • Performed press-checks and represented Stampin’ Up!’s print interests at local, out-of-state, and international printing companies. Acted as print buyer for over a year.

  • Worked with business development managers in foreign markets to provide localized assets for advertising, promotions, events, etc.

Stampin’ Up!

CATALOG SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

September 2006 to
October 2007

  • Contributed to collaborative design efforts and layout of catalog print materials.

  • Focused on improving organization and visual communication of catalog accessories section.

  • Represented Creative Services on the European Initiative Committee to expand Stampiní Up!’s business into Great Britain, France, and Germany. Creative Services met all deadlines for the European launch.

  • Designed and supervised production of the first European catalog program.

  • Designed seven stamp sets, and a Designer Series Paper (patterned paper).

Stampin’ Up!

COLLATERAL GRAPHIC DESIGNER

September 2005 to
September 2006

  • Responsible for designing all U.S. market company print collateral pieces (with the exception of Stampin’ Success corporate magazine). 

  • Participated in brainstorming sessions and concept proposals for event identities and demonstrator support materials.

Temkin Int., Inc.

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

April 2003 to September 2005

  • Designed corporate identity, marketing and promotional materials, company signage, trade show signage, advertisements, and customer presentations.

  • Designed projects for flexographic, offset, and digital printing processes.

  • Illustrated and designed packaging patterns for stock product lines.

  • Developed procedures and designed forms to increase efficiency, reduce errors, and improve communication between departments within the company.

  • Managed flexographic plate production operation and worked closely with printing department to achieve optimum product quality.

  • Worked on projects for customers such as Dole, Kroger, American Greetings, Home Depot, Petco, Safeway, Wild Oats, and Wal-Mart.

  • Supervised photo shoots for advertisements and marketing materials.

EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
B.F.A. Graphic Design, 2001
Department of Fine Arts Four Year Scholarship