I help businesses find the brand inside the business they've become.
I've worked in three very different places: a boutique creative agency, a startup that went from Series B to Series C while I was there, and a global specialty insurer that grew from a single-country carrier to operations in 150+ territories. I didn't plan it that way when I started out as a graphic designer, but it's turned out to be my biggest strength. Most designers only see brand from one of those vantage points. Having worked in all three, I've learned that the tactics change but the questions don't.
What I believe.
I think of brand as a promise a business has to keep, not a coat of paint. My job is to find the true story a business has earned the right to tell, and keep telling it clearly as the business grows. In practice, the problems usually look like this. A company that's grown past its founding story but is still telling it. A division operating in a fundamentally different category but using the parent company's brand model. A campaign that's getting the what of the ask right and the how wrong, or vice versa. Or a promise the business isn't keeping. Better design alone won't fix any of these. They're strategy problems, and they're the ones I'm most interested in solving.
My best projects have something in common: the problem everyone could see wasn't the real one. At Bevi, we thought we were selling sustainability and health. The person signing off was buying one less thing to manage. At Intact, specialty insurance was using the brand model built for personal lines, even though the two businesses win customers in completely different ways. For BondClick, the obvious move was to sell the platform's features. I made the campaign about requesting access instead, because every access request brought a new broker into the network. Each time, figuring out the real problem came before any design.
My journey.
After four years of graphic design and freelance work in the U.K., I joined a boutique agency in Salem, MA, as an art director, where I learned that great craft matters but isn't enough on its own. I joined Bevi as a visual designer during Series B and stayed through Series C. While I was there, the company grew 900%. I went to customer offices during photoshoots and discovered the company was talking to the wrong audience. Rewriting the messaging for the person who actually approved the purchase taught me to go looking for answers in the field instead of waiting for them in a brief.
I joined Intact Insurance in 2018 (first at OneBeacon, which Intact had acquired) and have spent eight years on brand and creative work for the Specialty division, first as Senior Visual Designer and, since 2024, as Art Director. Specialty is the company's biggest growth opportunity: 20+ verticals across 150+ territories, with less than 1% market share in a category that's both fragmented and high-stakes. Most of my work there has been campaigns and creative direction for that growing business. The work I'm proudest of was my own idea: a brand messaging framework showing why specialty insurance needs a different brand model from personal lines, which I've been sharing with senior leadership.
Where I'm heading.
Next, I'm looking for an Art Director or Associate Creative Director role where I lead the creative and help shape the brand strategy behind it, with room to grow into brand leadership. I do my best work where people are asking "what is this business actually for?" as well as "what should this campaign look like?" I'm drawn to complicated businesses where good brand work is rare and makes a real difference.
I'm based in Swampscott, Massachusetts, a stone's throw from Boston, with my family. I'm a new parent, which has clarified everything. I work most days from my home studio, and I think most clearly when I'm writing or walking. If that sounds like a fit, I'd love to hear from you.