I’m a hands-on Creative Director, Art Director, Illustrator and Maker with over twenty years of professional experience and a track record for creating thumb-stopping social creative and developing high-performing teams. So yes… I’ve been around the block a few times; and starting my career post-grad in a small town and exhausting all the creative roles there meant that I learned a lot—but the job titles I had never matched what I did. I led all Creative for Dippin’ Dots, Inc. for over five years—and helped develop “Minion Madness Cookie Dough” as a co-branded tie-in with Illumination Entertainment when the first “Despicable Me” came out—but my title there was only ever “Designer.” I’ve driven initiatives for scalable digital creative solutions in addition to leading custom social content and video productions that resulted in double-digit sales increases. My career began in print design and gave me a strong grounding in production specs and “doing work right the first time” to avoid costly reprints. I’ve championed the power of social and new media; leading the launch of Facebook for Dippin’ Dots, Inc. (2007) and TikTok for Arby’s (2018) and The Home Depot (2022). I empower and challenge my teams to think strategically—not just creatively—as we work to elevate the brands we touch and make content that resonates with our audiences. I enjoy passing along what I’ve learned and teach new shooting, editing and software techniques to my teams on a regular basis to help everyone develop new skills. I’ve worked freelance, long-term contract, in-house and agency-side as a single contributor on a larger Marketing team as well as a Creative team leader and mentor—hence the number of titles that don’t accurately reflect the job I was hired to do. I identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and proudly bring my whole self to every role. I’ve won awards for my work, including a Cannes Silver Lion and a Shorty Award for Art Direction; but the one that means the most to me is the HOW Design award for the wedding invitations I created for my husband and me in 2014.
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How would you describe yourself?

Since I'm asking the question, I'm not afraid to admit to myself that I’m an unabashed nerd, first and foremost. It's not everyone who gets a tattoo written in Mandalorian years before most people knew what a Mandalorian even was. I actually have two tattoos; one written in Aurebesh that translates to “Red Leader” (a nickname our children gave me) and the one in Mandalorian that says “Resist.” I got both tattoos years before the opening of Galaxy's Edge made more people aware of Aurebesh and Disney+ made "Mandalorian" a household name. Yes, I'm that big of a nerd.

And yes, sometimes my hair is purple. Or ice blue. Or Targaryen white. Or flame-colored. When I turned 40, I decided that salt-and-pepper no longer fit me. During 2020's lockdown, I started bleaching my own hair (safely and with professional-grade products) and I've never looked back.

I'm a paper craft artist, sculptor, illustrator, LEGO fanatic, band nerd and genuine goofball. I'm father to three [diabolically] talented children and husband to “white lion” Brandon D Hunt (seriously—he is one in a bazillion). And yes, I said husband. I'm <super> gay. Because of that, I do a lot of volunteering for both LGBTQ+ nonprofits as well as being the best Ally I can to any community that has been "othered" by the mainstream. From "drag activism" for charity to bettering my own workplace, I work every day to make the world better for our kids.

How would you <professionally> describe yourself?

I’m an ever-curious, hands-on Creative Director, Art Director, Designer and Maker with over 20 years of professional experience, a track record for creating thumb-stopping social creative and developing high-performing teams. I’ve driven initiatives for scalable digital creative solutions in addition to leading custom social content and video productions that resulted in double-digit sales increases for the clients. My career began in print design and gave me a love for production specs and “doing work right the first time” to avoid costly reprints. But that doesn't mean I'm afraid to fail. Every time I break something, I learn. I eat, sleep and breathe design thinking and I love to learn. And I love to teach. As a leader, I empower and challenge my teams to think strategically—not just creatively—as we work to elevate the brands we touch and make visionary content that resonates with our audiences.

I spent the first part of my career as an in-house Creative, often being a "Creative Team of One" on a larger Marketing team. This gave me opportunites to wear many hats and be part of 360, omni-channel campaigns from concept to design to implementation to end-user brand experience. I often describe how I was a UX Designer before that was even a job title. I've been on the forefront of digital and social advertising and have helped launch several brands on new platforms by being a champion of social and new media.  

PLACES I'VE WORKED 

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BRANDS I'VE WORKED WITH

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From where do your talents come?

(Are we keeping this going in third person, then? Gotcha.)

I've got crafting and performing in my blood. I have a carpenter dad who was constantly renovating our house when I was a kid. Every time I came home from college he was working on a different room... and it wouldn't surprise me if none of the "original" house I grew up in is left by now. My mom is a teacher who loves to sing and perform onstage. She made all of my Halloween costumes growing up and volunteered at the regional community theater in Erie. It should be no surprise that not only can I build stuff with power tools, but [at least] once a year I participate in a live-singing drag show fundraiser as Trudy Dolce with [at least] one new costume made by me.

Where'd you go to school?

I had my formal art training at The Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) in Columbus, OH, where I worked in the school's 3-Dimensional Illustration Lab making "miniatures and monsters" for four years (I had a double-major AND a minor, so the number of credits I had upon graduating was kind-of insane).

What's something about you nobody else would know?

I sort Lucky Charms as I eat them... I eat the little oaty bits first (what I've heard referred to by one person as "the cat food"). Then I eat each of the marshmallows color-by-color in rainbow order starting with the red balloons and ending with the rainbow marshmallows.

. . . 

Oh, and I can spell and pronounce words backwards without writing them down. That's not too weird, right?

And the random Buzzfeed quiz...

Lightsaber Color: Pantone 2925

Favorite Disney Ride: Peter Pan's Flight

Astrological Sign: Scorpio

Favorite Movies: Hook, The Empire Strikes Back, Beauty and the Beast

The Three Fictional Characters you identify with most: Peter Banning (Hook), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Mac (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends)

Biggest Pet Peeve: People who don't try

The nuts and bolts...

Skills

Creative Direction • Art Direction • Content Creation • Social Media • UI/UX Direction • Agile Project Management • Product Development • Campaign Development • Campaign Direction • Creative & Brand Development • Creative Technology • ChatGPT / Open AI • Marketing Automation • Adobe Creative Suite • Graphic Design • Storyboarding • Video Pre-Production, Production & Post-Production • Content Creator Strategy & Collaboration • Digital & Social Media Marketing • Email Marketing • Integrated Marketing • Consumer Marketing • Event Marketing • Creative Problem-Solving • Creative Strategy • Advertising Strategy • Social Media Strategy • Cross-Functional Collaboration • Team Leadership • Team Management • Mentorship • Constructive Feedback

Volunteering

  • Talk to a Creative Director - Mentor | Atlanta, GA – May 19, 2024—Present
  • Publicis Groupe Égalité - Atlanta Chapter Co-Lead / Global Board Member| Atlanta, GA - January 20, 2019—February 18, 2021

Creative Direction – Over 20 Years Experience

  • Trade School | Atlanta, GA – March 29, 2022—Present
  • Vert Digital | Atlanta, GA - October 12, 2021—March 24, 2022
  • Wunderman Thompson / WPP (Associate) | Atlanta, GA – July 6, 2021—October 1, 2021
  • Profisee Group | Atlanta, GA - March 1—June 2, 2021
  • Publicis Groupe - Moxie (Interim) | Atlanta, GA - December 4, 2020—February 18, 2021
  • Publicis Groupe - Moxie (Associate) | Atlanta, GA – September 20, 2019—December 4, 2020
  • Dippin’ Dots, Inc. | Paducah, KY – April 5, 2005—October 19, 2011
  • Image in a Bottle GD&I (Contract / Freelance) | Paducah, KY & Atlanta, GA - December 10, 2001—Present

Art Direction – Over 20 Years Experience

  • Publicis Groupe - Moxie | Atlanta, GA – October 12, 2017—September 19, 2019
  • Publicis Groupe - ROAR Groupe | Atlanta, GA – August 21, 2017—October 11, 2017

Brands I've worked with by Vertical

  • Retailers: The Home Depot • Publix • Fuzziwig’s Candy Factory
  • Luxury Retail: Coach Outlet
  • CPG: JIF Peanut Butter • Spanx • Shark|Ninja • Honda Power Equipment • Wizards of the Coast • Dippin’ Dots, Inc. • KRAFT Foods • The Truvia Company, LLC / CARGILL, Inc. • Starbrand Productions / Spudniks
  • Restaurant Groups / QSRs: Arby’s • First Watch • Firebirds
  • Entertainment: New Line Cinema • Walden Media • SONY Pictures • Illumination Entertainment • Universal Studios Parks & Entertainment • Sea World Parks & Entertainment • Cedar Fair Entertainment • Herschend Family Entertainment • U.S. Space & Rocket Center / Space Camp • The Land Between the Lakes Region
  • Gaming: SONY Playstation / Santa Monica Studio • Bandai Namco • Nintendo USA • Ubisoft • Square Enix • The SEGA Corporation • Activision Blizzard Inc.
  • Professional Beauty: Beauty Systems Group • CosmoProf Professional Salon Centers • Keune Haircosmetics USA • ColorTech • Emiliani Enterprises • Beauty Products, Inc. (BPI) • Ocean Salon Systems • Color Mid-Atlantic • John Paul Mitchell: The School • Certified Learning in Cosmetology (CLiC) International
  • Healthcare: AdventHealth • Alzheimer's Association • Georgia Academy of Audiology
  • Professional Services: Edelman • Intuit Mailchimp • AARP Real Estate Benefits by Realogy • ADVITO • Trusted CFO Solutions • Global Entrepreneurship Week • The Kentucky Innovation Network
  • Community Organizations: The Atlanta Pride Committee • Lost-n-Found Youth • Voices of Note

Not all of those roles or companies are on your LinkedIn...?

No, they aren't. LinkedIn is amazing as a social network, but it's also problematic. I found out certain company names trigger all the bots and for a while my LinkedIn messages were filled with nothing but spam.

For example: People would see my time as a Creative Director at Profisee (a Master Data Management platform built for Microsoft Azure) and hit me up for back-end developer or programmer roles. Not what I did there at all, but it didn't matter. I was over it, so I ghosted a few roles from LinkedIn to quiet down the Connection requests.

Wanna find me elsewhere?

You'll get bored quickly... it's a lot of photos of my adorable husband, our kids and our rescue dog, Porter.