The Issue
One year after Chicago’s shut down, Walder Foundation launched Chicago Takes 10 – an initiative to support performing artists still impacted by the pandemic and arts organizations that were among the last to fully reopen.
Coming out of COVID-19, when the arts community was hit extraordinarily hard (rendering many musicians, dancemakers and artists of all kinds jobless), Chicago Takes 10 got performers back on stage safely.
The Approach
The virtual performance series, dubbed “an artistic tour of Chicago’s performing arts during the pandemic,” featured 10 artists from 10 performance art organizations from across Chicago – for a total of 100 artists receiving $1,000 each.
I developed the visual identity for the initiative, including logo concepts, brand guidelines, social media graphics and website design recommendations.
Creative Brief
Start Early, formerly the Ounce of Prevention, underwent a rebranding process in October 2020 — complete with a new name and visual identity to reflect the organization’s updated mission to advance quality early learning for families with children, before birth through their earliest years, to close the opportunity gap. Start Early wanted its first large donor communication under the new name to hit with a splash.
Design Approach
Enter the 2020 Year in Review. Start Early sought to reimagine its capstone communication into a highly visual and engaging report that would inspire current and potential donors alike — and highlight the organizations’ efforts to advance early learning in a unique and challenging year.
I designed the 35-page printed booklet, drawing on elements from the new brand with an emphasis on visuals. From concept to execution, photography was front and center. Layout prioritized playful imagery, simple typography and bold colors.
The 2020 Year in Review served as a successful first impression and reintroduction to Start Early to current and potential donors alike.
Following completion of the Year in Review, I also designed the organization’s brochure, which will serve as the primary communication for new audiences.
2021 Year in Review
A year later, I designed the 2021 Year in Review publication, which was printed and distributed to donors and other stakeholders. I also designed a two-page fact sheet, intended to reach a broader audience of interested program participants.
The Issue
An estimated 700,000 people could be eligible for cannabis expungement after Illinois took the historic step to legalize recreational cannabis in 2020. Because a criminal record can make it harder to get hired, pursue higher education, apply for public assistance, rent housing and more, it is important that people get the help they need to clear their records.
Illinois Equal Justice Foundation (IEJF) sought to develop a statewide public education campaign to help those eligible clear their records.
The Approach
With funding from the state, IEJF launched New Leaf Illinois, a network of 20 nonprofit legal aid organizations offering free services in every part of the state. Aspects of the campaign included brand identity development, video production, media relations, stakeholder outreach, social media and digital advertising.
Branding
I led branding efforts, developing multiple logo concepts. The concept chosen is visually representative of the social justice and racial equity movement closely tied to this issue. We know that Black and Brown people and economically disadvantaged communities were disproportionately penalized by past criminalization of cannabis.
The visual identity is simple, yet bold and impactful.
In addition to the visual identity, I designed all collateral materials, including fact sheets, presentation templates, palm cards, print ads and social media graphics.
Digital Marketing
I led and executed a targeted digital strategy focused on driving potential legal aid applicants to the website, where they could learn more about their eligibility and contact the network to receive aid.
The strategy was twofold – (1) employing paid social media and search advertising optimized for traffic, and (2) supplementing the paid campaign with a steady drumbeat of resources and organic content to be shared on IEJF’s and partners’ channels.
The cross-channel strategy included YouTube, Google search, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Over the course of the eight-month digital campaign, ads were served more than 650,000 times and garnered nearly 100,000 clicks directing users to the website, where 26,561 visitors viewed more than 38,200 total pages. The campaign performed above industry benchmarks in click-through rate (CTR) and cost per click (CPC) – our two primary KPIs.
The Issue
COVID-19 laid bare the increased need for mental health and substance use services as the stresses of the pandemic continue to persist. Lake County Health Department sought to reduce stigma around mental health needs and promote expanded services available to all Lake County residents — because no one should feel alone or ashamed when seeking help.
The Approach
The cross-channel advertising strategy utilized a wide array of advertising avenues to connect as many Lake County residents as possible to services, combining direct outreach to partners and providers, digital advertising (on Google search, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter), local radio and print advertising, and out of home advertising on billboards and digital screens at gas stations.
Digital Marketing
I led design and development of a campaign website, which was launched within two weeks of being retained, in addition to running point on digital strategy and implementation.
In less than six weeks, the paid social and search campaign generated 1,845,863 impressions across all channels — and reached 192,284 users on Facebook and Instagram alone.
The digital campaign garnered 33,154 clicks to the website and 19,097 page views over the 6.5-week period. We saw a 4.38% average conversion rate across service pages and connected dozens of people in need to services.
The Issue
All students deserve to graduate high school prepared for success in college and the workplace. ForwARd Arkansas is a public-private partnership established by the Arkansas State Board of Education, the Walton Family Foundation and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation to increase equity and achieve increases in student achievement and economic prosperity for Arkansas. The organization serves as a champion for equity, a connector and convener for shared opportunity, and a catalyst for innovation.
The Approach
ForwARd underwent a rebranding process in order to better align itself with Arkansas’s nickname — the natural state. I led both the visual rebrand and website redevelopment, from sketching wireframes to serving at liaison, to the website developer, to establishing new brand guidelines. The new website allows users to fully immerse themselves into ForwARd’s work with powerful visuals and a members-only Forum to share best practices.
I developed all new collateral material following the rebrand — including business cards, brochures, informational flyers, email newsletters and presentation templates, etc.
I managedForwARd’s website, paid and organic social media presence and email marketing campaigns, including identifying current events to leverage on their channels, drafting content, designing graphics, strategizing around paid content and community managing the organization’s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
I also provided strategic counsel to organizational leadership around digital engagement.
The Issue
Metastatic cancer patients deserve access to the best care available — regardless of income or insurance coverage. The It’s About Time campaign encourages metastatic cancer patients and their families to share their stories in an effort to build broader understanding of this disease, as well as the need for more research dollars toward treatments and a cure. The campaign also aims to elevate the voices of patients who serve as their own health care advocates so they can live each moment to the fullest, and to cherish all the time they have.
It’s about time these patients were heard.
The Approach
I lead the digital advocacy campaign, building a community of metastatic cancer patients and their supporters. In the five years I have been involved, we have collected over 200 stories, sent more than 5,500 letters to state and federal legislators asking them to protect mets patients access to care and reached upwards of 15 million people online through paid content.
Branding and Content Creation
In 2019, the campaign rebranded from It’s About Time Metastatic Breast Cancer to It’s About Time Mets to include all metastatic cancer patients in our fight for increased access to care.
I led the rebranding efforts, designing a new identity system and logo. The lavender color is reflective of all cancers. I also orchestrated the development of a new website, moving the existing site from Wordpress to Squarespace to rectify security concerns, allow for better ease of use and modernize UX.
I concept, design and iterate visual content to support the campaign’s goals. Content includes social graphics and copy, user-generated video, collateral (one-pagers, posters, boilerplate materials) and website wireframes during the rebrand.
Outreach
Blogger research, identification and outreach is the cornerstone of our patient-centered campaign. I manage the relationship between the campaign and these bloggers, providing them with social media content and soliciting stories of impact. This includes email outreach, community management on social and old fashioned phone calls.
Over the campaign’s five years of existence, we have collected more than 190 stories of people living with metastatic cancer, family members and supporters.
Digital Marketing
I manage a digital advertising budget across multiple channels including social, search and display. I provide weekly client reports, analyzing KPIs and pivoting if needed to maximize conversions.
I strategize around innovative ways to reach our audience and generate leads, taking a leadership role in campaign approach from start to finish.
McDonald’s opened its Chicago headquarters is June 2018. To accompany the opening, I designed a series of infographics illustrating the the new headquarter’s economic impact on the Chicago economy.
The infographic was distributed to media and stakeholders ahead of the headquarter’s opening.
Brookfield Zoo is Chicagoland’s premiere zoo and animal conservation center. The zoo is operated by the Chicago Zoological Society, a private nonprofit organization.
I support marketing efforts for the zoo’s many events and programs. I designed social media graphics and pumpkin carving template’s for Boo! at the Zoo, an event bringing kids to the zoo during October to celebrate Halloween.
The Issue
People with disabilities deserve more — they deserve caregivers who earn a living wage.
They Deserve More is a statewide coalition of families and friends of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, nonprofit community providers, advocacy organizations and more.
The Illinois coalition was established in 2017 to fight for a living wage for caregivers of people with disabilities. The 2017 legislative campaign was successful in securing a 75 cent per hour increase in wages for caregivers — the first state-provided increase in over 10 years. The campaign continued to secure additional funding for these caregivers at part of the FY 2019, FY 2020 and FY 2021 state budgets.
The Approach
I develop digital strategy and manage content creation for the legislative campaign, sourcing stories of impact and packaging these stories for our digital channels. I produce video vignettes, illustrating the effect of the caregiver crisis on those affects most — people with disabilities and their families.
Throughout the legislative session, I develop and implement strategies to mobilize our coalition and supporters to take action. Calls to action include sharing materials, contacting legislators and sharing stories in order to influence legislators.
They Deserve More won a Publicity Club of Chicago award in the advocacy campaign category.
The Issue
In response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, a bipartisan group of experts in economics, public health, technology and ethics collaborated to develop the nation’s first operational roadmap for safely reopening the economy, known as the “Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience.”
The Approach
I designed the Roadmap layout, implementing ideas from a diverse committee of partners and authors, while maintaining consistency with Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics’ brand guidelines.
The Roadmap calls for massive increases in testing capacity, contact tracing and supported isolation. The Roadmap and a supplemental report effectively provide an action plan and toolkit for policymakers to create a logical and safe pathway out of massive quarantine and economic shutdown.
View the Roadmap and the supplemental report.
The Issue
Special Olympics has become a renowned, worldwide organization, but few people know its origin story in Chicago. In 2018, Special Olympics celebrated its 50th anniversary. Leading up to the anniversary games at Soldier Field in July, the Chicago Park District told the story of Chicago as the birthplace of the organization and raised awareness of the Park District’s central role in launching and growing Special Olympics over the past 50 years.
The Approach
I led digital content creation supporting the campaign on the Park District’s social media channels. We profiled athletes, coaches and people who have influenced the development of the organization since its founding.
We took a “Humans of New York” approach to these profiles, showing our audience what it’s really like to be a Special Olympics athlete. Amelia Hernandez, who participates in weight lifting competitions, was part of the first games in 1968 and still competes today.
In addition to digital content strategy, I designed promotional materials to support the Park District’s events throughout the summer, including posters and billboards.
The project earned two Publicity Club of Chicago awards, one in the community relations category and one for the “Born in Chicago” video.
While attending Indiana University, I worked part-time at Sustain IU, the IU Office of Sustainability, as a communications and marketing intern. Sustain IU was the perfect place for me — combining my interests in sustainability and environmental science with my communication skills.
I managed the Office's social media and digital presence, experimenting with content like stop-motion Instagram videos and creative graphics. I wrote the weekly and monthly newsletters, designed publicity material and developed a social media guide for future digital editors at the Office.
My internship culminated in presenting at the annual Internship Symposium, at which I shared findings from my final capstone project titled “Communicating Sustainability.” I also designed, edited, and compiled a 45-page printed program, signage and collateral for the Symposium.
In July 2017, Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen celebrated its 75th anniversary. The Chicago institution is famous for its deli staples, award-winning corn beef and long history as a campaign stop for politicians like President Obama.
Manny’s wanted to do something special for it’s customers for the anniversary — create a cookbook of family recipes so deli-goers could cook their Manny’s favorites at home. I led development of the cookbook, from collecting old family photos, to taste-testing recipes, to designing layouts and bringing family stories to life. The cookbook is available for purchase at Manny’s online shop.
In addition to producing the cookbook, I designed the 75th anniversary logo and collateral material, including signage, Instagram graphics and Snapchat geofilters.
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker were among the guests at the anniversary celebration.
The Issue
The Partnership for College Completion (PCC) advocates for policies, systems and practices that ensure all students in the Chicago area — particularly low-income and first generation students — graduate from college and achieve their career aspirations.
PCC released a meta-analysis report entitled “Unequal Opportunity in Illinois: A Look at Who Graduates College and Why It Matters”. The report analyzed education trends in Illinois, where nearly half of high school graduates are low-income and over 40 percent are black or Latino.
The Approach
I created two infographics to support the roll-out of the meta-analysis. The first visually illustrated key points from the report, while the second illustrated the ecosystem of education-focused organizations in Chicago.
