Creative Director with 10+ years leading design, brand strategy, and art direction for high-growth direct-to-consumer brands.
J. Merk Studio is a creative direction studio crafting bold, cohesive brand worlds for DTC fashion, wellness, and home goods brands. We partner with startups and legacy companies to deliver strategy-driven creative—spanning campaign ideation, art direction, branding, and production. Our work blends vision with execution, helping brands stand out, connect deeply with their audience, and drive growth.
Strategic Creative Leadership — Lead creative vision and strategy across all platforms, translating brand identity into innovative marketing campaigns, product launches, and promotional content that consistently drives business performance and strengthens brand positioning. Executive Partnership — Serve as a key member of the executive team reporting directly to the CEO, collaborating strategically with the VP of Digital to align creative execution with business objectives and long-term brand evolution. Team Leadership & Development — Build and mentor a high-performing creative team of designers, copywriters, and social/influencer management, fostering a culture of collaboration while providing strategic direction in concept development and professional advancement. Content Production Management — Spearhead end-to-end production of photography and video content, managing complex budgets, external agency relationships, and post-production workflows to deliver assets that elevate brand narrative. Retail Expansion Leadership — Drive creative strategy for successful retail channel expansion, including the launch and positioning of products in major national retailers including Target, Kohl's, and Sam's Club.
• Photo and video art direction for 10-12 shoots per month with an average SKU count of 32 products per day. • Direct models and crew members on set (photographers, videographers, hair and makeup artists, stylists) to achieve on-brand, best-in-class imagery. • Make selects and retouching notes for all e-commerce photography. • Create moodboards and establish guidelines to keep imagery on-brand and aligned with industry standards. • Helped execute new collections for the brand including Figs Pro, inclusive sizing, and collaborations with Star Wars and Eko Stethoscopes.
• I oversaw creative on all digital channels within the Brooklinen brand including retention, paid social, organic social, and brooklinen.com. • Managing a team of 2-3 designers, I led digital creative on all branding initiatives, product launches, sales campaigns and promotions. • Led photo and video shoot art direction in partnership with our in-house production team to ensure the needs of all digital channels were met. • Led Brooklinen’s loyalty program rebrand including logo, landing pages, account pages, and flow/triggered emails. • Provided design direction and refreshed photo/video assets for the redesign of Brooklinen’s new website.
• Led and executed a rebranding effort in preparation for the brand’s formal launch. This included new logos, typography, color palette, printed collateral, editorial redesign, app redesign, as well as defining photography and video art direction. • Spearheaded the hiring of an interior design firm and led the direction of AEDIT’s new office space in the Flatiron district of NYC. I served as the main point of contact for both logistics and design direction. • Worked closely with the founder/CEO on all rebranding efforts.
• Led the concepting and execution of all brand photoshoots; managing budgets, working with external producers, project managers, photographers, and stylists. • Oversaw all branding efforts and campaign development from digital to print, social content, and the launch of Mack Weldon’s first brick and mortar store at Hudson Yards. • Management of one internal designer plus overseeing external design resources (freelance talent and agencies). • Reported directly into the CEO and worked closely to align brand vision with business goals.
• Established streamlined design processes as the first in-house designer at Mack Weldon, receiving and implementing feedback from key stakeholders and evolving brand guidelines. • Collaboratively designed online and offline experiences across all brand touch points with marketing, copy, UX, engineering, and external creative teams. • Managed production and art direction for all brand photo and video shoots, overseeing model and location selection, budgets, and post-production asset management.
• Designed content for both desktop and mobile platforms, including web ads, emails, marketing campaigns, site and social media assets, and logos. • Successfully led design efforts for global fashion week and influencer events.
• Worked closely with the Marketing Communications team to develop various promotional materials for different publishing categories. • Created advertising, displays, brochures, videos and other collateral pieces that aligned with the company's brand identity. • Produced sales materials, event invitations, catalogs, sell-sheets, and giveaways to promote products successfully. • Contributed to enhancing the overall visual appeal of the promotional campaigns.