Experience
2024 — Now
2024 — Now
San Francisco Bay Area
Middle Space Studio is a creative and strategic consultancy helping early-stage, mission-driven founders bring structure and soul to their businesses. I partner with CPG, hospitality, and wellness brands to bridge the gap between vision and execution—combining brand strategy, digital design, and operational consulting to build scalable systems for growth.
• Built a multidisciplinary consultancy model integrating brand strategy, digital design, and operational systems—delivering end-to-end solutions that reduce client dependence on multiple contractors and strengthen brand consistency.
• Partnered with pre-seed and seed-stage founders to develop investor decks, brand books, and websites that supported capital raises, retail expansion, and new product launches (including Amazon readiness).
• Implemented scalable operational frameworks—Notion dashboards, SOP libraries, and marketing calendars—that improved client execution speed and accountability by ~30–40%.
• Developed custom brand strategy playbooks aligning founder vision, messaging, and visual identity to improve internal cohesion and external storytelling.
• Built a scalable internal operations backbone using Bonsai for project tracking, invoicing, and SOW management—enabling 100% on-time client delivery and future team expansion.
• Established a creative-ops consultancy model that allows founders to focus on leadership and product while I translate their vision into systems, tools, and brand infrastructure that drive measurable results.
Tools: Shopify · Squarespace · WordPress · Adobe Creative Suite · Notion · Mailchimp · Klaviyo · Bonsai · Google Workspace
2022 — 2024
Los Angeles, California, United States
Served as strategic and operational lead for a 20-person, early-stage food and education startup. Oversaw operations, HR, legal, and marketing while managing a 15-person cross-functional team. Partnered directly with the CEO and Board to lead the company from an unprofitable DTC model to a $2M multi-channel business within 18 months.
• Led operational turnaround, improving gross margin from –370% to +12% and scaling revenue from $30K to $1.5M through cost restructuring and production optimization.
• Cut purchasing spend by 50% by transitioning to larger vendors, negotiating favorable net terms, and improving cash flow management.
• Built company-wide operating cadence (OKRs, KPI dashboards, and quarterly reviews) to align teams and increase delivery reliability.
• Owned HR & legal operations, overseeing payroll, benefits, and compliance via Justworks; implemented performance reviews and managed two settled lawsuits.
• Partnered with the CEO on board communications, fundraising decks, and investor updates to enhance strategic clarity and confidence.
• Managed school and community partnerships, overseeing compliance and logistics for multi-district meal programs.
Key Tools: Monday.com, Google Workspace, Slack, Justworks, KPI Dashboards
2022 — 2022
2022 — 2022
Los Angeles, California, United States
Led creative direction and studio operations for a high-volume experiential marketing agency serving premium spirits and lifestyle brands. Managed a hybrid team of 7 creatives (2 in-house, up to 5 contractors) and reported directly to the CEO.
• Built creative operations infrastructure by implementing Monday.com and Google Drive systems, reducing revision cycles and improving project delivery speed.
• Directed creative across Diageo brands (Don Julio, Tanqueray, Johnnie Walker) and partners including Kin Euphorics, 818 Tequila, and Prime Video, elevating design consistency and retaining key accounts.
• Developed pitch decks, moodboards, and event lookbooks that turned brand concepts into executable activations, driving repeat client engagements.
• Managed six-figure design and production budgets for influencer and PR gifting programs, optimizing costs while maintaining quality and brand alignment.
• Recruited, onboarded, and mentored designers and contractors, improving creative quality and turnaround efficiency.
Tools: Monday.com · Google Workspace · Adobe Creative Suite
2021 — 2022
2021 — 2022
United States
Collaborated with the Creative Director and Copywriter to design and execute brand visuals across digital, print, packaging, and retail for Mikuna, a plant-based protein startup scaling within the competitive CPG wellness space. Owned end-to-end brand design during national retail expansion, helping define visual systems and creative standards.
• Owned 360° brand design execution across packaging, ecommerce, paid media, and retail, strengthening Mikuna’s premium identity and cohesive storytelling.
• Designed and launched new packaging and in-store assets that improved shelf visibility and supported rollout in Whole Foods and other natural retailers.
• Developed and executed digital campaigns that contributed to double-digit engagement and follower growth across owned social channels.
• Coordinated vendor production for print, retail, and DTC materials, maintaining quality and on-brand execution across 20+ SKUs.
• Implemented structured design workflows in Google Workspace, improving cross-team collaboration and cutting asset retrieval time by ~40%.
2020 — 2021
2020 — 2021
Los Angeles, California, United States
Served as creative lead and cross-functional bridge between marketing, operations, and product during a high-growth rebrand and product relaunch for this wellness CPG brand. Managed internal and external creative teams, vendor relationships, and agency partnerships to scale GEM’s identity and performance across digital and retail channels.
• Directed a full 360° rebrand in partnership with Verdes Agency, overseeing logo, packaging, website, photography, and tone of voice — achieving a 45% lift in conversion post-launch through improved storytelling and cohesive design execution.
• Managed end-to-end rollout across all channels (social, email, paid, retail, and ecommerce), collaborating with operations and product to align packaging, fulfillment, and creative for a consistent customer experience.
• Implemented Asana, Figma, and Google Suite systems to centralize creative workflows and feedback cycles, cutting turnaround time from 2–3 weeks to 1 week and improving collaboration across teams.
• Partnered with the CEO on fundraising efforts, designing investor materials that translated complex business vision into clear and compelling creative strategy.
• Directed two brand photoshoots and managed contractors, freelancers, and vendors to maintain creative quality and budget alignment through launch.
• Supported launch of new product formulations and Amazon expansion, ensuring creative alignment across DTC, retail, and marketplace channels.
Education
Prescott College
Bachelor of Arts
University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Ecosa Institute
RE-Design Certification
Sage Hill School