Projects Update: Summer of 2025

It's been a minute! Sorry I left you hanging since October of last year. I can't get you caught up on everything, so here are some recent highlights!

Designer Life at Swell

At Swell, it’s been a nonstop sprint of creativity. In just Q2, we launched somewhere north of 120 campaigns (I think? Let me ask my angel Project Manager, she'll know the stats), and according to my own tracking, I created 658 individual assets, including a ton of videos. It’s been fast, it’s been intense, and it’s been gratifying to see that volume of work out in the world. I want to share more about my job - Sometimes it's hard to process it all to share!

Starting next blog, I'll share one or two of my favorite campaigns I worked on recently.

Teaching, Filming, and Flowing in Montauk

I've been expanding my yoga teaching practice in some exciting ways! My Friday flows don't stop at Ascent, where I teach regularly!

I’ve also joined the incredible crew at Montauk Om, teaching by the beach and soaking up the local love by offering discounted classes to serve the community. I just wrapped a photoshoot for the teaching team, and it was such a joy to help capture the spirit of the studio. Take a peek!

From Fan to Collaborator!!!

One of the most fun projects I’ve done recently was for Christopher Bingham, a creator I’ve followed for over ten years. I got to design a book cover for a cheeky little - and also surprisingly convincing - April Fool’s video, which was every bit as fun as it sounds. (I’m excited about the strong (wink) possibility of more creative collaborations on the horizon!!)

The Curtain Hasn't Fallen

I have taken a brief pause on playwriting, but a lot has still been going on onstage! I read for this year's Bay Area Playwright's Festival, and am thrilled to see that one of the plays I reviewed and gave feedback on made it to the semifinals! (I particularly loved some work I read that I'm hunting down, I want to give it some big shout-outs, but I have to find it again first. It's around here somewhere.)

Back in December, I also had the ultimate joy of getting to see my play, First Miss, reinterpreted for a high school audience. It was performed by Creekside High School for their district one-act competition, where they received a Superior rating! I want to continue to write and re-write work to suite high school thespians - and am thrilled to have had a chance to connect with these young artists. I'm still hip??? Possibly.

The exceptionally talented cast of First Miss!

LEARNING! It's happening! 3D Modeling and Writing Practice

This year, I also dove headfirst into 3D modeling through my partner Jack’s Characters and Creatures class. Learning ZBrush was intimidating at first, but it ended up being incredibly rewarding. The first assignment was to create a skull for a fictional character (I chose a "rubber hose" style Mimic - a treasure chest monster).

For the final project, we were to design a character and their creature. After much pondering, I wanted to try my hand at a pair inspired by mod fashion. I saw an adorable illustration of a toucan, and decided a pair of Miami resort-goers would be my go-to:

Concept Art

To balance the visual work with some creative writing, I recently joined Write To Yourself, a writing group led by Hazel Hayes. It’s been a refreshing, more introspective addition to my creative practices. And everyone in that community seems positively lovely.

You Get a Gig! And You Get a Gig!

Outside of my day job, I’ve been taking on some select freelance projects! I've done some work with Artist Talk Mental Health in Pittsburgh, as well as social media content strategy and creative for clients like Sandcastle Resort. I've also been able to collaborate here and there with my partner Jack on both creative projects, and website design work! I’m mindful of balancing these side gigs, but I love being able to take on more!

Yo, Danny Phantom, He Was Just Fourteen...

I had the SUPREME joy of working on a few scenes for the "Danny Phantom: Re-Phanimated" fan animation of the first episode, Mystery Meat! I've never animated before, but I picked up Procreate Dreams and did my best! Great community of people on Discord contributing to this. Here's two of my scenes below - the full thing is going through some copyright problems, as you can imagine.

Fantasy! Running! Hip Hop! Oh My!

Just for fun, I also want to mention that I ran my fifth (and I'm thinking... final) half marathon this spring. My knees still haven't forgiven me, so we're moving on to different modalities of movement. Like the hip hop classes I've been taking at The Lab! I also got to do an INCREDIBLE medieval-style photoshoot with the most talented and hardworking fantasy photographer, Olivia. I'm posting all about that stuff on my Instagram; but here's one of my favorite shots!

LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING ME

All In All: It's Good To Be Mayor.

Whether it’s introducing myself at a studio, offering to do photography for a business, or pitching myself for work I’m excited about, I’m the kind of person who just sort of goes up to you and asks if they can help. It's giving Golden Retriever energy, but professionally. Jack started calling me the “Mayor of Montauk” because it feels like I’m always seeing someone I know around town. But the truth is, those connections come from putting myself out there. And I’m proud of that. I can't seem to stop doing it. I don't think I'm quite the mayor out here, but I'm fine with working on that - wherever I am!

I hope you go out into the world today and ask for something you want, you might just get it!  Thanks for following along for this overdue update!