Creative Director & Strategist for eCommerce, UX, Digital, Photo, Video, Social Content Production, & Print.

Brand Roster

Skills

  • I’m a Creative Director who has done the work I’m tasked with managing. My priorities are being a devoted servant leader and a trusted partner to my stakeholders.

  • You’d never get in a car and drive until you think you’re where you wanted to go, right? I excel at identifying destinations and providing great routes for getting there.

  • I’ve been a designer. I’ve been a FED. And I’ve been an Adjunct Professor of Digital Image Design at Columbia College Chicago. I love leading creatives.

  • You can’t make more hours in the day, but you can optimize the heck out of them. I have a clear and proven path for doing just that.

  • Measurable post-launch success based on routine analytics reviews and refinement.

  • Excellent cross-team communication skills. I’m as at home presenting to the C-suite as to clients, as to cross functional partners.

What floats my boat
A great story, tents, campfires & clothes that smell like them. Old homes, antiques & decor, restoring vintage boats, campers, travel, road trips, photography, nature, adventure…And most of all, creative collaboration.

Hi! I'm Alana.

I’ve recently moved back to Chicago after 3 years in Texas. Before moving to Austin I served as the Global Creative Director for Claire's and Icing Stores, marketing the latest fashion trends for these international brands. I led a team of 22 immensely talented professionals between our Chicago, IL and Birmingham, UK offices. We produced all marketing creative for both brands. —Everything you could possibly think of, including our eCommerce properties, social media content, videos, photoshoots, digital marketing, in-store signage, packaging, & print.

After returning to Chicago, I grew and led the creative department at Alma Lasers, a B2B medical device manufacturer. I’m immensely proud of the process I designed from the ground up, the talent I had the privilege of mentoring, and the general growth of the company as we pushed forward with an ever-focused brand strategy.

My path to creative leadership was via hands-on experience in each of the aforementioned areas, allowing the work we produce to be a collaborative effort and for me to truly empathize with workflow & challenges. I remain very hands-on in all aspects of the creative process in addition to my role as a strategic leader.

Why I love what I do
I started off as a tour photographer and quickly found my way into graphic design. I've always worked heavily in digital as well as print and move easily between processes. Over the years, I've learned the most effective ways to keep stakeholders informed and their visions fulfilled. I'm very process-driven but always make room for real-world project needs. And most of all, I adore mentoring creatives. I've learned so much over my career and really enjoy sharing all the lessons for helping projects go smoothly and assisting my team's professional growth.

What comes out of my mouth the most?
"Form Follows Function"
"Solution-based problem solving"
"Learn from it and move forward"

There isn't anything I can't figure out and I won't stop until I do.