Everyone is a genius at something
(Including you)
Meet Desiree
Creative Director & Designer
With over 20 years of experience working with nonprofits, I offer a unique combination of business, technical, and creative skills. I work best with people who are ready for meaningful change. I’m known for the exceptional quality of my work and for being a truth teller.
As a designer, I build brands, websites and digital systems. I tell visual stories and design solutions to challenging problems to make processes more effective. Currently, I work full-time as a Design and Innovation Manager for a large nonprofit, where I focus on digital transformation projects. My visual design aesthetic has been described as, “Classy, like Oprah.”
As a strategic and creative thinker I can let my inner muse out to play, think like a visionary and then ground in reality to get things done. I am driven to understand how people think, feel and work. I’m equal parts creative muse, avant-garde thinker and professional whip cracker.
Managing change and leading complex projects are my zones of genius.
As a trainer and facilitator, I work with community leaders and nonprofits in the areas of storytelling, brand management, process improvement and leadership development. I also facilitate brave space for truth-telling and difficult conversations.
My Philosophy
I am a maker of magic and mischief. I believe in radical honesty, imagination and creative disruption as tools for healing and transformation.
I am perpetually curious about how the world works, and human behavior in particular. I’m always open to exploration and getting lost down new rabbit holes.
I believe in the interconnection between all things and see life as a dance with energy. I easily see patterns and connections at play within systems. I am enchanted by thinking about thinking and learning about learning.
I love systems and frameworks that lead to clearer thinking, effective action and continuous improvement. I am driven to curate and share information with others in actionable and digestible ways.
“Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.”
— ELIZABETH GILBERT, BIG MAGIC
True Story
Bold, fierce and authentic are words I use to describe my personal brand.
I’m a single mother of two children, whom I call my wild things. Both are special needs, one on the autism spectrum high functioning and the other with bipolar mental health challenges. We are resilient.
I’m a queer indigenous femme and proud member of the Radical Faery community. I came out at the age of 36, and (apparently) I was the last to know.
I study productivity, project and knowledge management tools, methods and frameworks for fun. I’m both a nerd and a geek. My latest obsession is Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and building a second brain in a note-taking application called Obsidian.
I’m a mixed media artist, certified creativity coach and modern medicine woman with an ancestor party line. Here are samples of my art and a manifesto about magic.
My Disney archetype is “Misunderstood Sorceress” as I am most often compared to Maleficent. Perhaps a bit intimidating and hard to get close to at first, but will love you with a fierce tenderness and incomparable loyalty.
My archetypal DNA is as follows:
I’m a Capricorn Sun☀️, Scorpio Moon 🌕 and Sagittarius Rising ↗
My Myers-Briggs type is INFJ (the rarest type at 1.5% of the population)
My top 5 Strength Finders qualities are: 1) Individualization, 2) Ideation, 3) Strategic, 4) Learner, and 5) Command
My Enneagram type is 8w7 (challenger)
What else would you like to know? Feel free to ask.
