EXPERIENCE

Rubie’s Costume Company                                                                                                                                                      Westbury, NY

Category Manager of Imagine/Seasonal Products                                                                                                          July 2017-Present

• Build and manage over 25 product lines containing over 150 licensed and generic products for Fortune 500 retailers including online and independent businesses

• Strategize creative solutions to work around product licensing restraints and coordinate with the Packaging, Sourcing, Sales and Ordering departments to facilitate samples being produced

• Build trusting relationships with designers, vendors, and clients to track production progress for upcoming season’s product using Product Lifestyle Management tools

• Assemble plan-o-grams digitally to scale for Target and Walmart

• Collaborate with various teams to create a variety of 10 seasonal product lines sold in Walmart and Target for Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Saint Patrick’s Day, and Valentine Day

• Responsible for all samples, signage, layouts and set up for both Toy Fair Dallas and The North American International Toy Fair

• Provide proposal layouts and designs for million-dollar corporate contracts under tight deadlines

 

SortaStarlette/Laura Ann Designs                                                                                                                                              Mineola, NY

Corporate Branding, Product, Packaging, Graphic Designer                                                                                   August 2007-Present

• Conceptualize and design fliers, logos, menus and business cards for restaurants in Mineola, NY and Hollywood, CA

• Develop the corporate identity for Laura Ann’s Jams, Steadfast Paper, and Always Been Creative

• Partner with Fisher-Price to develop multiple toys for toddlers between the ages of 3-6 for licenses like Dora the Explorer

 

Fashioncraft-Excello Corp.                                                                                                                                                         Syosset, NY

Art Director                                                                                                                                                                   March 2009-July 2017

• Designed and Illustrated over 500 products and packaging for various occasions

• Facilitated daily communication with offices in Hong Kong and China reviewing preproduction samples to ensure accuracy

• Created a style guide for Fashioncraft’s corporate identity

 

Continental Accessory Corp.                                                                                                                                                  Amityville, NY

Product, Packaging, Graphic Designer                                                                                                               May 2007-November 2008

• Created control drawings/mechanicals, artwork, packaging and plan-o-gram sell sheets for 6 product lines in total

• Drafted patent application artwork for more than 80 charms in the Poppers line, sold by major retailers including Walmart and CVS

 

Planet Toys, Inc.                                                                                                                                                                         New York, NY
Product Designer                                                                                                                                                          June 2006-April 2007

• Contributed in blue sky meetings to initiate new concepts by creating multimedia presentations based on research

• Was the lead designer for the CSI license, created 3 activity sets from start to finish, including copy for over 40 activities collectively; designed components of the kits, drafted control drawings, and supervised revision process with Hong Kong office and CBS licensing