My journey began when I was hired by Some Spider Studios as a brand designer to collaborate with Emma Chao, Scary Mommy’s art director, on rebranding Scary Mommy—one of the largest digital publications for mothers in the U.S. at the time. This was an incredibly fun, enlightening, and enriching project that helped me build a wide range of new skills and gave me the opportunity to learn under a talented and inspiring creative director.

Just one week after joining the company, I learned that Some Spider had been acquired by Bustle Digital Group (BDG). Within a month, the process of merging teams, files, and workspaces began—opening even more opportunities that would shape my career in meaningful ways.

Together, Emma and I conducted market research, analyzed audience data, and presented our findings to senior leadership to reimagine Scary Mommy with a more modern, engaging, and visually consistent brand identity. We explored countless creative approaches for editorial art direction in preparation for SM’s new CMS, building mood boards, drawing inspiration from across the web, and refining our concepts until we had a clear direction. From there, I helped redesign the logo, develop a fresh color and font system, create new icons and social assets, and collaborate with the editorial team to design Scary Mommy’s first fully reimagined CMS hub for launch day.

Beyond the rebrand, I also led the design of assets and advertising for some Scary Mommy’s editorial initiatives—including interviews with experts, the Book Club series, and Scary Mommy Originals callouts. For the next two years, I continued to support Emma and the Scary Mommy team as their primary designer, making this project not only a successful launch but also the true foundation of my career at BDG.