About
I'm an award-winning creative director, photographer, and executive producer steeped in photo production experience. Over the past 7 years, I've honed my creative director and agency management skills as the partner of the virtual brand and advertising agency, My Sister Fred.
As creative director and executive producer, I've successfully led distributed teams of creative and production professionals, including art directors, graphic designers, illustrators, animators, stylists, set designers, photographers, producers, film editors, motion graphics designers, sound designers, colorists, and retouchers. We consistently deliver breakthrough creative campaigns and content that enhances our clients' brand presence and engages their target audiences across mediums: print and digital advertising, video, OOH, web content, paid social, and email marketing. My work has contributed to multiple awards for the agency.
As a photographer, I've created portrait and location photography and video content for clients and led teams of technicians and assistants during studio and location shoots in the US and Europe. I’ve created photo libraries of work for our clients.
Before becoming a partner at My Sister Fred, I was a photo producer and art producer at advertising agencies in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, managing location and studio productions, researching and sourcing top photography, illustration, animation, and video talent; negotiating usage rights; overseeing production budgets and selecting images for commercial use.
I have lived and worked in Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. In my spare time, I shoot environments on location during my travels and have had gallery exhibitions featuring my landscape photography. I also compose music and am a classically trained pianist. I now live in Austin with my wife and dogs.
Specialties: Creative Direction, Photo Editing, Art Direction, Concepting, Creative Advertising, Content Creation, Production, Photo Research, Photography, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Copyediting.
Ad agencies
My Sister Fred, Grey NY, Leo Burnett, FCB, Havas, JWT, McGarry Bowen, TDA Advertising, TDH Creative, Walton Isaacson, .
Brands by Category
Beverages
Anheuser Busch, Beam Global, Captain Morgan, Diageo, Effen, Hornitos, Michelob Ultra, Midori, Pucker, Terremoto, The Glenlivet
Catalog/Fashion
Chaco, Claire's Boutiques, Dillard's, Follett’s Higher Education, Gap, GSP, Hush Puppies, International Male, Jockey, Kmart, Lands' End, Lenscrafters, Nordstrom, Revlon, Sears, Spiegel, Transitions
Electronics
Canon, Nokia, Sprint, Sproing
Financial & B2B
Visa, Certusbank, Clearbridge, ComplySci, LaSalle Bank, Legg Mason, NYSE, NYSE Euronext, Zurich Financial Group, Ricciardi Group
Food/Packaged Goods
Advil, Advil PM, Cracker Barrel, Febreze, Hefty, Kraft, Pringles, Revlon, Reynolds, Sonic, Special K, Osiris, Carriage House Cider
Representation
CAA
Government
Biden’s Briefing, U.S. Postal Service, City of Austin Watershed Department
Lifestyle
Artful Method, Crowne Plaza, Disney, PEI, Moth Architects
Compliance
LRN
Live Events
Scripps Network Interactive, World Cup
NonProfit
LaColectiva, Lumity, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, TedxLondonBusinessSchool, Transunion, UL
Moto
CanAm Spyder
Pharma
Advil, Allergan, Clairol, Febreze, GSK, Procter & Gamble, 3M
Recommendations
“I worked closely with Mary at My Sister Fred on a beautiful award-winning sustainability video when I was leading global brand management at UL. Not only was the final video refreshingly creative, charming, smart and delivered against our business goals, the same could be said for Mary herself. She was a pleasure to work with it, a clear expert in her craft and also handled our complicated approvals and requirements gracefully. I look forward to working with her again in the future.
– Delza Laxamana, Executive Global Brand Leader
"My Sister Fred is skilled, creative and super fun to work with! Y'all are fantastic!!" – Aaron Hicks, Marketing Executive
“Mary was a dream to work with for TEDxLondonBusinessSchool. She was very detail oriented and diligent at developing creative solutions and following up with specific recommendations. The team could not have been happier with the creative execution of the brief, and Mary and the My Sister Fred team really went above and beyond to deliver a superlative product. We received so many compliments on our design - it was a great feeling!”– Tarana Shivdasani, Country Operations Manager, UK at Google
“I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with My Sister Fred on three separate animated video projects, and the results have been nothing short of fantastic every time. From script development to illustrator style recommendations, music variants, and VO talent options, the process was not only strategic and creative but also downright fun! Their team consistently brings fresh ideas to the table while also staying aligned with our vision.” – Susan Birkenmeyer, Corporate Branding Executive
“Mary and Claudine are a powerful duo. They took on the task of rewriting my copy with curiosity and respect. They have a flawless flair for finding just the right words in the correct order to get your message across without any waste or waffle. Professional, diligent, and deeply perceptive, I enjoyed every minute of working with them.” – Lucie Charkin, Founder, Artful Method