Insights Into Branding:
A speaker panel for aspiring entrepreneurs

Since 2015 I’ve periodically lead panels on branding and design for graduate school alumni at New York University. ‘Insights into Branding’ was created for for entrepreneurs. Alumni who had moved on to become business owners asked our panel questions on best practices and other insights around branding and design. I helped put together a seminar agenda with Milena Bejouleva, NYU’s representative for the Graphic Communications Management Association and School of Professional Studies.

Other NYU GRADUATE ALUMNI TALKS

Topics at the talks I’ve helped create include mid-level career development for marketers and communication design professionals and trends in business around branding and design.

FUSE AND PROJECT OSMOSIS

In 2019 we invited Project Osmosis to FUSE and gave kids scholarships to the industry event. The students participated in panels with brand and design industry leaders and FUSE speaking faculty. Project Osmosis offers education in the arts and design to talented kids who would otherwise have no means to gain an art education. To the left is my podcast interview with Project Osmosis founder Vernon Lockhart. I really loved speaking with Vernon and in this interview in particular you immediately get his passion for helping young artists and designers of color break into design as a career choice.

SPEAKING TO MIDDLE SCHOOLERS

I’ve been invited multiple times by Scott Cook, principal of Mt. Horeb middle school in Warren, NJ to lead interactive sessions on creative direction, design and the fundamentals of branding to youngsters who’d never been exposed to these areas. The presentations were designed to resonate with this level of student. In one session I had the kids “art direct” me as we invented a super hero. In another session kids came up with a logo for their names using archetypes as a starting point. I especially liked the rebellious ones who chose “villain” to be theirs.

ART MAKING with my kids

I really try to instill the value of creative thinking in my kids. When I have the time I do my best to do activities around making art and music. Pictured to the left is a family portrait we did together depicting 5 hearts to represent each member of our family. I took a bunch of cardboard boxes out to our driveway and asked them each to paint on this large rectangular piece of plywood. That painting now hangs in our living room. What was really great about this project was that before you knew it the kids were off doing their own projects. We actually had a critique of the work later in our basement (pictured below).