And I am so glad you're here.
I'm someone who has loved creating for as long as I can remember. Before the career, before the clients, before I even knew what to call the thing I felt pulling at me... I just knew I was supposed to create. And looking back I can see God was in that from the very beginning.
That feeling never went away. I have such a passion to use the creativity HE gave me to build.
Now I get to help other creatives find their footing too. And honestly? That is my favorite part of the whole journey.
Very into: good design that has a reason behind it, helping people have those "I am so excited to create" moments, and creating things that feel as good as they look. Always down for a real conversation about branding, creativity, and building with purpose.
I grew up in a small town in West Texas and honestly I didn't even know what a graphic designer was until I was 16 years old. I just knew I loved creating. I was that girl sketching in her notebooks and dreaming about working in magazines one day even though nobody around me could tell me how to get there.
My family loved me. My teachers cheered me on. But when I told them I wanted to work in magazines they were like... what is that and where did you even get that from?
Then one day I was flipping through a college catalog looking at majors and I saw the definition of graphic design. That was the moment. Everything I had been feeling since I was a little girl finally had a name. I remember thinking THIS. This is what I have been trying to say.
So I did what I always do. I figured it out. I went to college for art, a girl from West Texas with big dreams and absolutely no blueprint, and I started building.
And I have not stopped since.
Here's what people don't always know about a journey like mine. It wasn't one straight line from that college catalog to where I am today. Life happened. All of it.
I went through relationship & career shifts that made me question everything I thought I was building toward. I started over more than once. I walked through seasons that were hard in ways I don't need to spell out here but if you've been through it you know exactly what I mean. There were moments where some people may have let the creative dream go.
But I couldn't. Creativity is not something I just do. It is something God wired into me. And every single time life tried to pull me away from it, that passion brought me right back.
I became a mom to two beautiful daughters and I kept building. I left positions that no longer served where God was taking me and I kept building. I pivoted when the path I was on wasn't the path I was called to and I kept building.
Not because I had it all figured out. But because the fire to create never went out. And I believe with everything in me that it was never supposed to.
That same passion carried me through 17 years of building for brands, working as an Art Director for national publications, earning multiple design awards, and serving as Creative Director for a marketing agency and a major rodeo brand that I built their entire visual identity.
And now it carries me into the work I do today. Teaching. Mentoring. Helping creatives who feel that same fire to build what they have been called to create.
Because if I've learned anything through all of it, it's this: God doesn't give you passion like that just to watch you sit on it.
Growing up — West Texas — Sketching in notebooks. Dreaming about magazines. No idea there was a word for what I wanted to be.
16 years old — Flipped through a college catalog and read the definition of graphic design. The lightbulb moment that changed everything.
2008 to 2012 — Valdosta State University, GA — Moved across the country with husband (Air Force) earned my BFA at Valdosta State University. Photographer, graphic designer, founded the Deadline Gallery, and got my hands on every practicum I could. This is where the foundation was built.
2009 — Became a mom to my first daughter. This was the moment I went ALL in to show my girl to follow her calling.
2013 — Minneapolis, MN — Graphic Designer and Production Artist Intern at RedLine Editorial. Freelance design and photography on the side. New city. New challenge. Same passion.
2014 to 2019 — Fort Worth, TX — Morris Media / Cowboy Publishing. Started as a Production Assistant worked on Western Horseman, Quarter Horse News, Barrel Horse News, Equine Journal, and other equine publications. Worked my way up to Art Director for Equine Journal and Cutting Horse Chatter. Directed award winning editorial and cover designs. This was the dream I had as a kid coming to life.
2015 — Became a mom for the second time. Building strong, loving it.
2019 — EQJ brand closed. No more magazine. Started freelancing... we had moved to Muleshoe earlier that year.
2020 to 2022 — Muleshoe, TX — Design and Photography Instructor for Muleshoe ISD and South Plains College. Keynote speaker at ENMU. Creative partner for a rodeo marketing company. Poured into the next generation of creatives and realized teaching was not a side thing. It was something I really loved.
2022 to 2024 — Mount Pleasant, TX — Marketing Creative and Creative Director for a western company. Leading creative direction, photography, and brand strategy on a bigger scale.
2024 to today — Co-Founder and Creative Director of Called Driven Media Creative. Create by Faith podcast. Design with Confidence course. Creative Director Consults. ADPList mentor across 15+ countries. Collaborating with amazing creatives and partnering with Kingdom brands. Still building. Still passionate. Still a student of creativity.
Award-winning designer. Brand strategist. Creative mentor. Founder of CDM Creative LLC and Create by Faith.
17 years of industry experience. Art Director for national publications. Creative Director for major brands. 5x American Horse Publications Award winner. 140+ brands built. 70+ creatives mentored through ADPList.
And a woman who learned that the most important credential she would ever carry is the one God gave her.
Let's start with a Focus Hour. One hour. Real strategy. Real direction. And the first step toward a brand as strong as the work you were made to do.