Trish McCabe Rawls — Resume

Brand Designer. Storyteller. Creative Director. — 830.456.6926 • trish@teamrawls.com

Executive Summary

Yes. I have oodles of experience! Pretty much any bullet point in a Creative Director job description I have done. Grab your coffee. Here’s the short version.

After launching my career and cutting my teeth in Kansas City as a green “Intern-turned Junior Art Director” my CD didn’t want to lose, I went on to the larger Dallas Market where I experienced the world of global brands — Pepsi, Lipton, and Ocean Spray. Dallas wasn’t really for me, so I boogied down to Austin as fast as I could and worked for a not-so-weird tech-focused agency. I learned a BUNCH about the B2B tech space, including when a tech crash happens, ad agencies have big layoffs. No better time to go out on my own!

With a solid foundation beneath me, and a unique ability to design and write my own creative copy, I hung out my shingle as a remote freelance Art Director/Designer under the name Creative Noggin. After all, you don’t need the creative sitting in the next cubicle. You just need their great ideas. It worked. I was busy hitting both Austin and San Antonio markets. I’ve been virtual ever since.

After a few years, I invited an account side colleague to join forces with me and her tenacity married with my creative chops got us a nice lineup of great clients.

I loved the full-service branding we were doing. Logos, creative campaigns, print work, digital strategies. All the things! I loved our small family-oriented team. We were all 100% virtual before virtual was cool. Our cozy boutique branding agency was rocking. We grew fast and racked up a couple dozen awards at AAF shows in a few short years.

While I loved managing my small group of creatives with a mutual trust and respect, one day I realized I was doing a lot less creative work and a lot more busy work. More digital maintenance. Less brand building. Creative was not king anymore. Algorithms were. I wasn’t happy with where our particular agency had gone, but I still loved doing the video and photography work for clients.

So… I sold my half of the company to my business partner in 2022. Since then, I have focused on photography and video for a variety of clients, but as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I miss working on brands, working with budgets and deadlines, and collaborating with like-minded professionals. All of it. So I am looking for a remote position that will, yes, take advantage of my design and branding experience and allow me to bring my creative passion and management skills to new clients. Whether in-house as a Creative or Art Director or as part of a consortium of creative professionals working under a larger umbrella.

If this sounds like it fits your bill, I’d love to chat!

All of the work you see in my portfolio site was done while serving as the Creative Director and Lead Designer at the company I founded, Creative Noggin. I was the primary creative throughout the entirety of my ownership.

Work Experience

Team Rawls: Manager, Editor, Producer & Owner/Partner 2022-Present

Leveraging my marketing history, I focus on visual assets and content creation through photography and video.

Creative Noggin: Founder, Creative Director, Lead Designer 2000-2022

I took all my previous experience and built an award-winning advertising and branding company from the ground up.

Clients included: Various small to mid-sized clients as well as numerous non-profit accounts.

Sicola Martin: Austin, Assoc. Creative Director 1996-2000

With a focus on the tech industry, I learned a great deal about B2B.

Clients included: 3M, Motorola, Storagetek, Data Return (Tech B2B Focus)

Tracy Locke/Dallas: Art Director 1994-1996

This worldwide agency gave me experience in global brands. Huge!

Clients included: Pepsi, Lipton, Ocean Spray (B2C and B2B Focus)

Barkley & Evergreen, Art Director 1990-1994

An internship resulted in a job offer where I got my feet wet in advertising—let’s go!

Clients included: Various local and regional accounts

Industry Experience Includes

  • Healthcare

  • Travel & Tourism

  • Education

  • Food & Beverage

  • Technology

  • Non-Profit

  • Finance

  • Real Estate

  • Start-up

Eduction: BFA University of Kansas

Soft Skills

In no particular order, my experience as a Creative Professional and business owner has enabled me to become proficient with my:

  • Teamwork

  • Problem-Solving

  • Critical Thinking

  • Adaptability

  • Time Management

  • Leadership

  • Creativity

  • Emotional Intelligence

  • Self-Motivation

  • Communication

  • Empathy

  • Active Listening

  • Customer Service

  • Flexibility

  • Interpersonal Skills

  • Patience

  • Presentation Skills

  • Writing

  • Verbal Communication

  • Attention to Detail

  • Learning Agility

  • Strategic Thinking

  • Work Ethic

“I have received numerous awards from local/regional advertising awards shows, however I believe success is about results, not just appearance—which is what drives most competitions. I get more career reward from creating happy and successful clients.”

Hard Skills

While I am a constant learner, my experience has enabled me to be proficient in:

  • Creative Ideation/Concepting

  • Graphic Design

  • Creative Brief Development

  • Adobe CC (Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Lightroom)

  • Asset Organization and Archiving

  • All Aspects of Print Production

  • Photography/Video Production

  • Social Media/FB/IG/LI/YT

  • Content Creation

  • Canva

  • Project Management (budgets, timelines, workflow)

  • Copywriting

  • Wix/Weebly/Squarespace Workflow

  • MS Office Products (Word/Excel/Powerpoint)

  • Google Drive/Products

  • Beautiful.ai

  • Frame.io

  • Freshbooks

  • Basecamp

Secondary Hard Skills

I understand these hard skills from a Creative Direction standpoint but do not actively create or manage them.

  • User Experience (UX)

  • Animation and motion Graphics

  • Google Analytics

  • SEO/SEM

  • Media Strategy & Buying

  • Wordpress Backend