Our Background
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Kristina
KRISTINA
I started designing at 15, when I took my first journalism class and joined my high school’s publications team. I quickly discovered a passion for storytelling, layout, and branding, and eventually became Editor-in-Chief, leading the yearbook team and and competing at national journalism conventions, where I earned awards for layout design.
That led me to study Electronic Arts in college, focusing on interactive new media. During my freshman year, I worked as a graphic designer for the Student Life department, creating signs, flyers, and handouts that were posted all over campus.
After Graduation from MSU in 2019, I joined a catering company that I helped pivot into a neighborhood market during the early days of the pandemic. During my 2 1/2 years with them on a wide range of roles: prep cook, event manager, social media coordinator, product photographer, storefront designer, handyman, taste tester, and operations lead. That role was the most labor-intensive, high-energy, rewarding, skill-building job I’d ever taken on.
Looking to slow down and refocus, I accepted a position as Studio Manager at a community ceramic studio where I was a member. That role evolved into Art Director, and I spent three years as the senior-most team member shaping the studio’s brand, operations, programs, and creative direction. I redesigned the website and course catalog, hired a team of instructors and managers, managed social medias, and streamlined both the studio’s ceramic processes and community offerings. While I’ve since handed off most of those responsibilities, I continue to manage the studio’s website and provide creative support as needed.
Throughout all of these roles, I continued designing on the side—for friends, restaurants, small businesses, weddings, and events. Eventually, I realized it was time to fully invest in myself. What began as a side hustle has grown into my full-time creative studio, where I now focus all of my energy.
These days, my life revolves around raising my bright, golden-hearted son. Outside of my work, I’m a ceramic artist, lover of all things arts and crafts, and happiest when I’m out in the yard or spending time in nature.
HIGHER EDUCATION
2015-2019
MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY
Bachelor of Science in
Electronic Arts: Interactive New Media
Minors in Design and Art
DREAM PROJECTS
One of my all-time dream projects is designing a cookbook—whether for a client or just for my own family. I’ve always loved cooking, even if I rarely write down what I make. The idea of turning favorite recipes into something tangible and beautiful really excites me.
Back in high school, designing the yearbook showed me just how much thought and care goes into every detail—fact-collecting, checking, writing, laying out—and the incredible feeling of seeing it all come together, one page at a time. I still love being handed a block of plain text and turning it into something that tells a story.
A cookbook feels like the perfect blend of everything I love: food, design, photography, and storytelling. If you're working on a cookbook—or dreaming up one of your own—I’d love to help bring it to life.
One of my favorite parts of design is being handed a big block of text—or even better, a messy, poorly laid-out document—and turning it into something clean and beautiful. Cleaning up a design feels like cleaning a messy room, so satisfying when it’s done and you can look back at what you started with.
I love piecing blocks of text together like a puzzle, correcting font choices, fixing inconsistencies, tightening spacing, matching brand styles, and bringing order to the chaos. Getting to work with a brand consistently and really learning its style guide inside and out is especially rewarding.