Consulting
Rachel runs her own small consultancy as a fractional design executive where her approach is informed by experiences both in-house and agency side. She can help a company through a transitional period or be leveraged as a cost-efficient way to introduce top-tier thinking into an organization.
What is fractional leadership?
Whether you’re an early-stage startup founder or a resourceful hiring manager, it’s hard to identify the best design leader for your long-term needs. Fractional leadership is a flexible model where organizations engage seasoned professionals to drive design initiatives for a fraction of the time (on a part-time or per project basis).
As an interim executive, Rachel can bring a wide range of benefits to businesses, making her a valuable asset to any team without the need for full-time employment. She provides fresh perspectives, operational best practices, mentorship and skill development, cross-functional collaboration, and valuable guidance to enhance the overall design capabilities and outcomes of the organization.
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Why not hire a full-time design leader?
Navigating the hiring process for a full-time design leader can be risky, time-consuming, and expensive. A bad hire can also have detrimental effects on company culture. Opting to work with Rachel offers a flexible and lower-commitment solution, ideal for situations where time is of the essence and you need to quickly bring your ideas to life without the potential risks associated with a permanent hire. Additionally, as the partnership evolves, she can help you build your own dedicated creative team.
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Does this model really work?
Rachel leverages a hybrid approach that combines asynchronous productivity with focused synchronous discussions. She will build in dedicated blocks of time for alignment meetings for strategy and project goal discussions and the remaining time is dedicated to individual work, where timely updates will be provided and work in progress will be shared via slack or email. A fan of value-based pricing, Rachel always seeks to build a process that ensures efficient collaboration while maximizing productivity.
If this is what you’re looking for, feel free to schedule a call to learn more. From there, a co-created partnership structure can be crafted based on goals, deliverables, and available budget.
Interim Creative Director, Design
Nov. 2024 – Present
Fractional Head of Creative
May 2024 – Oct. 2024
Interested in working with Rachel?
While she is booked through March 2025, Rachel would still love to hear from you.
Fractional Digital Design Lead
Jan. 2024 – Mar. 2024
Fractional Executive Creative Director
Jul. 2024 – Oct. 2024
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Coaching New People Managers
Rachel helped Coalition’s Associate Creative Director navigate the shift from an individual contributor (IC) role to a manager (M) role and understand how to scale her / her team’s impact.
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Shaping Employee Experiences
Rachel caught up with Grey New York’s Internal Culture and Communications team and shared ideas about how to uplevel their Design Org’s upcoming field trip employee experience.
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Acting as Client-Facing Partner
Rachel stepped in as the Fractional Executive Creative Director for a major brand identity project, pitched the work directly to clients, and guided all creatives throughout the process.
Client Testimonials
Project: The Hope Portal & Pedagogy Design
My Role: Fractional Digital UX Lead & Strategist
Date: November 2023 – March 2024
“What I needed most was a strategic thought-partner—someone who was willing to immerse in very thick content before any notion of a pixel or a product came anywhere close to emerging. Rachel did that! The project then took a hard left turn into a surprising territory of pixel-y production mode, and she was humble enough to lean into that, as well. We nailed the final delivery and became friends in the process.”
— Lisa Baird, Présidente / Fraîche Design Thinking
“Direction 1 is my clear favorite. I like the way you see what you’re getting, and this gives different people different points of entry and intrigue. I like the clarity and compactness of it. I think the design is beautiful; it feels like a Gift Box. Yay. This design also allows for the individual to explore themselves first, and get a sense of the invitation they’re making.”
— Krista Tippett, President, Executive Producer, and Host / On Being
Project: Dropbox Design Critique Program Launch
My Role: Fractional Employee Experience Designer
Date: October 2022 – May 2023
“Rachel ran incredibly insightful sessions with my entire design org, walking us through the fundamentals behind design critique. Since then, we’ve seen a measurable uplift in the quality of quality and how teams action on feedback.”
— Alastair Simpson, Vice President of Design / Dropbox
“Rachel has a unique ability to make complex ideas accessible. She clearly did her research and took the time to personalize her message for our audience. What I appreciated most was that it spoke to both designers and non-designers alike.”
— Joanna Vargas, Ex-Community Design Program Manager on Design Ops / Dropbox
Project: Airbnb Internal Brand Team Reimagination
My Role: Fractional Head of Creative
Date: March 2021 – September 2022
“Rachel was instrumental in standing up our internal creative studio. She was the perfect experienced creative executive to consult with in this critical stage. Rachel is a quick study and an amazing partner. Having an outside point of view was incredibly helpful.”
— Liz Kleinman, Director of Employee Experience on Ground Control / Airbnb
“This half is going to be epic y’all — the strategic evolutions we’ve identified that we want to make as a team are so ripe. We’re so happy that Rachel is with us to help shepherd and coach us. The brand playbook is thorough, rigorous work.”
— Danni Anagnostaras, Director of Internal Communications on Ground Control / Airbnb
Project: Amex’s Departures Magazine Relaunch
My Role: Fractional Executive Creative Director
Date: November 2020 – February 2022
“Rachel’s greatest skill is her ability to move people. Not just with her work — but with the way she gathers people, builds consensus, and creates culture. Don’t just hire Rachel for her creative talent; hire her for everything else she brings with it.”
— Corbin Brown, Former General Manager at Giant Spoon / Departures
“Rachel has the unique ability to be both totally present and ten steps ahead, at the same time. She exemplified to the team, partners and clients what it looks like to be lofty in vision while simultaneously careful in execution.”
— Janina Volpe, Former Group Strategy Director at Giant Spoon / Departures
In 2022, Rachel influenced many exciting initiatives, including internal brand programs at Airbnb, a new magazine called MYLES, and a brand identity system for Jacqueline Novogratz’s latest passion project, Anew. For Airbnb specifically, her main deliverables included reimagining their internal creative studio’s infrastructure and operating system, leading their Internal Brand Playbook initiative (250+ page resource in Figma), and designing the employee-facing digital experience for their Live and Work Anywhere program. Before she joined, their creative studio was not working as a unified team and required a full reset.
The year prior, Rachel helped relaunch American Express lifestyle brand, Departures as Executive Creative Director, part-time (press here). For most of her active clients, she is set up as an independent contractor and leads fully distributed teams while sourcing amazing talent from her own network.