COLLABORATIVE + EVER-CURIOUS working to promote
kindness at every turn
Valerie here! I’m an art director, designer and lifelong learner with 14+ years of experience in corporate, start-up, agency and freelance settings.
I’m passionate about creating unique experiences, have an eye for details without losing sight of the big picture, value process and efficient workflow and believe there’s fun to be had in solving problems.
A few of my superpowers include:
breaking the ice, connecting the dots, crafting haikus, riding learning curves, amassing Google docs, brainstormin’ and wearing my mom hat on top of all of the other hats.
I am always on the lookout for new friends and lost playing cards and have collected hundreds of both to date.
My jazz-musician-sidekick, two-year-old daughter and I have recently moved from New York City to the Twin Cities and are super excited to explore our new home together!
Let me tell you
about the time:
I helped build a team, defined the design workflow and created an entire library of art assets from scratch at Bloom Stationers.
As I was sitting on the floor of our new office space waiting for the internet to be installed and for the desk shipment to arrive, I thought to myself, ‘how in the world are we going to communicate these exponential design options to our developers and then to our customers?!’
It felt like we needed a roadmap that didn’t exist… Lightbulb moment! We created “design maps” that detailed each design suite’s mix and match combinations. We were personalized stationery cartographers!
Brand partners: Walgreens & Costco
I hosted a unique FUNdraiser for 826NYC through Airbnb’s Social Impact platform.
I was committed to volunteering weekly at 826NYC for four extremely rewarding years. I’ve never been as challenged and inspired by a group of imaginative kids and wonderful staff as I was in the tutoring center behind the secret bookcase.
In 2018, I hosted a series of fundraisers through Airbnb’s Social Impact Experience platform to raise money for the program.
Each event brought a random group of folks together to engage in creative writing and drawing prompts while enjoying live music. Participants went home with a bound book of their work from the evening to mirror some of the program’s workshops for kids!
I stepped in as the senior designer
on the pets product design team at
Martha Stewart Living.
There was a team in place already, I had never worked on this product category before, hadn’t owned a pet for years, and was totally up for the challenge!
I jumped in to help lead the team, redefine the design process and excitedly learned all there was to know about pet fashion trends which included–ahem–dog swimwear and Halloween costumes.
I found that my skills and design process were applicable to the broad range of canine/feline lifestyle products: dish-ware, clothing, accessories, bedding, furniture, toys, etc.
“May I borrow that teddy bear fur swatch?” became just another day at the office!
I wore ALL of the hats while pulling off an extensive moonlighting project in addition to rockin’ it at my day job.
A freelance client employed me to design and send out a holiday/moving/baby announcement bundle to 300 of her closest friends and family. In my spare time on weekends and evenings, I managed to:
concept, design and write copy for the pieces
hire and direct a photographer
build a set
shop for clothes and craft props
art direct the photoshoot with 2 kids in the client’s living room
edit and retouch the photos
source places to print/trim/sew custom fabric handkerchiefs + custom, screen-printed muslin bags
coordinate with a printer for the paper pieces
fold/stuff/assemble/address and ship
300+ mailers
...all in time for Christmas!
I glittered 3 dozen Easter eggs in a pinch for Martha Stewart to demo on late-night television.
As an assistant to the editorial crafts team at Martha Stewart Living magazine, my days consisted of: running around NYC to shop for props and supplies, researching story ideas, helping to craft projects for how-tos, preparing for photoshoots, etc.
On one memorable day, I was calling every gourmet grocer in town to see if they had quail eggs in stock–these would later be included in my expense report. Martha was set to do a craft segment on a late-night show, it may have been Letterman, I’m not sure. What I do remember, is carefully blowing the yolks out of 3 dozen eggs–there’s a technique to this–and coating them in top-of-the-line, Easter-y, Martha Stewart glitter colors.
I told my whole family to stay up late to catch a glimpse of my glittery handiwork. In the end, the segment got cut, but my eggs were almost famous!
kind words from cohorts
. . .
“I have had the pleasure of working with Valerie multiple times since 2007. Enthusiastic, adaptable and kind, Valerie thrives as a manager in collaborative team settings. She is able to work with many different personalities while simultaneously managing multiple complex projects, external artists and vendors. She is a strong mentor, always creating an inspiring, fun and professional work environment.
As a highly conceptual thinker, Valerie brings innovation as well as best practices to the design process. From the initial concept through the production stage, she ensures that her designs are on-brand while working within logistical constraints. Valerie would be an incredible asset to any organization.”
“Valerie is an immensely talented designer and art director who I’ve had the privilege of working with twice in my professional career. Knowing her as a manager and as a peer, her intuitive approach to design has never ceased to amaze me. She brings a high level of creativity and curiosity to every project, team, and/or challenge. Her energy and positive attitude makes her a very effective and inspiring team leader. She is highly organized, versatile, and would be an amazing asset to any creative team!”
“Valerie is an incredible talented designer and an absolute pleasure to work with. Her contagious creativity and curiosity make her an inspiring contributor to any group, a great mentor for younger designers, and a very effective team leader. She is very organized, and tackles even the most challenging projects with a positive attitude and great enthusiasm. She knows how to manage her (and other’s) time, and her many years of design experience and knowledge of production as well as a keen understanding of her customers consistently result in great design. She is very versatile, and always bursting with ideas. She is also one of the kindest people I know, and I consider myself very lucky I got to work with her twice!”
“Valerie is a highly skilled designer. She is extremely creative and very organized. As my manager she taught me a plethora of design skills. I appreciated her positive attitude and incredible work ethic. She would be an asset to any company seeking outstanding design work!”
“Valerie has spunk for days, and (to the delight of all who know her) said spunk cannot be contained. Whether it’s a project to solve, skill to master, inspiration to to track down, office birthday party to plan, or design to perfect — she is unstoppable in her enthusiasm and ever-expanding skillset to make it happen, and have a ball in the process. I count myself very lucky to have worked alongside her at 3 different companies over the past 7 years. The joy she exudes, and the unstoppable team spirit she embodies make her the ultimate in my book!”
“Valerie is a design superstar. Always positive and up to the challenge, she brings a strong level of creativity to every project, and isn’t fazed by tight deadlines.”
“Working with Valerie Courtney is like working with a whirlwind - but in a great wonderful way. She brought so much energy, talent and experience to her job. She made a great design partner here at Bloom and gave much imagination and ideas on on how to form this new workflow. She worked extremely well with my production staff and was great to work with, all while on-boarding new designers to our specific workflow. I hope our paths cross again and I look forward to future collaborations.”
“Valerie is a wonderfully talented designer and such a joy to work with. She is highly imaginative and is able to execute her ideas beautifully. Valerie’s approach to design is insightful and energetic. She is also a very talented writer. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Valerie on the Crafts team at Martha Stewart Living, and at Bloom Stationers.”
“Working with Valerie is not only a pleasure but she is a great designer who uses her knowledge of production to only enhance her designs. She works well as a team player but also brings her own contributions to a project. We worked on a challenging project where she had to design cards that were interactive on the web and the colors and font choices could be changed by the customer. The cards were not only designed beautifully as one design but they worked using several color themes and fonts. Valerie is extremely knowledgeable, articulate and personable. I highly recommend her.”
“Valerie is a great designer to work with. She gives clear and intuitive direction and produces beautiful and unique designs.”
“I first worked with Valerie when she was recently out of school. Unlike most recent graduates who think they know everything, Valerie had an intense inquisitiveness that pushes her to learn everything. I was amazed at how quickly she picked up new knowledge and applied them to her craft. She is a natural designer and it shows in everything she does. I’ve worked with a lot of highly talented designers in my years; but Valerie’s design sense is a defining attribute of the new generation of design professionals. She ranges from delightfully whimsical to regally formal. Above all, Valerie is one of the sweetest individual I’ve ever worked with. Working with her has been a true privilege.”
“Having worked with Valerie from the time she graduated, through her tenure as Associate Crafts Designer, I have always been impressed by Valerie’s fearless approach to design. Valerie shares her thoughts and concepts without hesitation and is equally open to feedback and working towards the best solution to any design assignment. It has truly been a pleasure working with Valerie, and I hope that we will work together again soon.”
“In her two and a half years with 826NYC, Valerie has volunteered more than 100 hours of her time across a wide variety of programs. From weekly tutoring in Park Slope, to leading workshops, to designing student publications, Valerie has impacted the lives of countless students and made a huge difference in the work we do here at 826NYC. Most recently, Valerie has worked alongside 826 staff and students to design a poster detailing our commitment to openness and inclusion which will soon hang in all of our permanent sites, and has successfully guided eight-year-old Noah towards completing many hours of writing and math-based games – no small feat! We are as lucky as ever to have Valerie, so thank you and congratulations on becoming our first two-time Volunteer of the Month winner!”
“I love love love your work that you did for my company. I get excited every day when I look at my logo design. It is super inspiring!”
