this was not
the plan
A Quick Psych Eval
Creative vs. Strategy
Source: “the vibes” Dani Grand (2026)
My mom is the most structured person I know.
Single parent, involved everywhere, does everything, and knows everyone.
She wears a lot of hats and they all fit.
Growing up around that kind of energy conditions you before you realize.
Structure becomes normal and responsibility becomes instinct.
You think, then do.
Her voice lives in the left hemisphere of my brain.
Logical, and loud.
That’s Lefty.
Lefty is law.
The consequences of her actions resist the mundane til this day. The bored latch-key kid from Brooklyn who liked to test her, push back on rules, who ultimately desired rebellious creative expression lives right next door.
Righty, still riots.
I listen, to both.
Creative work without structure can be botched.
Structure without creative play is bullshit.
So most of my process looks like this
&
Lefty profits
Righty plays
I don’t even believe it when I say it, but I’ve always known who I wanted to be.
In 2011, I interned at the Y&R Madison Group studio, where I got my first real look at how the creative industry worked. Different hard hats building the same roof.
I spent that summer storyboarding Colgate commercials. Over and over. Realizing quickly there was no desire in me to wear one hat.
Discipline may refine, but repetition ruins (me).
My time spent at the studio paired with my Brooklyn Technical Highschool Media & Communications diploma earned my Film & Video production degree from Temple University in 2016.
Tides then turned in too many ways to count.
(I counted)
Actually totalling ten years of multidisciplinary graphic/web/motion design experience and campaign building for companies ranging from small to large
For a while,
imposter syndrome convinced me I lacked focus and structure,
butI was not drifting…
…I was circling back.
My rolodex of disciplines refined my approach.
I can create things and the worlds they live in.
url → irl
The tension between structure and play is where most of my work lives.
I prefer to build creative systems that support the deliverables.
I’m proud of my balance between discipline and disruption.
Glad the job still feels like fun.