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Freelance Graphic Designer, Illustrator, Photographer, Editor, and Writer
New York, NY
Jan 2016 - Present (10 years 5 months)
• Implemented corrections and copyfit text of interiors and covers for the Children’s Books Group of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY. Handled 180 titles in a 7-week period.
• Served as on-call designer and writer for Mark Grossman Public Relations, Medford, NY. Created 2 print and 35 digital advertisements. Wrote human-interest stories for local newspapers.
• Designed websites and refined branding for Wet Dog Weather and Mousebird Consulting, related tech companies in Saratoga and San Francisco, CA. Established typography, selected colors, modified logo, adapted art, prepared 60 wireframes and final visuals, and wrote CSS.
• Worked in a 10-month, on-site role at World Education Services, New York, NY. Designed responsive web pages, display advertisements, social media graphics, emails, flyers, infographics, posters, PowerPoint slides, Word templates, and icons.
• Developed PowerPoint deck for Volant Trading, New York, NY. Edited copy, designed slides, and color corrected photographs.
• Illustrated map of 300-acre wildlife refuge for Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, Indian Trail, NC.
• Generated Black Lives Matter sign for Bethesda Jewish Congregation, Bethesda, MD. Over 30 congregants purchased the sign; proceeds went to support the synagogue’s Social Action Committee.
• Created logo and 3d illustrations for missdiagnoses.com, a blog about living with chronic illness.
• Built dawncavalieri.com according to mobile-first and responsive principles. Produced wireframes and mockups, translated visuals into CSS, and constructed original theme in WordPress.
• Shoot and correct photographs of flora, fauna, and landscapes; maintain growing collection at dawncavalieri.com/shop/.
• Wrote on science topics at the middle-school level for Gander Publishing, Avila Beach, CA.
• Revised letters, proposals, and library audit reports for the director of library services at Nutter, a law firm in Boston, MA.
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Senior Design and Template Specialist
Washington, DC
May 2022 - May 2025 (3 years)
Developed InDesign templates, designed unique pages, typeset text, and created art for books and digital products in language arts and math for students and teachers in grades K–9.
• Generated 400 visual aids and handouts for Arts & Letters (A&L), a language-arts curriculum.
• Designed 50 question types and laid out 80 student assessments of 5 to 20 questions each for A&L. Built templates for 7 types of teacher guides averaging 20 pages; trained writers in InCopy; and instructed vendor on parent pages, type and object styles, art placement, and inserts.
• Produced 80 pieces of art in Illustrator and 30 templates in InDesign to adapt Eureka Math², the company’s flagship product, to meet California state standards, in a 3-week time frame.
• Led production of Data Talks, a PDF offering in math. Ensured consistency and adherence to branding across 40 documents by constructing 5 templates for text in English and Spanish.
• Wrote company-wide standard operating procedure for compliance of PDFs with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for color contrast, reading order, export tags, and alt text.
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Creative Manager / Senior Designer
New York, NY
2011 - 2015 (4 years)
Designed marketing and conference materials for the ClickZ and SES digital marketing brands in the US, the UK, and Canada. Produced magazines, media kits, brochures, reports, print and display advertisements, social media graphics, signs, event guides, and PowerPoint slides. Created advertisements, brochures, and conference items for 10 other Incisive Media brands.
• Generated signs, guides, and slides for conferences that drew 5,000 attendees and 60 sponsors and yielded $9 million in revenue per year. Delivered detailed graphics, which included multi-day agendas, floor plans, and sponsors’ logos and descriptions, on tight deadlines. Worked closely with marketing, sponsorship, and operations teams.
• Wrote marketing copy for approximately 20 sessions per conference.
• Overhauled SES Magazine, which was published in coordination with events in 5 international markets. Established consistent typography and page design; laid out 14 issues. Solicited and edited articles from experts.
• Designed 800 web banners annually to advertise conference sessions and speakers, online content, and contests.
• Nominated for Support Team of the Year (as sole team member) and received a “Highly Commendable” citation at the 11th Annual Incisive Media Awards in 2015 (company employed 750 people worldwide).
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Managing Editor and Art Director
New York, NY
2007 - 2010 (3 years)
Launched and ran The Investment Professional, NYSSA’s quarterly magazine. Positioned magazine as a sophisticated and rigorous yet accessible resource for financial professionals. Performed competitive analysis and ran focus groups. Held profit-and-loss (P&L) responsibility for publication: established fees, wrote contracts, and negotiated with authors and illustrators. Hired and supervised one direct report.
• Determined contents including 5–7 feature articles and 15 department articles per issue. Gave editorial direction to 100 journalists and investment experts.
• Secured original article on modern portfolio theory by a Nobel Laureate in Economics. Published interviews with notables including the court-appointed trustee in the Bernie Madoff case; the president and CEO of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation; 2 former SEC chairmen; and the president of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs.
• Designed entire magazine: logotype, covers, articles, business cards, letterhead, envelopes, and media kit. Laid out all articles and art directed illustrators.
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Communications Manager
New York, NY
2004 - 2007 (3 years)
Shaped the appearance and content of all marketing materials. Designed and edited newsletters, brochures, course catalogs, annual reports, dinner journals, print and display advertisements, and signs.
• Crafted promotional copy for 200 seminars per year that generated $3.8 million in annual revenue.
• Transformed printed newsletter from a listing of events to a content-based marketing and informational piece that incorporated news, conference summaries, book reviews, and photo highlights. Wrote articles and edited submissions.
• Converted annual dinner journal from a 4-page menu and agenda to a 40-page marketing piece. Designed cover and interior, wrote copy, and collected advertisements for 4 dinners (2007 advertising revenue: $52,500).