Serving as interim Creative Director, Design at Airbnb during team leadership transition (short-term maternity leave coverage); Supporting key marketing initiatives launching in May 2025; Collaborating with cross-functional teams to create integrated brand experiences that foster connection and belonging; Driving visual storytelling and creative solutions across global marketing touchpoints; Partnering with Marcom team and leadership to elevate the brand's mission of authentic community engagement; Championing Airbnb’s values of inclusivity, diversity, and acceptance.

Leading major brand, strategy, and culture initiatives for various clients as a consultant; Acting as interim Fractional Executive Creative Director / Head of Creative for agencies and in-house teams; Committed to designing teams that build brands — with a focus on culture and technology; Shaping employee experiences (eg. Dropbox Design Critique Program Launch and SF Design Week Studio Crawl at GDP); Coaching design leaders (eg. Coaching CD at Godfrey Dadich Partners); Building TV show pitch decks for public figures and media executives (eg. SNL executives and other known figures/under NDA); Designing book covers (eg. Kevin Roose’s Futureproof and Young Money); Advising on new publication launches (eg. MYLES and Departures); Launching digital experiences (eg. Krista Tippett’s Hope Portal project and new Chicken & Egg Films website); Developing brand identity systems for academic institutions, global media companies, and startups (eg. Maas Center, Allbritton Journalism Institute, Warner Bros. TV); Determined to change the ratio of women who run their own creative agencies (currently measured at 0.1%) by supporting women- and nonbinary-led causes and addressing gender-based disparities in the design industrySelect clients include: Acora, Airbnb, Allbritton Journalism Institute, Amaí, American Jewish University, Anew, Bonnie Hammer, Chicken & Egg Films, Coalition, Departures, Dropbox Design, DVF, Fraîche Design Thinking, Giant Spoon, Godfrey Dadich Partners, Great Mondays, HoneyBook, Jacqueline Novogratz, LoyalKaspar, On Being Project, Marci Klein Productions, MYLES, NBC, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Sundance, Pulse Fund, The Plant, Travel+Leisure, USA Network, and Warner Bros.Deeper case studies for Airbnb and Departures can be viewed below.See more work at rachelgogel.com.

Planning a “Career Design Lab” Spring 2025 elective for the MBA Design Strategy program; Built a “Designing Your Career” year-long pilot program for the CCA community, in partnership with the DMBA and MDes Chairs; Collaborated with Felix Lee, Co-Founder and CEO of ADPList, on a celebratory graduation video; Taught the summer “Leadership by Design” course for graduate students completing their Master's degree in Human Computer Interaction Design; Brought in guest panelists such as Áthila Armstrong, most recently Director, Head of Experience Design at Airbnb, Isra Safawi, Product Designer at Reddit (and CCA MDes alum, class of 2022), Kate Stern, Director, Design Program Management at Meta, and Natashia Tjandra, Director, Research, Player, and Employee Experience at Electronic Arts; Explored a 4-pillar leadership framework: Self-Leadership, Leading from the Front, Leading from the Side, and Leading from the Whole; Examined and discussed various traits, behaviors, processes, frameworks, and tools by which we lead ourselves and others, and the organizational cultures within which this happens; Encouraged the students to deepen their personal self-awareness and build greater capacity in exercising agile leadership, management, and collaboration skills; Practiced artful facilitation and negotiation, strategic influence, and generative peer coaching to support their responsible exercise of design leadership; Introduced a 15-week pilot elective called “Designing Your Career” (DYC), which launched in Spring 2023 and garnered a lot of attention from graduate students across MFA, MDes, and DMBA programs; Developed the "Leadership by Design" (LbD) course prototype with two other Faculty members; Taught a 10-week CCA summer 2022 course called "Leadership by Design" for MDes students; Brought in guest speakers, such as Taylor Oliva (Head of Design Ops at Instacart).

Book mentorship time with me 👋🏻 https://talktoacreativedirector.com/rachel-book-convo

Neol is a Community-powered platform for audacious creative minds to do the best work of their lives.Neol’s platform empowers creative leaders with the technology, people, and processes they need to deliver impactful projects from anywhere at scale. As a Creative Leader at Neol, my ambition is to spearhead real change in the following domains; purposeful brands, the future of work, and futures & foresight.Neol is part of the Kyu Collective portfolio that includes agencies: IDEO, SYPartners, Godfrey Dadich Partners, ATÖLYE, Upstatement, Yard, Sid Lee, and more.

Acted as behind-the-scenes interim Executive Creative Director (and thought partner to HoneyBook CMO, Colleen Stauffer) for the HoneyBook brand and design team; Supported HB People team in making key hires such as the full-time: ECD and ACD, Design; Connected the team to other freelance and agency partners; Provided all relevant creative and design leadership responsibilities, from design operations to sourcing talent to leadership training to creative direction and internal stakeholder management, and more.Impact areas included:→ Partnering closely with leadership team and C-Suite executives across the organization→ Meeting with current CD (before her departure) and designer(s) 1:1→ Evaluating the team’s current culture and design operating system→ Reimagining the org structure and suggesting resourcing / talent needs→ Mentoring key roles and unpacking creative career development tracks→ Influencing brand experiences at the intersection of marketing, product, editorial, and strategy→ Training the team to uplevel their presentation and client services/stakeholder management skill sets→ Developing innovative creative ideas and solutions across the HoneyBook ecosystem (such as HB Growth Guide, HB Client Chemistry GTM campaign, and HB Year in Review)→ Actively shaping the creative team and infrastructure for the (evolved) HoneyBook in-house brand team/org→ Co-creating and sustaining a culture of excellence as a passionate leader with a love of craft→ Evaluating if the HoneyBook brand identity system / guidelines / tools needed updating→ Influencing how HoneyBook's brand was perceived externally (and internally to employees)→ Improving leadership skills across the team for all titles and levels→ Developing better onboarding practices for the design team→ Embracing the pandemic’s effect on creative culture and collaboration→ Involving the team to come up with new ways to engage with each other and leadership

Provided interim Head of Creative services to GDP including the following: → CRAFT: Oversaw Akamai brand identity project as CD, including visual identity development, system refinement, and guidelines creation; Provided other CD client support where needed; Acted as a creative consultant and "quality-control check" for projects when needed; Shared craft inspiration with the studio→ COLLABORATION: Met regularly with the CEO and COO; Collaborated with the COO on evaluating creative offerings and GDP positioning; Shared studio-related ideas and observations based on feedback from the working team; Updated staff on creative leadership roles and responsibilities; Supported company in finding communications, press, and / or speaking opportunities for GDP studio members→ CULTURE: Influenced creative culture in alignment with GDP's cultural charter, “The Spine”;Suggested defining co-created creative principles in GDP handbook between Upstatement (UPS) and GDP; Facilitated opportunities for GDP to participate in cultural moments / local design communities (eg. SF Design Week Studio Crawl June 2024, Pride Social Monogram Project with Design Intern); Co-led the Creative Vision Offsite with Scott Dadich; Suggested GDP studio outing ideas and learning and development initiatives (eg. lunch and learns, career ladder refinement); Encouraged individuals to upskill on their own (eg. AI tools) and embrace entrepreneurial spirit (eg. The Basement); Acted as thought partner to the Head of Ops as Float tool got introduced→ COACHING: Facilitated collaboration between CD and ECD in dividing CCO responsibilities / direct reports; Weighed in on creative growth discussions as department scales; Provided mentorship and a “safe space” for creative leads navigating departmental changes; Made time for ad hoc 1:1s with creatives and XFN partners; Supported intern success and promoted internal Mentorship program

Acted as Women in Leadership & Design (WILD) Chair on the AIGA SF Board of Directors, serving a 2.5-year term; Shaped and led a vibrant community of diverse cross-disciplinary creatives across the Bay Area, while driving meaningful experiences and initiatives that empowered and inspired women and non-binary individuals in the design industry; Led the program autonomously to bring my unique vision and ideas to life, working collaboratively with a talented team of volunteers to create a lasting impact within the AIGA SF community — and beyond; Built a strong and diverse Leadership team and ensured all volunteers felt supported and inspired while fostering a safe and inclusive environment; Planned for natural volunteer turnover and coordinated transition plans with the specific members involved; Ran monthly WILD Leadership meetings; Maintained key WILD-specific documents updated; Committed to regular 1:1s with all WILD Leads; Made plans to make WILD more financially viable through monetary partnerships, ticket sales, and donations; Shaped and oversaw the development of a rich and cohesive body of branded experiences for WILD across all channels, including creative, editorial, social, programming, and partnerships; Actively contributed to the growth and development of the WILD community; Promoted all WILD programs and events through my personal and professional networks and channels; Provided clear and consistent communication within the team; Identified and proposed creative initiatives that aligned with WILD’s mission (such as moderating a WILD Women’s Month Panel); Sourced and trained WILD Chair candidates for next 2024–2026 evolution; Relaunched WILD brand in 2023 with creative partner Yung Studio; Built a WILD Leadership Committee from my own Bay Area network and beyond; Created a 2022-24 strategy and roadmap for the WILD initiative; Set a vision for annual WILD programming and content. Learn more about WILD here: www.aigasf.org/wild

Worked in tandem with key stakeholders at Loyalkaspar for the pitch process and creative development of a comprehensive consumer-facing FAST brand identity system and guidelines for the premier global media and entertainment company, Warner Bros.

Led design and creative direction for the rebrand of Maas Center (of American Jewish University) in Los Angeles; Influenced creative and digital strategy; Built foundation for new visual identity system alongside Great Mondays strategists; Coordinated the early development of a new digital experience alongside digital vendor

Built an engaging virtual series of six (6) 90-min Critique Workshops for Dropbox Design org, which acted as an extension to my keynote presentation "The Art of Critique"; Carved out regular check-ins to sync with the internal Dropbox team; Kicked off the Dropbox Design 2023 Craft Summit employee gathering in Austin, TX as Keynote Speaker; Developed a 70-minute lecture on "The Art of Critique," which included 3 chapters: The Prelude, The Rules, and The Tools; Spent time during the 2-Day Summit speaking with Dropbox Design employees to hear their personal critique stories and shared advice; Personalized the talk for the Dropbox Design org, working in tandem with the Dropbox Design Ops team; Integrated special requests from VP of Design, Alastair Simpson

Developed Airbnb’s first-ever Internal Brand Playbook (IBP); Roadshowed the IBP across the organization; Implemented a new creative operating system (OS) for the Ground Control creative studio in order to work more efficiently as a team and scale; Mentored the team’s Creative Director; Wrote job descriptions for all team members and re-clarified roles; Launched the internal-facing Live and Work Anywhere digital experience as Design & UX Lead for the Employee Experience Team; Improved navigation for Airbnb's intranet; Sourced new Design Lead and helped convert her from part-time to full-time; Shared list of small creative agencies with the team to enlist them for projects when applicable; Created the pitch deck for agency conversations and attended those meetings; Influenced internal communication design and editorial strategy; Designed the first-ever internal infographic announcing the 2021 Airbnb.org Afghan Refugee Program; Art Directed the internal Pride 2021 campaign with queer artist Nubia Navarro (@nubikini)

Rachel was a member of the Institute of Possibility, a collective of twenty-five individuals working to redesign our world for deeper, generative connection. The group included talented folks such as Carly Ayres, Geno Church, Evan Gregory, Hugh Weber, Jordan Wong, Kamilah Rashied, Kat Vellos, Lawrence Azerrad, Lisa Babb, Nico Wheadon, Ruby Savage, Sadie Red Wing, and Yusha Assad. For a few years, this platform amplified her continued commitment to supporting womxn-led causes and addressing gender-based disparities in the design industry. Rachel was happy to be part of this community and is also grateful for the new friendships she made.

Led the creative development of the first-ever publishing arm for award-winning agency Giant Spoon; Partnered closely with GM Corbin Brown, American Express, and other industry leaders to move Departures beyond the printed page; Reimagined the publishing model by merging 5 distinct (and distributed) companies and establishing a one-team culture; Oversaw and led all Departures brand experiences at the intersection of product, editorial, advertising, and strategy; Developed propriety (and bespoke) ad solutions across the Departures ecosystem; Actively shaped the creative team and infrastructure for the (new) Departures publishing arm; Responsible for determining high-level creative strategy, direction, and goals for various workstreams that contribute to the creation of a new luxury lifestyle brand centered around story; Created and sustained a culture of excellence as a passionate leader with a sense of drive and love of craft; Built the brand identity system and guidelines (while honoring the brand's 40-year history) with a team of generalists and specialists that I assembled; Influenced the launch of the new site (www.departures.com), newsletter product, and other channels (@departures on Instagram) alongside partners at The New York Times and Kettle; Participated in the roadshow of 2021's evolution of Departures for C-suite executives at American Express

Led projects at the intersection of advertising, strategy, product, and editorial; Shaped GDP’s creative department in lock-step with the Partner CD and co-CEOs; Managed the design team (7 people); Drove the creative development and promotional strategy for Netflix's Abstract: The Art of Design (Season 2) and doubled @abstractdesign to over 100,000 followers in just 90 days; Championed organizational culture through initiatives such as developing a new onboarding program, building interviewer guidelines, improving feedback review cycles and other internal communication tools; Scaled creative operations and resource management; Pitched new business and a new production studio model; Sought opportunities for GDP to play a bigger role in the design community such as encouraging the shop to design Pride-themed Zoom backgrounds (which received press from PRINT Magazine) or facilitating 2019's SF Design Week virtual event; Contributed to our justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion initiativesSelect clients included: C3.ai, Coinbase, Ford, Goldbelly, Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), Netflix, NikeSB, Obama Foundation, and Protocol

Select clients included: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry documentary, Amazon Studios, Artestar, Calder Foundation, Cartier, Diane von Furstenberg, Gates Foundation, GQ, Hachette Book Group, Harvard University, Indian Point documentary, Mashable, Motto Pictures, Paganucci Wolfington, Peter Som, Sundance, SVILU, Sweden Unlimited, The 100 Years Show documentary, Travel + Leisure, USA Network, Women in the World, and Zara.

HEAD OF CREATIVE: 11/18 - 04/19CREATIVE DIRECTOR: 10/16 - 11/18Built and managed the in-house creative team (30+ people) responsible for elevating and unifying the Facebook brand’s in-product visual systems—from illustration to live action—to create a more meaningful experience for users; Oversaw the Cultural Moments program until the program was sunsetted (i.e. Top-of-feed custom messages from Facebook that were programmed around a global cultural calendar, which evolved from paper craft style to digital illustrations with animated storytelling capabilities); Led initiatives for both News Feed and Stories surfaces; Fostered a creative culture at the company; Collaborated with the Head of Brand Strategy, Facebook Inc. and his team on defining the brand architecture for the Facebook Inc. parent company

Served on the board for three years, invited initially by Gail Bichler, design director of the New York Times Magazine; Led the brand repositioning project with Collins, where we looked at the current competitive landscape and ever-evolving industry to inform a new mission, vision, and tagline; Moderated panels at events; Contributed stories to the First Love feature: https://www.spd.org/first-love/rachel-gogel-creative-director; Currently an SPD Advisory Board Member

'Creative Jobs. The List.', which launched in July 2011, was a social networking newsletter that instantly connected people I knew in the industry by providing job listings along with direct contact information for those seeking employment. This closed newsletter, which had only acquired subscribers through word of mouth, went from having 60 to over 2500+ members in a short amount of time. By keeping it private within my network and my contacts' networks, I could guarantee a more trustworthy service. In fact, I was already indirectly referring you if you were receiving 'The List.' and testimonials expressed faster response to job inquiries after listing this networking tool as a source. Several friends/contacts found jobs and got interviews thanks to this resource.

Built the creative infrastructure for The New York Times' first-ever branded content studio (T Brand Studio) that earned the Cannes Lions Mobile Grand Prix 2016 and Adweek's "Hottest in Native Advertising" Hot List 2015 title; Led the team responsible for visual creative development of all types of experiences and materials in pre- and post-sale for clients; Hired and managed an Associate Creative Director, Art Director and several Entry- to Senior-level designers (Team grew from 1 to 12 in two years); Built a photo department; Set up a process, art server, image library for the design and photo teams within the brand marketing unit of The New York Times; Worked on presentations, native paid post executions (cross-platform), event signage/collateral, general New York Times branding, ad product concepts etc.; Maintained tbrandstudio.com; Launched 170+ campaigns with 100+ brands; Conceptualized, wrote and was filmed for an on-demand course for nytedu.com; Helped double goal in my first year, reach $35M goal for the team last year, and put the team on track to hit goal in 2016; Collaborated with the newsroom and marketing on wider brand guidelines initiatives; Connected with various departments to ensure brand consistency throughout the company; Redesigned all sales materials (decks, sell sheets, brochures); Organized several training sessions for PPT for sales

Spring 2016: Taught a Continuing Education class called "Designer's Guide: Building a Brand Story" to help designers in (or looking to switch into) the new advertising landscape learn about conceptualizing design-first narratives while leveraging technology to create memorable brand stories in the form of high-quality content.Fall 2013/Spring 2014/Spring 2015: Taught a Continuing Education class called "Print isn't dead, it's evolving," a seminar addressing publishing's mobile dependency and emerging technologies that enhance printFall 2014: Taught an individual workshop using my "Print isn't dead, it's evolving" syllabus and course structureFall 2012/Spring 2013: Co-taught an undergraduate course within the Visual and Critical Studies department called "What’s Your Type?," an experimental typography course with emphasis on examining letterforms, alphabets, and history of typography

DESIGN DIRECTOR: 05/13 - 04/14ART DIRECTOR: 04/12 - 05/13ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR: 07/11 - 04/12Oversaw an Art Director and Entry- to Senior-level designers; Redefined the tablet experience with the brand's all-new iPad program, MyGQ, which empowered readers to personalize and interact with their tablet edition of GQ like never before via enhanced saving, sharing and shopping features; Managed GQ Live!, the industry's first-to-market augmented reality app powered by Aurasma technology, which transformed GQ's print-to-mobile landscape; Worked on invites, presentations, advertiser special sections (for print and iPad), event signage/collateral, in-book promotion etc.; Rebranded GQ Advertising; Launched the new GQ Report promotional website on the Squarespace platform; Organized photo shoots and handled production; Created social, digital and tablet extensions for advertisers

Promoted the six summer shows through different campaigns; Contributed to the Necessary Roughness Theraplay event on June 29 in Times Square; Designed all collateral for USA's Summer of Originals screenings at Pier 46, and all printed materials for Character Project screenings and created promotional ads for New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, AM New York, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Chicago Tribune.

Designed sell sheets and comps; Collaborated with Art Director on all event collateral such as invitations/banners/evites/napkins/buttons/blow-ups; Assembled promotional booklets and direct mail pieces; Worked on Special Sections; Conceptualized and designed Vacationist logo (www.vacationist.com) and collateral for site launch event, such as napkins and keycards, as well as all Design Awards 2011 collateral and other T+L events.

Conceptualized early designs for DVF's first iPhone app; Constructed digital renderings; Retouched photographs; Prepared files to send to clients & printers; Collaborated with creative team on larger projects such as lookbooks; Conceived e-mail blasts; Created DVF environmental graphics for exhibits and the outdoors

Assisted Graphic Design professor with class preparation, critiques and technical issues; Motivated classroom of fourteen design students

Designed page layouts and illustrations for Golf for Women magazine; Working on promotional materials for Golf World

Clients include: Badgley Mischka, Old Navy, Joe Boxer, Sonia Klein, Cannon, Gap, Tifffany & Co., Kiki de Montparnasse, Absolut

Conceptualized and designed several page layouts for issues 48 and 49.