For five consecutive years, I helped shape the identity and experience of Healthy Teen Network's national conference, an annual gathering of hundreds of educators, clinicians, advocates, researchers, and youth-supporting professionals from across the country.
Working closely with colleagues across creative and content teams, I lead creative strategy for the conference, transforming broad themes into specific narratives and visual identities.Each year begins with a conference theme and a host city. From there, we look for the connections between content and place, developing titles, narratives, and visual identities that feel uniquely rooted in both while remaining distinctly Healthy Teen Network.
Made to Belong (2026)
Drawing inspiration from San Diego's coastline, neighborhoods, and iconic landmarks, I created an illustrated cityscape in the organization's signature style to serve as the foundation of the conference visual identity (above). Homes and windows became recurring visual motifs, reflecting the places where belonging takes root and community is built. A retro California color palette and layered textures help evoke a sense of warmth and a familiar, lived-in quality.
In addition to leading the development of the visual identity, this year I led the writing of the conference's narrative manifesto (below), helping define how the conference theme would be expressed through story and the attendee experience.
We are hardwired to connect.
Biologically bound for belonging—
from our very beginnings.
In adolescence, new neural connections
foretell fierce friendships, first loves,
chosen families, and shared futures.
Yet in this moment of rupture,
as algorithms and agitators promise connection
but deliver its simulation,
And purveyors of fear and hate
cast difference as danger,
pit neighbor against neighbor,
We rise, pulled toward belonging,
drawn better together, proving community
is not a place—but a practice.
Rise, Reimagine, & Reinvent (2024)
Set against the backdrop of the Sonoran Desert and a fresh national election, Rise, Reimagine, & Reinvent in November 2024 explored innovation through the lens of transformation. Drawing inspiration from desert plants and animals, the wonder of the night sky, and the symbolism of the phoenix, 2024's narrative and visual storytelling suggested how new ideas often emerge from challenge, resilience, and reinvention.
As co-author of the conference manifesto, I helped articulate early in the year the mindsets and aspirations that would guide the event later, challenging attendees to embrace curiosity, experimentation, and the possibility of change.
Today’s adolescent experience unfolds with breathtaking speed.
Embrace it. Time, tech, and trends wait for no one.
Stay curious. There is power in trying new things, in asking bold questions.
Keep listening. What young people need is ever-changing.
Do something—anything. It won’t be perfect, but it will be something.
At #HealthyTeen24, we’ll extend a hand to the willing and wavering—to the dreamers and doers cheering on change and to those imploring, “steady as we go.” We’ll forge connections with new colleagues under the desert stars. We’ll reflect on what sets today’s young people apart. And we’ll strain, stretch, and shift our understanding of innovation until it colors our everyday work.
Low-budget, low-tech, no matter. Sometimes, it’s the tiny acts that make the greatest change.
Our work is a journey, not a destination. Today’s trends may be tomorrow’s tropes, but with the right mindsets, we’ll be ready for what(ever) the future may hold.
Like a phoenix, we’ll rise, reimagine, and reinvent.
Be part of the magic at #HealthyTeen24.
The visual system extended across conference materials, environmental graphics, wayfinding maps, apps, and attendee communications.
To help extend the conference experience beyond the event itself, I partnered with videographers, producers, and staff to develop a series of promotional videos. I collaborated on creative concepts, scripting, interview questions, story structure, shot selection, and visual direction to ensure the videos reflected the spirit the conference while creating assets the organization could use for years to come.
Dare to Dream of a New Era (2022)
As Healthy Teen Network prepared for its first in-person conference in years, the moment carried a sense of possibility. Dare to Dream of a New Era challenged attendees to look beyond disruption and imagine the future they wanted to help create.
The conference manifesto served as a call to reimagine what was possible—for our work, our communities, and the young people we support. As co-author, I helped define the narrative foundation that guided the event.
In just two years’ time, the world was made anew. We reinvented the ways we live, the ways we love, the ways we learn, and the ways we work.
As we enter this new time for humanity, let’s come together to make sure the best parts of these new ways are here to stay. Let’s chart new bounds for ourselves and our work. Let’s recommit to the pursuit of a just, more perfect world for everyone, where young people have the freedom to become who they want to be.
At #HealthyTeen22, we’ll cultivate healing—inwardly and outwardly. We’ll reflect on this young decade’s renewed calls for racial justice and remarkable technological growth. And we’ll share how embracing flexibility and ambiguity liberated us to try new things.
We’ll do all this not because this is easy, but because this is our charge. Freed from the can’ts and won’ts of yesterday, we dare to dream of a new era.
Welcome back, friends. And welcome to Miami.
Inspired by Miami and the conference’s call to “dream,” the identity drew on South Florida’s culture, art deco architecture, and proximity to water by featuring a saturated palette of aqua, electric blue, and flamingo pink. Cloud, sky, and poolside motifs evoked daydreaming and possibility, while Monstera leaves and flamingo feathers added a playful sense of place.
The visual language extended seamlessly across website and app graphics, badges, environmental wayfinding signage, an illustrated venue map, and beach bags stamped boldly with a single word: D R E A M.
More than a theme, the identity shaped the atmosphere of the return — transforming a long-awaited reunion into a vivid, shared act of dreaming together.
