CASE STUDY
Carolina Creek
Leading Creative Strategy, Team Culture, and Brand Alignment for a Year-Round Ministry
Overview
Carolina Creek is a faith-based camp and retreat center serving thousands of guests annually through summer camps, weekend retreats, and special events.
As Creative Director, I was responsible for the organization’s brand strategy, guest-facing creative output, internal communications, and production environment. My role spanned digital, print, video, web, experience design, live event production, and storytelling—ensuring every creative touchpoint reflected clarity, consistency, and care. I also wrote much of the brand-aligned copy used in seasonal campaigns, programs, and internal messaging.
My Role
When I began, Carolina Creek had no creative department.
I built the team from the ground up—starting with interns, developing them into full-time staff, and eventually empowering them to supervise new interns and full-time roles of their own.
I led a growing multidisciplinary team responsible for photo/video, design, digital media, live production, an in-house print shop, and all organizational marketing assets.
I developed systems for workflow management, creative intake, seasonal scaling, and year-round staff training. I also directed brand and messaging efforts, partnered with ministry leaders to develop programmatic themes, and guided creative execution across all guest-facing and internal environments.
Creative Culture Shift
At first, the creative output was reactive, inconsistent, and disconnected from broader organizational strategy.
As our team grew and the organization’s needs expanded, we moved toward a proactive, collaborative model. I implemented creative brief systems, proactive planning calendars, and cross-ministry check-ins to promote clarity and consistency.
Creativity became a trusted, mission-aligned partner rather than an afterthought—helping other teams deliver stronger, more intentional guest experiences.
Signature Work
- Built the creative department from scratch
- Full organizational rebrand
- Annual development of curriculum-based theme brands
- Full technical design and spec for production environments and meeting rooms
- Directed seasonal creative campaigns for camps, retreats, and special events
- Oversaw internal and guest-facing copywriting
- Implemented a digital asset management (DAM) system with AI-assisted tagging and natural language search across hundreds of thousands of assets
- Developed and implemented professional growth frameworks for interns, focused on self-defined goals and collaborative metrics with their supervisors
Outcomes
- Established a scalable, sustainable creative department rooted in mission and clarity
- Increased quality, timeliness, and alignment of all creative output
- Elevated the organizational value placed on creativity as an essential part of the guest experience
- Supported growth in engagement, consistency, and collaboration across all departments
