Interdisciplinary Designer & Marketing Strategist
I managed day-to-day external communications and marketing efforts at MSA, a grantmaking nonprofit based in Boston's North End.
This included projects like: overseeing branding strategy; writing and designing our newsletters and social media posts; designing presentations, outreach flyers, our annual report, and ads; strategizing around recruitment challenges; and handling cross-platform analytics to determine ROI and improve website UX.
I participated in last summer's international GameMaker's Toolkit Jam, making all of the art and animation for a game that won second place in art out of nearly 7,000 game submissions and an estimated 10,000+ participants.
When I found out that MSA was unhappy with the website design company they had contracted, I asked to spearhead the project. I brushed up on website coding, design, and infrastructure to not only visually update our current content but also transform how we think about integrating accessibility from a visual, structural, technical, and content perspective. The resulting website saved MSA over $15,000 in contractor costs and was well-received by the field.
I presented to America's Service Commissions' Marketing and Communications workgroup on this process; you can watch that presentation in this section's video.
I'm interested in social-good work, whether that's strategizing to make grant processes more accessible at a foundation, accelerating social media growth at a startup, designing interactive media at an educational company, or spearheading a comprehensive rebranding at a small nonprofit.
I currently volunteer as a winter snow sports instructor at Youth Enrichment Services and sit on AmeriCorps Alums Massachusetts' board of directors. I also occasionally provide pro bono marketing support to small nonprofits that reach out to me directly. Read about the pro bono marketing guidance I gave to a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit here.
Outside of full-time work, I do freelance web design and enjoy volunteering, cooking with friends, playing various sports (including tennis, softball, skiing, and rock climbing), and developing short, experimental videogames for ranked competitions. You can view my games portfolio at www.romanhyacinths.com.
