you already have the story. i help you build from it.
One Foot In The Boardroom. One In The Studio.
I'm a creative director and brand strategist by trade, a collage artist and tarot educator by compulsion, and a Certified Scrum Master because bold ideas are useless if you can't ship them.
I work as a Fractional Creative Director with agencies, startups, and founders who want work that's distinctive, emotionally resonant, and intelligently built — without sanding down their edge.
I design and host creative workshops and retreats — including two sold-out CreativeMornings FieldTrips that brought in over 580 attendees across five countries. People have tuned in from Melbourne, Australia. They've called it "one of the best field trips ever" and asked me to write a book of the exercises. I'm thinking about it.
I write sToRyDrOpS — a weekly Substack newsletter and lighthouse for creatives drifting in the in-between. And I'm finishing The Tarot of Forgotten Stories™ — a surrealist tarot deck about navigating liminal spaces and connecting with the stories in our stardust and marrow. Each card is a portal. A map for when you're no longer who you were, but not yet who you're becoming.
Here's the thing about the story you almost edited out:
Someone else is sitting with that exact same thread right now. Wondering if it's too strange, too specific, too much.
Your courage to keep it in? That's your edge.
That's what this work is really about.
DON'T JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT.
“Content-rich, beautifully structured, insightful, inspiring, and incredibly creative. I am in awe.”
“I loved the intro to tarot without being overwhelming! Shaunté’s energy was also contagious, making this FieldTrip extra fun.”
“Shaunté made it feel like a party — clear, organized, and a beautiful energetic ball of fire.””
From tiny desks to big ideas.
For over 15 years, I've been the person you call when the story isn't working.
When the brand feels right but the words feel wrong. When the creative work is good but nothing is cohering. When you've been building something for years and still can't explain what it is — at least not in a way that lands the way it should.
I've worked in boardrooms and art studios. Sat in writers' rooms and strategy sessions. Spent nearly a decade at NPR, where I helped bring the Tiny Desk Concert Contest to life — one of the most beloved music discovery platforms in the country.
But the work I keep coming back to? It's not the big stages.
It's the moment someone stops performing competence long enough to tell me what they actually care about. And then we build that.
I'm not interested in branding as decoration. I believe in story as strategy.
The most powerful stories aren't always the loudest ones.
They're the ones you nearly edited out. The strange thread. The tension. The part that feels too unconventional, too personal, too specific to keep.
That's the thing I'm always looking for.
Because when your story fits — when it's actually yours — everything accelerates. The right clients find you. The work gets cleaner. The message stops feeling like a performance and starts feeling like a door people actually want to walk through.
Here’s what attendees had to say:
“Content-rich, beautifully structured, insightful, inspiring, and incredibly creative. I am in awe.”
“This was truly fun as well as useful. I will use the ideas presented here.”
“Such an inspiring field trip, I feel relaxed and like I left some of my stagnation behind. Made me realize how important it is to spread the loving energy to others”
“I loved the intro to tarot without being overwhelming! Shaunté’s energy was also contagious, making this FieldTrip extra fun.”
“I just wish I had more time with her. Her energy was very infectious.”
The long way around. It was always leading here…