Her Story
About Danielle
On a day-to-day basis, I receive requests for design work and help people with their design needs. My specialties include working on large documents like annual reports and RFPs, making sure they're laid out in a way that's not just picture-heavy but in the most readable way possible for our customers. That's one of the best things about my job. I also spend time responding to and getting feedback from other team members on how to make designs good and how we can get feedback and engagement. My day involves checking emails and working in Adobe Creative. Recently, since being at my new position for about 3-4 months, I've been able to see how much engagement and analytics have improved by 35% from working with the team on my designs, which really shows that I'm valued.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Danielle
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is don't take it to heart. This is really hard, especially being a woman, but when I work, I like to put my heart into everything I do because I want to make sure it's my best and that I'm putting excellence into it. But with that being said, you need to make sure your emotions aren't too attached to your work, just in case the client wasn't looking forward to something like that or they weren't necessarily pleased with your work. So don't take it to heart when you receive feedback or criticism. That's the best advice for myself.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't get discouraged. As you may see from reading blogs and everything, there's the rise of AI and computers, and you might be thinking you can't be a designer or photographer because AI has taken over. But don't get discouraged, because you can honestly use that to work with you instead of against you. Obtain all of the knowledge that is out there. Don't think that artificial intelligence is out to take our jobs. If you work with it, they can't replace humans. You have something different and creative that nobody can replicate artificially. So don't get discouraged.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges in my field right now are AI and losing that human touch and human interaction. We're starting to prefer sending things in a text message or email versus actually taking time to speak on the phone or Zoom. That's one challenge on top of AI - not having that human connection, human interaction. That's why joining conferences like Influential Women and networking with people and staying connected is so important, because in a world where we are constantly saying send it to me in an email or message me, we're forgetting how to talk.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are excellence versus perfection, because you want to do the best to your ability, to your excellence. Personally and professionally, I value doing things with integrity, excellence, and communication and transparency. Communication and transparency are so important. You will eliminate a lot of things if you just communicate and have transparency in the beginning.
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