Her Story
About Olivia
Olivia Zhao is a branding designer based in Los Angeles, CA. She specializes in graphic design and art direction for fashion and lifestyle brands, handling projects end-to-end from branding and digital campaigns to merchandising, packaging, and customer-facing design. Her work includes collaborating on digital and print materials, apparel, campaign photo shoots, art direction, and post-production, often managing new brand launches from the ground up. Olivia has five years of freelance graphic design experience and three years of in-house professional work. She earned a bachelor's degree in marketing and visual communication from a university in Australia and a master's degree in visual communication from Boston University. Olivia attributes her success to her ability to act quickly and turn ideas into reality. She values curiosity, which she believes builds aesthetics and creativity, and advises young women entering the industry to be independent and take action on their ideas. In the competitive Los Angeles fashion industry, she sees opportunities in brands investing in consumer communities and branding while noting the need to stand out among great talent.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Olivia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my ability to make action very quickly. I can turn an idea into real things in life very fast, which is the main reason I contribute to my success.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received is to be curious about the world around you. That's the way you can build aesthetics, build creativity, and build a kind of mood board in your mind so that you can execute every brief very quickly.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be independent. In this industry, do whatever you want to do. If you have an idea, just do that, do not stop at having the idea. You have to make the action to achieve that idea and bring that to your life.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
In Los Angeles in the fashion industry there are a lot of opportunities about creativity because brands want to build consumer community and invest money into branding. The challenge is there are a lot of great talent so it is very competitive and I have to figure out a way to stand out.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Being a curious person is valuable for both my life and my work because I am curious about everything around me and can bring that to my actual work.
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