Kind Words

From Julie McFarland - Retired Creative Product Development Director

Rachel is one of the hardest working, most creative, and talented people around - and a huge asset to any design or creative team. Her trend awareness, strategic skills and social media knowledge make her highly effective as an art director and/or creative strategist. Although trained as a graphic designer, she also has a great appreciation of and talent for writing. I had the privilege of working with Rachel for 10-ish years, as she co-lead the development of several innovative and humor greeting card lines at Hallmark. She was full of ideas, passionate about design, and she had an outstanding eye for spotting illustration and writing talent. Throughout our time together, she always inspired teams to make great product – and she consistently set the high bar even higher with her work ethic, attention to detail and dedication to the business.      

From Tad Carpenter - Illustrator and Owner of the Carpenter Collective

Many years ago Rachel and I worked side-by-side together. We were constant collaborators in regards to our general design practices and perhaps the most important daily decision, where to go to lunch.

You encounter so many types of people over the course of your career. Rachel is someone I had the pleasure of viewing her creative and leadership qualities first hand. She has an amazing work ethic, a never wavering dedication and loyalty to the team and frankly, she is just the kind of person you always want in the room. When our team was having challenges, she was always the first to find a creative way to build us up, make us smile or find a creative challenge to the problem.

Rachel has many nauseatingly wonderful qualities, but hands down, no question in my mind the one quality that allows her to stand out in a cluttered creative crowd is her creative thinking. They say design is 80% idea and Rachel is 100% better than most at bringing creative ones to the table. I was always in awe of her ability to write, communicate and come up with the most amazing ideas for our clients.

I would never have any hesitations on bringing Rachel on as leader in your company. Not to mention, she has an adorable dog which in my book makes her even more hirable.

From Valerie Stark - Editorial Director

I've worked with Rachel in a number of capacities, which basically means I'm the luckiest lady ever. I've been trusting and following Rachel's design intuition since day one: first as an editor on her team, then as a collaborator on social media, a member of her creative staff, and finally as her editorial partner. As a leader, she excels in evolving the way creatives come together, whether it's by encouraging cross-functional collaboration, role-definition, or just by saying, "Hey, let's celebrate Thanksgiving with pizza." As a partner, she's irreplaceable. Rachel knows what questions to ask, what answers to give, and always provides a fresh perspective (and sometimes donuts). From conception to execution, Rachel makes new ideas seem effortless. It's typical for her team members to say, "Oh, good idea, Rachel. Why didn't we think of that? We should make a plan to--oh, wow, you've already done the thing and it makes a million dollars now." She's the fiercest consumer advocate and an innovator for traditional brands. I'm not saying Rachel is the best, but I am saying I consider getting a tattoo that says "I <3 My Work Wife" on a daily basis--so, yeah, I guess I am saying she's the best.

From Mia Mercado - Humor Writer

Rachel is really, really good at her job, which is impressive because she's usually doing multiple jobs at once. As an art director, she has a strong creative vision. She's on top of the cultural pulse and is able to balance pushing creative boundaries with refreshing tried and true formulas. As a manager, she gives thoughtful, constructive, and supportive feedback that has made me cry in a good way at least once. As a person, she's just really wonderful. Rachel is kind and smart, compassionate and driven, funny and did I mention funny? Her only fault is that maybe someone created her in a lab to be too good at too many things. 

From Cassie Mar - Creative Strategist

Rachel is the kind of creative leader that other creatives love to follow. She's not too proud to roll up her sleeves and dig into tough projects alongside her teammates. But she also knows how to set a clear and compelling vision and then is able to get out of the way so her team can do what they do best. She's equally awesome at writing and design, which gives her huge credibility with her teams and also makes her a tireless champion and creator of great concepts. She's great at spotting "the next cool thing" and then translating that into new products that clients and consumers love. Plus, she's funny as hell and just a gem of a human being.

From Rachel Ignotofsky – New York Times Best Selling Author and Illustrator

Rachel Sleeter was one of the best Art directors I have had the pleasure of working with. She trusts designers to take risks and let their skills shine, all while steering the ship. Her constructive criticism, is always on point, making sure the work looks cohesive and marketable. She fosters a community of trust, hard work and friendship among coworkers.  Any one who has the opportunity to work with, or for Rachel is lucky.

From Tina Neidlein – Humor Writer

I worked with Rachel in a number of roles, mostly as a humor writer working alongside her to develop and plan social media content for Shoebox. It was a demanding beast curating humor content that was timely, relevant, and know, funny…week after week after week. Rachel was so easy to work with throughout the process. Not only is she able to think in big, conceptual terms all the way down to a simple, specific design solution for an individual post, she understands how writers work. That's a luxury you don't always get with someone who has a background in art. But Rachel was fantastic to work with, and knew how to give the writers the inspiration and feedback we needed to keep creating. Writers can be a kooky bunch, and she was able to navigate the range of personalities in the group so smoothly. She's the perfect blend of hands-off and hands-on; she stands back and trusts you to do your job yet is fully organized and knows exactly what needs to be done, when. Plus she's always open to trying new things, so I never worried I would get a "what the hell kind of idea is that?" face from her. She never shut down ideas was always eager to hear whatever crazy ones we had. 

 Rachel has this great balance of being easygoing with urgency. She's able to keep things moving along without adding to any panic among the creative ranks. You always feel like everything's going to come out okay when you're working on one of her projects. She's just got that calm energy to her that's so vital to be around as a creative person.

From Dan Taylor – Humor Writer

Over the course of a long career I've worked with people who had the ability to motivate a group of creatives. I've worked with people who could capsulize large concepts covering multiple disciplines down to the part that meant something to me. I've worked with people who could do those things with an unflagging humor and enthusiasm. And by, "people," I mean Rachel Sleeter. 

Any one of those abilities would be impressive, to find all of them in one leader is truly amazing. Rachel is a team leader who hasn't forgotten what it's like to be a team member. Making her laugh is one of my greatest joys, the products we've created together are the ones that bring me the most pride. 

Rachel would be an incredible addition to any staff, but I should warn you, I want her to work where I work, helping me make the best things possible for, um, forever. So there's that.