Creative Marketing with heart

I turn brand ideas into content people actually feel, and I keep the team energized while we do it. At Santorino, a Greek frozen yogurt brand I helped build from the ground up, I drove an 800% month-over-month jump in Instagram reach. As Director of Marketing for Delta Sigma Pi, I helped bring in a record number of applicants this recruitment term, Fall 2026.

If you're hiring for creative marketing, here's what you get: an artist's eye, a leader's energy, and someone who adjusts quickly when the plan changes.

This page is my growth story. It draws on three sources of professional feedback: my Self-Perception Inventory, 360 feedback from my peers, and a Professional Reputation Survey from people who have worked with me. Each section makes a claim about who I am as a professional, backs it with data, and explains how I plan to show it.

say yes to everything

I used to wait until I felt ready, or earned a certain level of achievement to dive into tasks at hand. That changed in December 2025, when I joined Santorino, a Greek frozen yogurt brand that was still just an idea. There was no brand identity, no playbook, and no guarantee it would work. I said yes anyway, despite feeling unsure , and I started shaping the look, the voice, and the plan from day one.

That yes opened the next ones. I became Director of Marketing for Delta Sigma Pi, took on the chapter's merchandise, and ran a campaign shoot with an outside crew. I kept going after what I want, like a creative marketing career and a semester in Barcelona. Every yes came with surprises, and adapting to them is how I grew.

Driven, caring, and creative: my values show up in how I work

My core values are drive, care for people, and creativity, and the people I work with can see all three.

Driven, Hard-Working, and Problem-Solver were picked by 100% of people who completed a survey about my reputation as a professional. 75% also chose Caring, Empathetic, Leaderlike, and Idea-Generator. One respondent wrote that I'm "genuinely one of the most thoughtful, caring, and considerate people." A teammate in my 360 feedback wrote that I'm someone who "always comes prepared and ready to contribute." My Self-Perception Inventory describes my Expressive style as innovation oriented, creative, and motivated by aesthetics.

My identity and my reputation line up. I value showing up, caring about the people next to me, and making things that look and feel good, and the people around me describe exactly that. I live these values outside of work too. I organized a community drive that sent 785 Backpacks of Hope to families in Lahaina, and my love of art as a kid grew into photography and content creation.

These three values work together:

drive gets the work done, care keeps a team strong, and creativity makes the work worth watching.

My brand strategy is to show my values through proof instead of claiming them. Each piece in my portfolio pairs a real result with a human moment, like the story behind a project or the behind the scenes of a shoot.

Expressive by nature, flexible by design

My natural style is Expressive, my scores sit close to center, and the people around me experience me as more assertive than I rate myself.

My Self-Perception Inventory placed me in the Expressive style, with a proactivity score of 1.0 and a reactivity score of 2.0. All Professional Reputation Survey respondents also referred to me as Expressive. Every one of them said I use my hands when I talk, speak with a dynamic voice, show a lot of facial expression, and am confident expressing my opinions. All four also said I resolve problems quickly and decisively. One respondent called me "such a great speaker" who "holds herself extremely well."

My identity and my reputation agree on the style and differ on the intensity. I rated myself near the center, which my inventory says makes it easier to flex my style. Others feel the energy more strongly, probably because they meet me when I'm presenting, leading, or on camera. For creative marketing, that gap matters in two ways: confidence in front of a client or a camera is valuable, and so is being a teammate who makes room for others.

My strategy is to lead with the Expressive side because it's a real strength, and to show the flexibility on purpose. My content opens with energy and on-camera presence, then credits collaborators, shows the whole team, and invites other voices into the story. Viewers should see someone who can fill a room and also make space in it.

Letting go of perfect: adaptability is my edge in an unpredictable industry

My biggest growth edge is loosening my perfectionism, and the same high standards that cause it make me quick to adapt when plans change.

Preparation was the most common theme in my 360 feedback, coming up in 6 of 14 comments with lines like "very ahead on the project" and "always comes prepared and ready to contribute." Teammates also wrote that I keep everyone on the same page and take on extra work. A Professional Reputation Survey respondent said I strive for the highest standards, and also that I may be "harder on herself than she needs to be." One teammate wondered whether I take on tasks that I feel need to be done by me before explaining the situation I'm in, and said I deserve more thank yous.

At Santorino, on our first full campaign shoot, we were forced to leave our initial planned shoot location. This tested my perfectionism by giving me an opportunity to adapt on the spot. We scouted a new, less posed location, and that's where we got some of our favorite content, because it captured the real energy of the brand.

My identity and my reputation mostly line up. I hold high standards, and others see that as reliability. Where they differ is the cost: I can be harder on myself than anyone else is, and I sometimes carry more than I need to. In marketing, trends, platforms, and plans change constantly, so perfect is a moving target. Building Santorino from scratch taught me that the best work often shows up when the plan falls apart. Letting go of perfect makes me faster, more open to ideas, and easier to work with.

What I bring and what's next

Three things I want you to remember:

• My values are visible. Driven, caring, and creative aren't words I picked for myself. They're what the people I work with said.

• I'm Expressive and flexible. I bring energy to a room, and I make space for the people in it.

• I say yes, chase what I want, and adapt on purpose. I'm learning to let go of perfect, and it makes my work faster, fresher, and more human.

Where I'm headed next:

1. Keep growing as a creative marketer at Santorino and Delta Sigma Pi, and keep building a portfolio that shows both the results and the process.

2. Pursue creative marketing internships in content, social, and brand storytelling for Summer 2027.

3. Study abroad in Barcelona with IAU Spring 2026 to build my global perspective and bring it back to my work.

If you're building a creative team, I'd love to talk. Find me on LinkedIn, or email kaiadelcarpio@arizona.edu.