THE BRIEF. Matador Network is one of the largest independent travel publications in the world — 100M+ monthly viewers across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Their business: tourism boards and travel brands hire Matador to make high-impact travel content and distribute it to that audience. I joined as a hybrid design/video hire and was promoted to Art Director mid-tenure.

WHAT I DID. Campaign budgets ranged from $50K to $2M. As Art Director I ran weekly calls with a team of eight filmmakers, assigned campaigns, reviewed cuts, and did creative direction — while staying hands-on as DP and photographer on most shoots. I directed tourism-board work for Lufthansa, Subaru, Visit Turkey, Visit Slovenia, Visit Norway, and others, often traveling solo or with a small crew. On a company grant, I wrote, directed, and shot a passion-piece documentary on forest bathing in Japan — it went on to pick up film-festival awards.

OUTCOME. Campaigns routinely hit 80M+ views. Eight-person team managed across overlapping productions. Festival-awarded documentary produced on the side.