Kaori is a Japan-born, New York City-based creative director and designer with over 15 years of leadership in advertising, entertainment, and media. Her career has earned awards, recognition, and publications, reflecting a steady record of creative impact.

Relishing the challenge of complex creative projects across diverse genres, Kaori has built a track record of delivering unique, impactful results. Skilled at managing and nurturing high-performing in-house teams, she excels as a creative agency lead, driving exceptional outcomes.

Kaori has spent over 15 years as a creative lead at media companies such as Vox Media, NBCUniversal, and Paramount. She has steered the creative process from ideation to completion across 360 marketing campaigns, brand rebrands, brand spots, show packaging, ad sales, and integrated promotion across all platforms. Highly collaborative, she thrives in cross-functional teams and excels at bringing brands to life, delivering, maintaining, and elevating each unique brand. She cherishes the partnerships and trust she builds with studios and agencies. Her vendor-side experience makes her a rare client-side leader who understands the process, demands, and pressure from both sides.

One of Kaori's notable achievements is co-founding Lifelong Friendship Society. The studio was a pioneer in shaping marketing initiatives, design, motion graphics, animation, and video in the realm of new media. The studio became known for its signature style and disruptive creative solutions. Its work cut through the unexpected, untraditional approach in visual culture and left monumental, inspirational footprints for future creatives.

When Kaori started at VH1/MTVN, the media industry was entering a new era. The brands influenced generations and helped revolutionize what was to come. She immersed herself in a multifaceted learning journey across production areas. She produced iconic and timeless pieces like the brand ID, Can You Dig It? Tomorrow, VH1, Pop Culture Dictionary, and Movies that Rock.

Passion and vision are Kaori's driving forces. She thrives in environments where good design and compelling stories matter. Believing in the transformative power of design, she has dedicated her career to showcasing its potential.

Kaori's work fuses the influences of design legends like Josef Müller-Brockmann, Saul Bass, and photographer William Eggleston. Her joy lies in expressing complex emotions through timelessness, distilled into simple geometric forms, light, and movement—a subtle dance between Kaori's Japanese heritage, philosophy, and aesthetics that intertwines with American pop culture.

"Kaori is an imperfect perfectionist who cherishes and expresses momentary simplicity in all its zen-like wonder." - Travis Spangler, Say the Magic Words.

Kaori lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, son, and Ellie Mae 🐕. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling ✈️, cooking 🧑🏻‍🍳, hiking 🥾, watching films 🎥, and spending time with friends. She is often spotted in Fort Greene Park, eating salt & vinegar potato chips with her double-shot iced coffee.