CREATIVE DIRECTION

Realness Rising

Creative Direction for a Grief-Centered Brand

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Realness Rising is built around a big idea: grief is something we all experience, so why are we so uncomfortable talking about it?

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Over the years, founder Randi Cutler Hall has created grief circles, virtual groups, classes, workshops, Authentic Relating game nights, rage room experiences, community events, a grief podcast, and now an international tour, all designed to open up conversations about grief and explore the ways it connects us.

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My role is to help bring those ideas to life while creating a recognizable Realness Rising world around them.

 

The goal: Make grief approachable enough to talk about without minimizing its complexity, and give every new idea its own creative identity while keeping it connected to the larger brand.

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The Creative Direction

Realness Rising doesn't look or sound like a traditional grief or wellness brand.

The creative direction balances darker, moodier elements with vibrancy, personality, humor, and humanity. Messaging is conversational and emotionally nuanced. Each event or offering can take on its own personality while still feeling unmistakably Realness Rising.

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Creative Direction
Eclectic + Expressive • Editorial • Human • Intimate • Unexpected

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Creative Guardrails
No generic wellness imagery • No grief clichés • No clinical therapy aesthetic • No overly polished stock photography

 

One Brand. A Lot of Ideas.

My work with Realness Rising often starts with Randi saying, “I have an idea.”

From there, I help determine how we introduce it to the world. What should it feel like? How do we talk about it? What will make someone curious enough to engage with a topic they might normally avoid? And how does this new idea fit within everything Realness Rising already is?

Then we build.

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Events + Launches

From grief circles and workshops to game nights, rage room experiences and the Realness Rising Tour, I've helped shape and launch experiences that approach grief from very different angles.

Each launch can include its own combination of campaign direction, flyers, website updates, blogs, social content, reels, scripts, video, and email marketing.

The creative direction changes with the idea. The brand doesn't.

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Social Media

Social media gives Realness Rising an ongoing place to make grief part of everyday conversation.

Creative direction shapes how educational content, personal storytelling, event promotion, podcast clips, humor, community conversations, and Randi's own perspective can coexist without turning the brand into a stream of disconnected content.

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Getting Real With Grief

The podcast brings Realness Rising's mission directly into long-form conversation.

Creative direction helps translate those conversations into short-form video and social content that draws people in without reducing someone's grief story to a hook, allowing each clip to become another invitation to talk about grief.

 

The Realness Rising Tour

The newest evolution takes Realness Rising beyond individual events and into an international tour.

The creative challenge is bigger, too: developing a campaign identity capable of holding multiple experiences, traveling across locations, and evolving with the tour while remaining connected to the Realness Rising brand.

 

My Role

Creative Direction • Campaign Development • Graphic Design • Website Design + Updates • Social Media Content • Video Editing • Scriptwriting • Blog Writing • Email Marketing • Launch Support

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The ideas and deliverables have changed again and again over the years.

My role has remained consistent: Randi brings the idea. I help figure out how we bring it to life.