About Cathy

Cathy is a creative leader with 10+ years of experience in creative direction and design across exhibition, experiential, location-based entertainment, and branding. A well-rounded creative director with experience both in the studio and onsite installations, her approach to design balances practicality and resourcefulness with story-rich experiences and whimsy.

As the executive managing art director overseeing Design at Creative Artists Agency, her greatest joy is supporting her designers to do their best work, leading with a servant leader framework, and translating the passion, energy and talent her clients have into beautifully crafted proposals, pitch decks, and proofs of concept.

Originally majoring in Biomedical Engineering at UC Davis for her undergrad, Cathy has found a way to meaningfully blend her right-brain love of creative problem-solving with her left-brain strengths of analytical thinking through design. While her designer friends started out in office jobs, designing at a desk, she hit the ground running with a Makita (preferred) drill in one hand and a hard hat in the other. To Cathy, understanding the installation and design application is just as important as the concept because a successful design doesn’t only meet business goals, but is also built on-time, in budget, and sustains its intended lifecycle.

She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, two cats and one porkie puppy (pug and yorkie mix).

Cathy is an ENTJ and loves making new friends! Feel free to email her at cathynivera@gmail.com.