oh
hey 
Hi, I'm Lizzie

Designer, reformed girlboss, patron saint of multi-passionate creatives.

I'm a Chicago-based graphic designer and illustrator who’s spent the last decade working in almost every corner of the creative industry. I did the whole pastel-pantsuit-girlboss-era thing and lived to tell the tale (barely).

Nowadays, I’m all about helping fellow multi-passionate creative women build personal brands, businesses, and creative practices that don't require sacrificing everything else.

Let's be friends
Let's be friends

Adobe

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Buzzfeed

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Typewolf

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I Love Creatives

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Mindsparkle Mag

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Adobe ✷ Buzzfeed ✷ Typewolf ✷ I Love Creatives ✷ Mindsparkle Mag ✷ 

You might have seen me in…

The story so far…

  • [2013] Blogger

    Started a lifestyle blog in college as a creative outlet — and accidentally taught myself graphic design, HTML, and CSS trying to make it look good.

  • [2014] Etsy Seller

    Picked up my first freelance clients and opened an Etsy shop that went viral when a mystery flannel shirt listing hit the front page — hundreds of orders, $3,000, and my first real taste of entrepreneurship.

  • [2016] Marketing Manager

    Graduated with a journalism degree, turned a marketing internship into a full-time job, and quietly started adding logo and website design to my freelance work on the side.

  • [2018] Social Media Manager

    Took a miserable marketing job in Chicago that I quit after 10 months, launched a print-on-demand apparel shop called Brave Girl Club, and went all in on freelance design.

  • [2019] Brand Designer

    Grew my design client roster, started teaching branding and social media to small business owners, and had a sweatshirt go viral on Buzzfeed over the holidays – nearly $15K in sales in one week.

  • [2020] Pandemic Pause

    Pandemic hit, clients dried up, and my boyfriend and I moved back to Michigan, got engaged, and eloped at my parents' house before the year was out.

  • [2021] Agency Owner

    Built Asteria Studio into a full design agency with a team, a membership community, and a podcast – and burned out completely trying to perform the role of CEO rather than actually enjoy the work.

  • [2022] Designer (Again)

    Moved back to Chicago, bought a 130-year-old condo, and quietly let go of my girlboss agency era. I cold-emailed a women-owned design agency about freelance work, and somehow got hired full-time.

  • [2025] Writer

    Discovered Substack and launched Parenthetical – a blog & newsletter about books, style, and creative living that finally feels like all of me in one place.

  • [2026] Thriving Multi-Passionate

    Realized a decade-plus of doing this the hard way is actually worth something, so I launched Office Hours, started building a course, and began weaving more creative business content into Parenthetical.

Some things I believe…

Your work is one part of your life, not the whole thing.

Most of the advice out there for creative business owners treats your career like it's the point of your entire existence. I don't buy that. Work is one of six things I think about when I'm designing a life – and it deserves exactly that much real estate, no more.

Loving too many things isn’t a problem to solve.

You've probably been told to pick a lane. I'm here to tell you that the connective tissue between all your interests is your brand – and the people who try to hide parts of themselves to seem more "niche-able" are the ones who end up feeling like strangers in their own business.

Design thinking is a life skill, not just a job skill.

I apply the same principles to my own life that I bring to every client project: get curious before you get prescriptive, look for patterns, and make decisions based on what you actually want — not what looks good on paper or what someone else's framework says you should want.

Permission is the most underrated thing I can give you.

A lot of what I do isn't teaching people something new — it's showing them that the thing they already wanted to do was okay all along. Sometimes the most useful thing is someone with experience just saying: yes, that's a real option. You're allowed.

Burnout isn't a badge of honor or a rite of passage.

I built something that looked like success from the outside and felt like suffocation from the inside, and I know I'm not the only one. Sustainable creative work is possible, and it doesn't require you to gut your ambition to get there — it just requires building something that was actually designed for your life.

Here’s How We Can Work Together

  • 1:1 Office Hours

    Got a brand question that keeps you up at night? A portfolio that undersells you? A business direction that feels murky? Book a 60-minute call and let's get into it. No fluff, no frameworks – just honest, specific feedback from someone who's been in the weeds.

    Book a Session

  • Creative Community

    Paid Substack subscribers get behind-the-scenes access to tools, templates, and resources I've built specifically for creative women growing a personal brand and business, for less than the price of an iced coffee each month.

    Join the Club

  • What do romance novels, plaid trousers, and brand strategy have in common?

    You can find them all on Parenthetical – a Substack publication for creative women covering the reading life, personal style, building a business, and living with more intention and less noise. It's part lifestyle magazine, part creative business resource, part letter from a friend who reads too much and has strong opinions about fonts.

    Get to Binge Reading

Client Love

  • “Lizzie truly helped us build our brand from the ground up.”

    Lizzie truly helped us build our brand from the ground up. Her creativity, thoughtfulness, and attention to detail were unparalleled. We've received nothing but rave reviews on our website and branding!

    – Jenny Bakos

  • “You are truly a graphic design and creative goddess!”

    You are truly a graphic design and creative goddess! I absolutely love the look and feel of what you created for me. It is always a pleasure working with you.

    – Priscilla Chesney

  • “I am so in love with my new branding, colors, logo and website.”

    I am so in love with my new branding, colors, logo and website. It feels soooo me and I feel more confident. You were a dream to work with and I am so grateful I got connected with you for this project. I’d say we were a perfect match!

    – Sarah Dunn

  • “You made this whole process so easy and pain free.”

    You were wonderful to work with and made this whole process so easy, pain free and I feel like you really listened and understood what I was going for.

    – Billye Donya

  • “I feel like you went straight into my mind!”

    Oh my gosh, this is so amazing! I absolutely LOVE the drawings you did. I feel like you went straight into my mind - it was exactly what I was looking for.

    – Kelsey Reaves