About - Sitka Creations® LLC

Sitka Creations was named after the Sitka Spruce and the City of Sitka on Baranof Island in Alaska.

The name Sitka is a native Tlingit word derived from Sheet’ká, a contraction of the Tlingit Shee At’iká and means “People on the Outside of Baranof Island.”
Sitka Creations’ founder was struck by the coastal beauty of this Island and the grace of the Sitka Spruce, while living near coastal Islands in Maine, and decided on this name as a way to give width, breathe and roots to the idea of a design studio, long before a team was built.

Sitka Creations® LLC, a design studio, was created in 2002 in Rockland, Maine, by a graphic designer trained in Nashville, Tennessee, Providence, Rhode Island, and Budapest, Hungary. Sitka Creations® LLC then set up a studio on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Sitka Creations® LLC was based in New York City from 2009 until early in 2012. Sitka Creations® LLC is now based in Central Massachusetts. Below is the team.

A Tennessee native with Hungarian roots, Mrs. Russell Brown’s background is in print design. Her father is a bookbinder and printer in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Mrs. Russell Brown has a certificate in photography from Cumberland University in Tennessee, an associate degree in visual communication from Nashville State Technical Institute, a Bachelor of Arts in design from Rhode Island College and a year abroad at Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem in Budapest, Hungary. Mrs. Russell Brown operates the home studio for Sitka Creations® LLC in Central Massachusetts.

Email: tamar@sitkacreations.com

Unlike software-only digital artists, our Illustrator & Social Media Writer Diana Tamburri likes to hand draw illustrations before turning them into digital art. Some Sitka Creations employees even have portraits she’s drawn for them. Her style is so engaging that when she created several drawings of groundhogs for a client to choose from for a social media post, she chose them all.

Diana started interning at Sitka Creations in 2016 and has a BFA in illustration from UMass Dartmouth, but her illustration career goes all the way back to high school when she did the cover illustration for a recipe book. She says she enjoys Sitka Creations’ uniqueness and likes working at a company run by a designer who really understands the creative process.

Diana’s inspired by art that tells stories in visual terms, like the illustrations of Norman Rockwell, classic Looney Tunes cartoons, and her favorite Pixar movie Wall-E. She also likes to design costumes, once going to RI Comic-Con as Disgust from another Pixar movie, Inside Out.

Email: dtamburri@sitkacreations.com

Rae Mullet started with Sitka Creations® LLC as an intern in 2019 while completing her bachelor’s degree in Communications Media from Fitchburg State University. While her background doing graphic design for print shops, she discovered she had a natural talent for web design.

As a web developer at Sitka Creations, she builds, maintains, and manages websites for a wide variety of businesses. Known as a creative problem-solver, she enjoys collaborating with clients to figure out the best ways to design their websites and create an optimal user experience. She is proficient in coding and can use many platforms, including WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, and good old-fashioned HTML.

A true crime fan and avid crafter who paints, knits, and crochets, Rae has the Jonas Brothers’ song lyric “Take A Breath” tattooed on her arm as a gentle reminder to herself.

Email: rae@sitkacreations.com

Joanna realized the full power of social media during the pandemic shutdown when she used Instagram, Facebook, and email newsletters to help a day spa to stay connected with its customers. Now, as Sitka Creations Social Media Coordinator & Account Manager, she values collaborating with her team of media creators to help her clients grow their businesses. She invests a lot of time and energy in visiting her clients personally and believes that social media is similar to acting – in order to write in the company’s voice, you have to understand and appreciate what they do first.

Joanna’s clients include sustainable/green businesses, tech firms, and a global educational firm. The majority of her clients are Massachusetts-based companies, including several that are located on Martha’s Vineyard.

Joanna started with Sitka Creations in the summer of 2020. A Massachusetts native of Italian American descent, she enjoys the creative freedom Sitka gives her and feels blessed to be working with a team of strong, creative, and inspiring women. In her free time, she enjoys the beauty of the outdoors as she rock climbs or hikes.

Email: jbelanger@sitkacreations.com

Kelly Bornt, first worked for Sitka Creations in 2009 while living in Thailand. She was instrumental in creating Sitka’s social media department and later helped create Gallery Sitka.

On her return to the U.S. in 2021, Kelly opened Sitka’s Saratoga Springs office to better serve clients in upstate NY, the Catskills, and NYC. She focuses on business development, helping clients in a variety of industries grow their businesses through public relations, digital marketing and social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and more.

Kelly is a multi-passionate entrepreneur and mother of two who’s started several businesses, including a children’s English school in Laos and a consulting agency that helps fellow entrepreneurs in New York, Rhode Island, and Southeast Asia to grow their startups. She speaks Thai and Lao fluently enough to have done some translation work and currently serves as the Marketing Chair of Lao UNY. She enjoys kayaking and hiking in the Adirondacks of upstate New York but remains deeply connected to her second home and community in SE Asia.

Email: kelly@sitkacreations.com

Social Media Coordinator Jacqui Rodrigues started her social media career 15 years ago, learning social media on the job as an administrative assistant at a real estate office before moving to a social media role at a pharmaceutical company. She knows the ins and outs of a variety of platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and has a strong track record of increasing followers and engagements for a variety of brands. At Sitka Creations she specializes in graphic design for social media, editorial calendars, and proofreading.

Jacqui believes that social media is a great way for businesses to make a personal, human connection with customers. She encourages her clients who are afraid of starting their social media presence to just jump in, offering her support, encouragement and expert guidance.

Jacqui loves animals, both in the real world and in TikTok videos. Originally from West Virginia, she currently lives with her husband in the Netherlands, where she enjoys taking photos and doing volunteer work.

Email: j.rodrigues@sitkacreations.com

Lesley helps keep things running at Sitka Creations’ Shirley, MA office, taking care of the mail, keeping the coffee machine running, and making sure the office is fully stocked. She has 7 years of office experience, a background in graphic arts, and previously worked as a secretary until a pandemic layoff. While she enjoyed having some time off, she’s happy to feel useful and takes pleasure in ensuring the details of the office are handled professionally and efficiently, especially if spreadsheets are involved.

Lesley appreciates the peaceful and collaborative work environment at Sitka, where it’s quiet and her co-workers are always willing to pitch in when needed.

At home, Lesley likes to sew, cook, and garden. She’s sewn many historical costumes for friends and family to wear at Renaissance Faires, which she views as a way to experience living history.

Email: lpappas@sitkacreations.com

As a graphic design student at Roger Williams University, Junior Graphic Designer and Gallery Assistant Camille Fredette was inspired to work for Sitka Creations because of her admiration for the menu they’d created for a local sushi restaurant. A native of upstate NY, she now works for Sitka full-time, creating social media and print graphics for their clients. She’s also taking on a new role as the in-person assistant at their Newport, RI art gallery.

Camille is an expert in Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign with an extensive background in fine art mediums who particularly enjoys helping small businesses find eye-catching graphic layouts. She designed t-shirt graphics and created Instagram campaigns as a graphic designer at her college radio station and used an engaging visual rebrand to draw a new audience to an historical cemetery.

Camille is proud of her French-Canadian and Italian heritage. She inherited her name from her grandfather, Camile. She’s also a certified lifeguard who loves swimming in the Adirondacks, spending time with her two dogs and listening to indie rock.

Email: camille@sitkacreations.com

LONG-TIME FREELANCERS

Jerry Kahn is a native of the Cleveland (Ohio) area. He graduated from Cleveland State University with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and relocated to New York City in 1987. Mr. Kann has worked primarily as a copywriter, editor, and proofreader in publishing and advertising. He is the author of two plays — Let’s Have the War on Wednesday and Take Me Back to Purgatory — and many articles on independent, progressive politics. Jerry has been with Sitka Creations® LLC since 2009.

Email: jerry@sitkacreations.com

Tamar Russell-Brown

Diana Tamburri

Rae Mullet

Joanna Belanger

Kelly Bornt Chrysler

Jacqueline Rodrigues

Lesley Pappas

Camille Fredette

Jerry Kahn