Judges

Elida Holte is a Designer and Art Director specializing in branding, packaging and clothing/retail design. She has been the lead designer for many national, international and small boutique brands. As a strategic and outside-the-box thinker, she creates innovative and experimental designs that help clients to channel their vision in new and exciting ways. She is passionate about bringing fresh and unconventional cultural inspiration to projects that help clients push past their comfort zone.

Leeya Rose Jackson (@leeyamakesnoise), is a Detroit-native, Black, femme and queer Art Director at Weiden + Kennedy NY living in Minneapolis, MN. She is also a painter, illustrator and Creative Founder of Noisemakers Design Shop with experience creating commercials and design for major brands such as Heinz, Afropunk, US Bank, Kayak, Silk, H&R Block, OpenTable, Betterment, Big Ten Basketball, Arby’s, and Lime-A-Rita. She’s been featured on Time’s Up Mpls Panel, been named AdFed’s 32 Under 32, spoke on MPLS MadWOmen’s Women Who Make, and featured in MPLS Business Magazine’s Women Who Lead.

Sean Heisler is a Senior Design Director at Daake, based in Omaha. After graduating from Iowa State University with a BFA in Graphic Design, Sean went on to join Omaha-based, Webster, an established branding and design firm. He spent over two decades at Webster working in all facets of graphic design with an emphasis on crafting identities and brand design. In 2019, Webster was acquired by Omaha-based branding agency, Daake, to form a regional branding and design agency powerhouse where he resides as a Senior Design Director. Sean’s passions lie within identity and brand design, which has resulted in numerous local, national and international awards. Aside from his passion for design, Sean is an audiophile, craft beer lover and home DIY’er.

Mary-Beth Rouse has worked as an art director at Meredith Corporation for 15 years, first in the Better Homes and Gardens family of brands, and now as Creative Director of Midwest Living magazine. She has a passion for publication design, and the way every piece of the visual and editorial puzzle leads to a successful layout. She graduated from Drake University in 2002 and grew up in the Chicago area. Now she lives in Des Moines, where she loves to run, travel, camp, ski (both water and snow!) and road-trip to find hidden Midwest gems.

Andy Cusack has been asking, “What if?” professionally for 17 years. His experience has taken him from being an in-house graphic designer at a Fortune 500 company, The Principal Financial Group, to being an art director at a vibrant advertising agency with The Integer Group — and ultimately to being creative director and co-owner of boutique marketing agency, On Pitch.

Briana Summers is the owner and lead designer behind Brighten Made– a branding and web design studio that empowers lifestyle and wellness brands to brighten the world. Bri built Brighten Made from the ground up during her evenings and weekends after feeling unfulfilled working in the corporate world. Bri is inspired by the beach, anything boho, bold patterns and textiles, natural light, artistic interiors, vintage photographs, traveling, and sunsets.