About

Hello! My name is Brenda and I’m a graphic designer, illustrator, art director, and community organizer based in Minneapolis.

My work focuses on creative storytelling with an equity lens and an emphasis on community-based collaborations. I am particularly interested in the intersections of migration, food, colonialism, and popular culture. Art direction, branding, web design, and publication projects are my jam. My design sensibilities are informed by the Southeast Asian diaspora (fobcore!); Y2K pop culture; zines and DIY aesthetics, so you can expect to see maximalist, chaotic good design from me!

Over the last five years, I’ve been lucky enough to do creative work in a wide range of settings - from letterpress studios and nonprofit offices, to newsrooms and a creative studio. At the moment, the majority of my clients are small businesses, local nonprofit organizations, and fellow artists. Most recently, I worked as an art director at Pollen Midwest.

In 2021, I founded Banana Leaf Collective, a Twin Cities-based community that aims to nurture early-career Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) working at the intersection of arts, media, and digital technology. Banana Leaf Collective aims to increase BIPOC participation in the local creative economy by expanding access to creative studio and community gathering spaces; resource and knowledge-sharing around creative labor; and exploring ways that mutual aid practices can be applied within art collectives.