Oxana is a Creative Director for an award-winning legal marketing digital agency based in NY. We talked about her daily life as a Creative Director, including her tips for managing creative teams, her thoughts on creativity in corporate America, and even a little bit about feminism.

Oxana, you have a lot of experience in the fields of design and marketing. You are an award-winning designer, have served as a judge at design competitions, are an ambassador for the Behance Community, a member of The Design Union, and more. Can you start off by answering how you got into design and what drives you and motivates you to continue working and pushing yourself in this field?
To be honest, I really think I never had a choice. I was painting since I learned how to hold a paintbrush. I was always interested in and inspired to learn about art, design, and photography. I just have a passion for beauty in any shape and form. I think at some point this love organically transitioned to a love for what I do now. Branding strategy and design, web design, creative direction and advertising campaigns&mdash;all of it is a combination of beauty and psychology, two of the things I am most passionate about.

&ldquo;I think when you start going in the right direction everything seems to push you towards your destiny. The doors open in front of you, different opportunities show themselves&mdash;it&rsquo;s how you know you are on the right path. This is how it feels for me.&rdquo;

What are the skills you need to have to be a creative director as opposed to a designer? What is the difference?
The main thing you need to understand is that everyone is different and has different passions: one person will like to design and be in a creative flow all the time, while someone else will enjoy managing, setting creative direction, and teaching others. I enjoy a combination of both. I can&rsquo;t just sit all the time head down designing different concepts and websites. I like processes and creating the right creative atmosphere for other creators. I enjoy giving direction and seeing what other designers and the content team can came up with. I&rsquo;m a control freak in life and at work. I think that is exactly why I am where I am.

Your recent projects all relate to legal. Don&rsquo;t you get bored to work in the same field for a long time?
When I started my journey in legal marketing I set up a goal for myself: I wanted to change the visual direction of the legal industry and bring it to the next level. The majority of law firm websites have an old school design and branding. It&rsquo;s stayed the same for the last 10-15 years. I wanted to set a new bar for that industry. I&rsquo;m still working hard on achieving this goal. 80% of our websites for clients have received design awards. The main thing to remember is that even in this industry every law firm is unique and has something specific to say.

Can you name a few of the past clients you had a chance to work with?
Recently I worked with Edwards Pottinger, a nationally-recognized powerhouse litigation firm that represented survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. They were featured in a recent Netflix documentary on Epstein, and their founder has appeared on CBS, CNN, FOX, New York Times etc. It was a pleasure to work with them, and we created an amazing brand strategy for their firm.
I have also worked with big law firms like Shulman &amp; Hill which is one of the top injury law firms in New York City, and many others.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I think every creative will answer the same way, so I&rsquo;m not going to say anything new. First of all, inspiration is everywhere around us, and mostly in nature.
I have &ldquo;inspiration reflection walks&rdquo; where I go outside, put some music on, and just reflect on everything that is around me. I can just sit for hours looking at people, cars, architecture, the sky, everything that catches my eyes. It&rsquo;s impossible now to create something that is entirely unique and new, but we can find something that inspires us and combine that with what we know in order to create a compelling design.

Is it hard to manage creative teams and collaborate with other crossfunctional teams on a project?
I think you need a specific personality to be a leader and you should love it. I love to give direction and create a supportive, friendly atmosphere. One of the best pieces of advice I ever read was, &ldquo;You should find people to join your team who are better than you.&rdquo; I truly believe in that. Everyone on our team is extremely competent in what they do and I trust them. We brainstorm together, set the direction, and come up with amazing solutions together. This is how I believe it should be. Being a Creative Director also means that you taking responsibility for your team in front of the client, so you need to believe in the team you are working with.

What are the main programs/tools you work with on a daily basis?
As a team we use asana for project management and slack for communication. I use them nonstop every day. The design-specific programs I use include Adobe, Figma, etc.

Was it difficult to get this position as a young woman? Do you think your journey in corporate America would have been different for a man?
I never saw or felt any double standards for me necessarily because of my gender. However, I think I did face challenges because I&rsquo;m young and I look even younger than my actual age. I&rsquo;m a very ambitious person, so I truly believe that my journey would be the same no matter my gender. Sometimes I can see doubt in people&rsquo;s eyes when they hear that I&rsquo;m a Creative Director, but it all goes away when I show them my professionalism and that I actually know what I&rsquo;m talking about. So I&rsquo;m trying to focus on becoming better and better in what I do.
My advice here would be never allow the perceptions that people around you have about you affect how you feel about yourself. Be honest with yourself and never stop growing. People around you will always will have their opinion and you should not spend any energy on trying to prove them wrong. Instead use your energy on your own grow and You should be important to you and that&rsquo;s more than enough. Period.

Credits:
Talent: Oxana Skripka @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/zoeviolin.me" target="_blank" rel="noopener">zoeviolin.me</a>
Photographer Gari Markarian @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/s.e.n.s.e_my" target="_blank" rel="noopener">s.e.n.s.e_my</a>
Stylist Elena Nigmatullina @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/_nevaneva_" target="_blank" rel="noopener">_nevaneva_</a>
Mua Vika Osychenko @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/vikaos30" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vikaos30</a>
Clothes provided by Flying Solo New York @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/flyingsolonyc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flyingsolonyc</a>

Oxana Skripka: Being a Female Creative Leader for a NY Digital Agency: Love, Pain & Design

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