Members Only Speed Round Portfolio Pitch Mixer

The Society of Illustrators is proud to present our first ever… Speed Round Portfolio Pitch Mixer!

An event, free and exclusive to our Illustrators – S Members, will function similarly to that of a “speed dating” event, keeping in theme with the upcoming holiday of Valentine’s Day!

This mixer will focus primarily on Editorial Illustration-focused works and career paths.

We will have 8 professional Editorial Artists & Art Directors in total, each seated at their own table, and we welcome 18 of our members who have signed up for the event. Each artist will come in and give their 5 minute pitch, showcasing their recent work and ambitions for their future in their career. Once the five minutes is up with their first review, they move to the next.

The event will take place within our third floor Garden Gallery where there will be 90 minutes of this repeated “speed dating” review/pitch process, and then 30 minutes of mingling. Cash bar provided.

We hope this event will inspire and provide guidance to young upcoming illustrators breaking out into the field, and will hopefully make an impact and guide them to their goals and aspirations!

We encourage artists to bring business cards, mailers (5×9 print card), zines or other physical networking materials.

Please note this is meant to be structured like speed dating around & elevator pitches, bringing an entire portfolio of work will not be necessary.

Illustration by Melissa Kleynowski

Maria Amador — Art Director and Designer from Cleveland. Specializing in print design, illustration and hand-lettering. Currently in Brooklyn, NY as an Assistant Art Director at The Wall Street Journal and also takes on freelance projects such as invitations, posters and custom type creations.

Aurora Colón — A Designer and Writer. She received her M.F.A. in Graphic Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she researched and visualized inequality as part of her thesis. She has freelanced for a range of non-profit organizations. Her goal is to use design and storytelling to make complex topics more accessible.

Toby Fox — The Deputy Art Director at Rolling Stone. With over 25 years of experience in the publishing field, she has worked on numerous titles including The Knot, Saveur, Garden Design, Reader’s Digest, Every Day with Rachel Ray, Smart Money, and Offspring. She also designed several custom magazines for American Express Custom Publishing and books for Simon and Schuster, Rodale, John Wiley, and Chronicle Books. Originally from Boston, Toby lives in Montclair, New Jersey with her husband, Sam.

Greg Kozatek — A freelance designer and art director based in New York. As studio director at Todd Oldham Studio, he has specialized in creating art products that encourage kids to unleash their creativity. He’s also the founder of The InQueery, a fictional “gay research corporation” that reports on queer trends, behavior and artifacts.

Illustration by Alison Dubois.

Isabel Urbina Peña — Isabel Urbina Peña is a multidisciplinary artist from Venezuela based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work spans across mediums and mainly revolves around letters and books. She has worked for publishers (Penguin Random House, Harper Collins), museums (American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Museums), media (The New York Times, L.A. Times), and tech (Apple, Etsy) to name a few. In an effort to build a more inclusive design community, she was part of AIGA NY Board of Directors; founded and ran Yes, Equal a database of creative women for 7 years. In her spare time, she teaches typography at the School of Visual Arts, occasional workshops, speaks at conferences in the US & abroad, and makes artist books.

Len Small — The Art Director for Columbia Magazine, and an instructor at School of Visual Arts. He was the founding Art Director at Nautilus magazine. He served as Co-President of ICON10: The Illustration Conference  in Detroit (2018). He is the recipient of the 2019 Richard Gangel Award from the Society of Illustrators. His work has been recognized by Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Society of Publication Designers, The Webbys, ASME, Society for News Design, and Communication Arts. He earned his MFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts, and his BFA in Fine Arts from Washington University in St Louis.

Illustration by Ellen Weinstein.

Lou Thorne — An art director at Point Five, a creative studio that designs brands, editorial, and communication strategies for the organizations shaping the big conversations of our time. Some of Point Five’s current clients include Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Stanford Business magazine, Finance & Development magazine, Arnoldia magazine, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, and American Indian magazine. Lou is originally from Vancouver, Canada. She has a BA in philosophy and an MA in publishing and journalism, and worked in the publishing industry before joining Point Five in 2019. 

Photo by Walter Hergt.

Rob Wilson — A New Yorker with roots in West Texas, Rob is a designer and illustrator whose client list includes Design Within Reach, Valentino, HarperCollins, Bookmarc, Todd Snyder, Vespa and The Wall Street Journal. Rob’s work has been honored by Communication Arts, AIGA, Type Director’s Club, American Illustration and Graphis. He has also been nominated for the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award.

Photo by Sterling Graves.