2024 Speakers & Instructors
Mariam Naficy
Minted’s Founder & Executive Chairman
Mariam Naficy is a serial entrepreneur who founded Minted in 2007 with the goal of creating a brand that would stay fresh forever. As a pioneer of the creator economy, Mariam created a community of independent artists and designers and a ‘crowdsourcing’ process that includes design competitions to consistently discover the best designers and the hottest trends. Mariam has immersed herself in Minted’s talented community of independent artists, who inspire her every day. She has pioneered consumer Internet models since 1998, when she co-founded the first online cosmetics retailer, Eve.com, which was sold for over $100 million. Mariam is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Heretic Ventures. She sits on the Board of Every Mother Counts, Medium, Victoria’s Secret, and Minted, and is a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council.
Patrick Priore
VP, Merchandising, Minted
As Vice President, Merchandising, Patrick oversees all aspects of the merchandising process including product development, merchandise operations, product design and merchandising assortments sourced from our amazing community of artists. Patrick has spent his career as a merchandising leader with leading brands including Gap, Inc., West Elm, Anthropologie, and Calvin Klein. Most recently, as head of product and design at Paper Source, he was responsible for evolving the brand to new heights of success. Patrick received a BA in English from the University of Illinois.
Brian Farchione
Senior Manager, Business Operations (Art & Home), Minted
Brian has been the business lead for the Art and Home team at Minted since 2023. In that time, he has focused his efforts on driving sales growth, improving product quality, maximizing customer satisfaction, and appreciating Minted’s beautiful art. Prior to joining Minted, Brian worked at Anheuser-Busch InBev in various roles including developing the sales strategy for their portfolio of hard seltzers, ready-to-drink cocktails, and other non-beer beverages. Brian received a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Agnes Pierscieniak
Artist, Designer, & Educator
Agnes Pierscieniak is an artist, designer, and educator rooted in the Napa Valley. As the founder of Crave Workshops, a creative experience company, Agnes has pioneered a unique approach to fostering mindfulness and team building through process-driven art. With an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, she has taught art and design at prestigious institutions such as RISD, the University of Southern California, and Otis College. Agnes spent over 15 years working as a Creative Director in diverse design firms in Los Angeles. In 2020, she decided to leave her full-time job to bring art to corporate teams dealing with stress and burnout, one art workshop at a time. Since then, Crave Workshops has reached over 5,000 participants in 48 states and 30+ countries. Crave Workshops specializes in bringing creative wellness to local, national, and global teams. Collaborating with renown companies such as eBay, Google, Adobe, Facebook, and TEDx conferences, Crave Workshops connects and inspires participants through hands-on methods that are accessible to all. Agnes recently moved to Napa from Los Angeles and is excited to expand in-person offerings in the Bay Area.
Rebecca Rueth
Artist, Designer, & Photographer
Rebecca Rueth is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and photographer based in Southern California. With a BFA in Illustration from RISD and Surface Design studies at FIDM, Rebecca has navigated a diverse career spanning over two decades in publishing, fashion, accessories, and interior design. She has collaborated with renowned brands such as Disney, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Guess, Brighton, Trina Turk, and many notable interior designers.
Currently, Rebecca is the Creative Director at Advanced Screen Graphics, a premier textile and wallpaper printing company. Known for her innovative techniques and attention to detail, her client work is regularly featured in interior design magazines.
Earlier this year, Rebecca launched her Break the Box workshop and Patterns for Interiors program to share her vast industry knowledge. As co-founder of the RISD Women in Business Alumni Affinity Group and mentor in Brit Morin’s Selfmade program, she is dedicated to helping others build their dream businesses.
Rebecca’s personal work, licensed by Minted and Pottery Barn Kids & Teen, continues to evolve as she explores new media. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Joe, and daughter, Aurora, relaxing at home watching movies and playing games, or exploring SoCal botanical gardens and amusement parks.
Erin Wilson
Stationery Designer
Erin Wilson is a freelance stationery designer who has worked with Minted for over a decade. She specializes in hand-lettering and shifts to surface pattern design when she needs a break from type and letterforms. Over the course of her career, she has developed a broad portfolio of work with a variety of clients and she believes that a viable licensing career depends just as much on organization as it does on creativity. A lifelong creative, her degree is in music education and she enjoys playing the flute and the piano in her spare time. Above all, her true passions are her family, root beer, and cider donuts.
Zachary White
Manager, Merchandising Operations, Minted
Zach has worked for Minted since 2017, starting as a temporary member of the Print Quality team for the Holiday season. He contributed to proofing customer orders, working directly with clients to rectify issues, and partnering with our fullfilers to ensure the highest quality prints possible. He was hired on as a full-time employee at the end of the season and continued learning how to improve Minted's quality both on the print and system levels.
He eventually carried that experience over to his role as Quality Control Specialist on the Merchandising Operations team in 2020, where we helped improve quality at the source by reviewing templates, updating foil review processes, and auditing designs post-launch to ensure accuracy. As of 2022, he took over as Production Manager, where he works with the production team to help ensure projects go live onsite quickly, completely, and at high quality while still honoring the most important aspect of Minted's commitment to our community: the artist’s original intention.
In his free time, he’s an artist who works on colorful digital illustrations and is currently learning character design. He also enjoys long-distance running, concerts, and video games. Zach lives in Washington with his cat Coriander.
Lauren Richel Kelly
Creative Director, Minted
Lauren is the Creative Director at Minted, where she leads the creative team behind all of Minted's marketing and oversees the conceptualization and execution of brand photoshoots. Lauren's background includes roles at Kate Spade New York, Martha Stewart Weddings, J.Crew, Gap, Ann Taylor, and Design Within Reach, and she also co-founded Ditto Paper, a stationery company that helped bring client's visions to life through custom stationery. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and a Master’s in Art & Design Business, and is adjunct professor and visiting speaker at The Maryland Institute College of Art. In her free time, Lauren can be found crafting intricate costumes for her children's school plays, working on her next quilt, enjoying her family's cabin in the Berkshires, or volunteering in her community. She lives with her husband Craig and their two rambunctious kids in the historic village of Katonah, New York. Her closet is chock-full of stripes.
Melissa Kim
Co-Founder & CEO, Minted
As a co-founder, Melissa has played a range of roles (including box packer during the holiday rush). Before assuming the CEO role, Melissa was responsible for go-to-market functions, including marketing, merchandising, product management, engineering, and category management. She has also led our supporting infrastructure, including finance, strategy, operations, people, and legal. Melissa previously worked in eBay's Corporate Strategy group and at The Boston Consulting Group. She received her BBA from the University of Michigan and her MBA from Stanford, where she graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Brady Wood
Chief Partner & People Officer, Minted
Brady leads Artist Relations, wholesale, licensing, and our people team, working to develop talent inside and outside of the company and build distribution for our artists’ work. Brady built his first online community in 1996 and taught a course about online communities at Duke University. Prior to Minted, he co-founded Shmoop, an educational website used by tens of millions of teachers and students. Previously, he worked in marketing at Yahoo and founded its LGBTQ employees group. Brady earned a BA, cum laude, from Duke and an MBA from Stanford.
Lori Mazor
CEO and Founder of SYNTHETIVITY
Lori stands at the forefront of the intersection of artificial intelligence and creativity. Known for her innovative stance on the integration of Generative AI into education, workforce development, and business operations, Lori's insightful teachings have made significant strides in the rapidly evolving field of AI. Her work extends to esteemed institutions like Cornell Tech, Fordham University, New York Tech, NYU, Tufts, and ED3DAO, where she has taught and developed innovative curricula, including the first Gen AI course delivered to high school students an online teacher training program offered through Idaho State University. As a celebrated multimedia artist, Lori's creative work has been featured in renowned outlets such as the New York Times, Inside Higher Education, Crain’s New York Business, and the Wall Street Journal. In recognition of her outstanding architectural design, she received the AIA Award for Design Excellence, and Crain’s New York Business has named her one of its 40 Under 40 rising stars.
Katherine Philpot
SVP, Strategy, Minted
Katherine leads Minted’s Category Management organization, bringing the best in independent design to life across a wide range of product categories. In this role, she leads category strategy and customer insights, revenue generation, and category general management. In her time at Minted, Katherine has played a number of leadership roles, including overseeing product marketing, merchandising, and product development. Previously, she was GM of the Holiday, Baby & Kids and Gifts categories and Senior Director of Customer Retention Marketing. She began her career at McKinsey & Company, where she specialized in customer lifecycle and retention, and has held a variety of strategic and operational roles in technology companies and nonprofit organizations. Katherine received her AB cum laude in History & Literature from Harvard College and her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Sarah DeThomasis
Head of Social, Minted
Sarah has spent her career partnering with and working for some of the world’s most recognized and respected brands like Amazon, Red Bull, Anheuser-Busch, Apple, NBC Sports, PepsiCo, Neutrogena, and Intel to create and implement innovative global social, brand, influencer, and content marketing strategies. At her core, she is a passionate brand storyteller and marketer who believes in the business-driving power of content that transcends the digital space. This mindset led Sarah to create and instruct a masters course in social media analytics at her alma mater, The University of Florida. Sarah is currently the Head of Social at Minted, leading a dynamic team of organic & paid social, influencer and display marketing professionals, bringing the best in independent art and design via the channels in which consumers spend their time most.
Andie Levinson
Senior Manager, Merchandising (Art, Home, Gifting), Minted
Andie is a Senior Merchant at Minted and oversees merchandising for categories in Art, Home, and Gifting. She comes to Minted from the contemporary art world, where some of her proudest moments include shepherding multi-million dollar masterpieces through auction, launching Sotheby’s first online sales and marketplace platform, and opening the doors to the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco. She is passionate about leveraging her background to support living, working artists and making art more accessible for all. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and one year old puppy Sim, who was thrilled to make his modeling debut in Minted’s holiday photo kit this season!
Sarah Veit Wallis
COO, Minted
Sarah leads Supply Chain, Customer Operations, IT, Legal, and large strategic projects at Minted. Prior to joining Minted, Sarah has spent her career at well known brands and retailers from very small to very large, including Gymboree, Bare Escentuals, lululemon, Indochino, Walmart, and Athleta. Most recently, she led ecommerce for the Gap brand Old Navy. Throughout her career, she has been particularly focused on driving growth and delivering P&L improvements in ecommerce businesses. Sarah received a BA in Quantitative Economics from Stanford University and a MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Marina Woodbury
Senior Manager, Third Party Marketplace & Licensing, Minted
Marina Woodbury has worn many different hats during her 8 years with Minted - working on everything from Wedding to Holiday to Greeting Cards. In her current role, she manages merchandising for Minted's new(ish) Third-Party Marketplace and is the resident Disney expert. She studied Painting in college, and has recently been trying to flex her creative muscle again by trying wheel pottery. A Bay Area native, she loves to spend weekends hiking, reading, hunting for the best bread in town (the answer is Acme), and snuggling with her two cats, Donna and Denise.
Natalie Yates
Manager, Merchandising (Holiday), Minted
Natalie Yates joined Minted in 2021 and leads merchandising for the Holiday category. Natalie was born and raised in the Bay Area and received her BA in Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Lauren Hom
Designer, Letterer, & Educator
Lauren Hom is a designer, letterer, and educator. A self-proclaimed "artist with a business brain", she picked up hand lettering as a hobby while studying advertising in college. That hobby grew into a passion and, over the next few years, she leveraged a few clever passion projects into a thriving design business thanks to the power of the internet.
Known for her bright color palettes, playful letterforms, and quirky copywriting, Lauren has created work for clients like Vans, Target, Google, and Adobe. She loves sharing her knowledge with others through her blog and online courses.
Emily Barry
VP, Wedding,Wholesale and Marketplace, Minted
Emily leads Minted’s wedding, wholesale, and third-party marketplace businesses, overseeing channel strategy, revenue generation and go-to-market execution to expand distribution for our artists’ products. Prior to joining Minted, Emily worked at McKinsey & Company, advising global consumer companies in growth strategy, pricing excellence, and sales & marketing optimization. Emily has a BS in Finance from the College of William and Mary, a Master’s in Education from Harvard University, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Ben Accardi
Senior Writer and Editor, Minted
Ben joined Minted in 2021, bringing over fifteen years of experience in the greeting cards category as well as a background in creative product development, publishing, and teaching. He lives and works in Kansas City.
Deborah Velásquez
Fine Artist, Designer, Author
Minted artist Deborah Velásquez is an artist-designer and the author of Drawing in Black and White. She creates paintings, prints, ceramics, stationery, textiles, rugs, and wall art. Her art is colorful and energetic, giving a vibrant nod to nature and shows her love of gouache, watercolor, and printmaking. Deborah has exhibited in numerous galleries and juried shows and has been featured in UPPERCASE and Latina magazines. Her work is carried by Minted, West Elm, Target, CarpetVista of Sweden, home decor store Habitat in the UK, and Deborah works with giftware and home décor licensing companies. She has secured two fabric lines. Crimson Garden and Verdant Lush, and has launched a line of Bucket hats and textiles. Most recently, her Minted art adorns Real Housewives Brynn Whitfield's apartment featured on Architectural Digest online. She continues to build her teaching portfolio with printmaking and abstract art.
Erin McManness Rodda
Illustrator & Founder of Paper Raven Co.
Erin McManness Rodda has been professionally illustrating since 2015 under her brand Paper Raven Co., which started as a greeting card line, and now includes licensing for cards, gifts and home decor. A whimsical aesthetic and developed botanicals are hallmarks of her brand. She joined the Minted Community in 2014, and her favorite category is Holiday! Outside of Minted, Erin has had the pleasure of collaborating with Macy's, Target, Publix, Trader Joe's, The Happy Planner, and Casetify to bring her signature style to many licensed products.
Maja cunningham
Artist and Designer
Art has always been a part of Maja's life’s journey. As a child running alongside a crafty grandmother, later as a double major in art and architecture, and then spilling into motherhood. Minted became a catalyst in her life that transformed a hobby into a passion and a career.
Print making, whether it’s linocuts, wood block, or potato stamps, has been a constant source of artistic expression. Print making lends itself to capturing the essence of the moment or an object in most minimal form, whereas painting allows her to be more bold and gestural. Her surroundings, nature, travels, and objects that she holds dear have always been her primary inspiration sources.
Texas has been her home for 24 years. After many tumultuous years of refugee life, coming here was like coming home. She has felt welcome from the moment she arrived and she still feels that way.
Alison Jerry
Fine Artist, Minted Marketplace Seller
Alison Jerry is an award-winning fine artist. Her work reflects her time spent during her travels and childhood vacations. She grew up in the Midwest and Upstate NY and has traveled to Europe, China and even The Islands. All were, and are, visual playgrounds for her paintings. Today, Alison’s work focuses on the moment and her emotional reactions to our natural world.
With collectors and corporations around the world seeking exclusive contracts and custom commissions, Alison currently sells originals and prints worldwide. Her work can also be seen with West Elm, Minted, HGTV, Property Brothers, Pottery Barn Kids, Hyatt Regency hotels, galleries, and corporate spaces. Her work is collected nationally and internationally.
Today Alison resides in Doylestown, PA, working on her paintings and finding good sushi and Thai food!
Becca O'Leary
Senior Director, Merchandising, Minted
As the Senior Director of Merchandising, Becca leads the merchandising team at Minted. Becca joined Minted in 2020 after earning her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and currently leads the Merchandising team, focusing her time on long term merchandising strategy, day to day operations of the team, and the Wedding category.
Alicia Schultz
Artist, of Vine & Thistle
Alicia Schultz (she/her) is an artist and the creator of Vine & Thistle. She’s a hand letterer, illustrator, stationery designer and muralist based in Portland, Oregon.
She creates hand lettering, botanical art, patterns and illustrations to be used for murals, stationery, home decor and art prints. She has partnered with many companies to get her art out in the world including Minted, Mpix, Google, Hallmark, Postable, Allport Editions, Felt, Roost Books, Portland Street Art Alliance and more.
In her work, she strives to capture and inspire joy found from everyday moments. She uses unique color combinations and loves hand drawn imperfections. She is always inspired by botanicals and is especially inspired by the life-cycle of flowers and plants.
As a self-taught artist, Alicia has spent many years building a career with her art. Oftentimes, the work she does does not feel like “work.” Alicia finds great value in connection – which she shares through stationery, murals, taking classes from other local artists and being a part of the art community - both locally and globally.
When not making art, she loves having spontaneous adventures with her husband, two daughters and pup, Lazo.