Brands worked with
Yellowbrick
founding partner
Yellowbrick is on a mission to inspire the next generation to pursue a career that aligns to their talents and passions with the universities and brands they know and trust.
Yellowbrick is a global leader in online education for the Creator Economy and career exploration in the Arts, Media, Sports, and Entertainment industries. The company develops exciting, accessible online programs in collaboration with top brands and world-renowned universities. Many key influencers in media and culture participate as instructors on the platform; including some of the world’s top entertainment industry professionals connected through Yellowbrick’s recent acquisition of Animation Mentor. Backed by Sony Innovation Fund, University Ventures, Condé Nast, and others, the company’s mission is to help a new generation of talent discover, pursue, and advance career paths that are aligned with the things they love.
During Michael’s 8 years at Yellowbrick, he first gained the trust of top-tier university partners with his new approach to reaching students by collaborating with aligned brands to integrate them into courses to offer students a real look into their areas of interest. He married the educational content with a fresh look above industry standards to feel authentic and offer a higher level, more dynamic, learning experience than past online programs.
As Chief Creative Officer, Michael was responsible for all design and creative management functions at Yellowbrick, including all digital and marketing assets, the visual design of the university LMS and direction/production of all video content. He built and managed the creative team of Art Directors, Editors, Producers, Developers, and Instructional Designers to successfully launch over 20 online courses and related marketing content for industry-leading brands and university partners including Parsons, FIT, NYU, Columbia School of Business, Apple, Teen Vogue, Reebok, New Balance, and many others. Over the last two years, he designed and built out two fully remote video studios in NYC and Los Angeles, reinventing the way content could be produced and reducing time to market. As a founding partner, he has had a hands-on role to every aspect of Yellowbrick’s creative development and growth.
About Me
Design / Animation / Director
Michael is a hands-on multidisciplinary Creative Director. For the last 15 years, he has been lucky enough to let his lifestyle passions dictate his career path and has immersed himself in a variety of design disciplines and creative environments. From large agencies like Translation and brands like Burton, Rocawear, State Farm and Wrigley’s, as Founding Partner of his own creative shop at DSTLLRY, to his 8 years in education technology as Chief Creative Officer at Yellowbrick.co, Michael has taken the creative lead wherever he lands. Notably, he worked with Reebok at Arnell Group to launch their first non-sports partnership, a sneaker line, with music artists Jay-Z and 50 Cent and at Translation, worked to make Wrigley’s Doublemint jingle relevant to the Millennial generation with a top pop artist. These two examples were pinnacle points in the brand’s histories and Michael’s work directly contributed to these successes. At DSTLLRY, he worked with Equinox to set a new standard for Equinox’s fitness video content and won the 2012 IAC Outstanding Online Video Award for his yoga video with Briohny Smyth. Each experience has brought unique challenges and unique learning and growth opportunities. Whether it is working in design, music, fashion or sports, he thrives on thinking creatively and making it happen. He figures it out.
Michael’s career was built on a foundation of creative thinking and practical design skills, with a BFA in Design from Tyler School of Arts at Temple University. This has allowed him to be nimble enough to apply his skills anywhere and learn whatever new application or tool the job requires – from editing, post-production workflows, remote studio builds, animating, 3D renders, fashion shoots or the latest fitness wear trends. The hard skills helped his early career develop, but the real-world challenges working with top brands, universities, agencies and talent have honed his soft skills. He is an effective manager and inspires his teams to produce their best work and have fun doing it. He believes that ultimately, good work comes from happy people who know their passions.
Mobile: 646.354.3182
email: mongodshall@gmail.com
