Jessie Kate is a natural when it comes to everything storytelling, narratives, and understanding the psychology of storytellers to help them find their voice and share their stories. Her approach is nothing short of genius, and I highly recommend her!
HILARY HARTLING, BRAND AND MESSAGING STRATEGIST, FORMALLY VICE PRESIDENT OF INTEGRATED MARKETING AND SYNERGY AT WALT DISNEY MOTION PICTURES
I was a character designer at Disney for four years until I left to start my own online art school, The Oatley Academy of Concept Art and Illustration (now the Oatley Academy of Visual Storytelling).
I first met Jessie Kate at an animation convention called CTN-X where I was floored by her strength of draughtsmanship, but even more so by her communication skills and her confidence.
She is an articulate but efficient communicator. She has a knack for clarifying abstract ideas with words and clear direction.
When our Academy decided to take on a large group book project, I assigned Jessie Kate to the role of a costume design lead...little did I know that there was a focused, organized, motivational producer-art director hybrid inside of her.
She did an amazing job organizing, moving that project forward, and bringing the team together. The level of productivity, organization and patience that she maintained throughout the project blew everyone away.
...and gave everyone a sense of stability that would have otherwise been disconcertingly absent.
The project didn't have a single, established organizational leader at the beginning but when a need arose, the team just automatically turned to Jessie Kate.
...but it gets better.
Jessie also blew us away with an in-depth, inspiring style guide and design concepts worthy of any ILM or Henson production (which is exactly what we were going for).
I have worked with and hired a lot of creative professionals throughout my own career. Jessie Kate's skill set is a unique hybrid of creativity and efficiency.
It’s a rare feeling of relief that comes with knowing that all you have to do is share the vision of an end result for a project and trust that the person to whom you're assigning the task will see it through. Jessie Kate is that person.
CHRIS OATLEY, DIRECTOR OF THE OATLEY ACADEMY OF VISUAL STORYTELLING AND VISUAL DEVELOPMENT ARTIST FOR DISNEY AND DREAMWORKS