Employee Spotlight: Matthew Huberty

Role: Designer | Production Artist 
Client(s) Served: CH Robinson, Mosaic

Matthew & Creatis 

There aren't many industries Matthew Huberty hasn't impacted in the Twin Cities as a graphic designer, including sporting goods, medical products, computer technology, retail merchandising, and financial services. Throughout his 30-year career, Matthew has hustled to carve out a niche as both a Creatis employee and freelance designer.

But as his kids grew up, he started to seek other opportunities that allowed him more flexibility, like long-term engagements with resourcing companies. He began interviewing at firms across the Twin Cities, but never found his fit. That is, until he met with a Creatis Relationship Manager, and found our team to be the most personable and understanding in terms of what he was looking for and how he could bring value to a client. Matthew said, "Creatis presented more opportunities than the other [companies] did. And they were focused on establishing a good match for my experience."

Creatis presented [me] more opportunities than the others did. And they were focused on establishing a good match for my experience. - Matthew Huberty

We do our homework on both our clients and employees, because we know that it's crucial to forming long-term partnerships and shared success. When our client at CH Robinson needed help rebranding marketing materials, we knew Matthew was at the ready.

Around the time his work at CH Robinson ended, our client Mosaic needed a resource to provide design and production support. Matthew was the perfect Creatis employee for Mosaic. Once again, Matthew stepped in and made an immediate difference for our client’s marketing team. He's been there 15 months now and continues to receive high praise from the client for his skillset, work ethic and overall positive attitude.

This year, our team nominated and selected Matthew as one of our Core Value Award Winners. Matthew won the "Of Service" award for his readiness to help our clients. Read more here.

 (Pictured: Matthew Huberty (lower right) with the Creatis Team and fellow Core Value Award Winners)

Get to Know Matthew:

What do you like best about working with Creatis? 

MH: The peace of mind that comes with steady work cannot be appreciated enough. After many, many years of hustling for new clients all the time it’s nice to have peace of mind that comes with working with Creatis. I have been with Mosaic for 15 months now. In that time Creatis has continually touched base with me every 2-3 months to monitor my assignment and connect with my supervisors here. There's a comfort in knowing that they don’t just send you somewhere and forget about you until your assignment ends.

What kind of work is your favorite at Mosaic?

MH: I like to work on projects where I learn more about a company and its products. As I learn more about Mosaic and its industry and products, my work becomes more focused and in turn I grow as a valued asset for their Marketing and Sales efforts.

Any projects of note?

MH: I created a series of sell sheets that explained how Mosaic products help farmers gain higher yields on the crops they grow. Each sheet dealt with a different crop - 9 in all.

Do you have any hobbies? What do you like to do outside of work you’d like to share?

MH: I am a big college football fan - specifically of the Golden Gophers. I’ve had season tickets for 24 years. Still waiting, waiting, waiting for a Big Ten Championship.  

Employee Spotlight: Ryan Van Haaften

Role: Creatis Studio Project Manager
Client(s) Served: UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealth Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Royal Bank of Canada, Thrivent, Ameriprise

You could say that Ryan Van Haaften wears an apron as well as a button-up. 

Cooking up delicious dishes alongside his wife is one of his great passions outside of work. And he loves his work and cooking (and most importantly, his wife!). Ryan's quick to compare what he does in the kitchen to his responsibilities as a marketing project manager in the Creatis Studio. Whether mixing ingredients or juggling multiple projects, Ryan believes that making recipes and serving clients aren’t such different tasks in the end; they’re both about adding what is needed at the right time. 

Ryan’s professional journey with Creatis is the kind of warm, tenured relationship that Creatis strives to maintain with all our clients, employees and alums. We know we only find success when our partners find it, too. The Ryan Van Haaften and Creatis story is a Venn Diagram of overlapping connections, consistent follow-up, and good timing. In April 2018, all three elements lined up.

Ryan worked on-site for UnitedHealthcare as a Creatis employee for 9 months. He supported a team that needed help during a busy open-enrollment period - a peak time throughout the organization, when having extra marketing experts on-site becomes an asset for our clients. Ryan worked as a project manager, managing and routing creative work through complex business units like the legal and compliance departments. Through this engagement, he got to know the UnitedHealthcare matrix, brand and style guide. 

This inside knowledge proved to be invaluable, because it made Ryan the perfect fit for the Studio Project Manager role at Creatis which opened near the end of 2018. We needed a full-time strategic doer who knew how to best serve and manage significant client accounts, including UnitedHealthcare. 

Sometimes dubbing himself a full-time “plate spinner,” Ryan’s expertise is best revealed when anticipating and meeting individual client needs. Because he’s worked on the client side of the fence and walked in their shoes; interpreting direction and integrating feedback are his superpowers. He anticipates what’s needed and has a sixth sense for project timing and delivery. 

Ryan’s been cooking up client satisfaction at Creatis for almost two years. One client even suggested he change his name from Ryan Van Haaften to “Ryan Van Halen” because of how much his service rocked. How's that for positive feedback?

Ryan is ready to help your team get more work done right now! Contact Ryan to learn more about our Creatis Studio services: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Employee Spotlight:
Amy Overgaard

Role with Creatis: Copywriter

Amy joined the Creatis team earlier this winter as a copywriter. Amy brings a wealth of print and digital writing experience including blogging, brand development and marketing strategy. 

Creatis works best with creative marketers who not only offer multifaceted skillsets, but also those who embody the service-focused, team-first core values we were founded upon — all of which Amy possesses in spades. It makes our job easier when we're working with flexible and keyed-in professionals who just "get it" and can make an immediate difference for our clients. 

Forming unique connections plays a significant role in the Creatis life-cycle as well. And as fate would have it, Creatis Marketing Specialist Seth Conover and Amy attended college together (years ago) and were peers in some of the same theatrical productions. Another little deposit in the "it's a small world after all" account.  

Seth chatted with Amy to discuss her professional background, current role with Creatis and some of her hidden talents. 

What's your professional background? 

I got a degree in journalism and have spent the last eight years in a variety of writing, editing and communications roles—some freelance, some in-house contracts, some full-time jobs. The areas I've worked the most in are editorial writing/blogging/journalism, digital copywriting, non-profit communications and proofing.

What brought you to Creatis? How did you get connected with our team? 

I've been freelancing on the side for years, and this fall I started freelancing full time. While I was working with a number of clients on my own, many of those projects are smaller. A friend had told me about Creatis, so I thought it was worth connecting with you guys and seeing if you had any projects/clients that piqued my interest. I met and interviewed with Creatis in October, and I got the contract with Strayer in December.

What makes Creatis a great career fit for you at this time? 

I'm working a 20-hour/week contract, which is giving me some great structure in my schedule and consistency in my workload. But it's also allowing me to maintain some of my other clients that I have on my own, which was important to me. I like that with an agency like Creatis, I can work with clients at larger organizations, which are projects that are more difficult to land—if not downright impossible—when you're looking for projects on your own.

What kind of writing are you doing for Strayer as a Creatis employee? 

I'm on a team of writers who are working on new web content for Strayer University's website. We're updating the copy to fit within their voice and updated brand guidelines, to be SEO-optimized and me more search-friendly, and to help users have a better journey and experience throughout the website.

Do you have a favorite part of this role? 

It's getting me out of the house and giving me a bit of a routine, which I think is really important for my mental health this time of the year. And with that, it's nice to be working with (or at least nearby) other people for half of each week, after just working from home by myself for the last four months before this contract started! [Amy recently started working remotely given the current situation] Basically, it's a good change of pace. And it's just a good challenge to write clear, concise, clean copy that meets their requirements and will improve their website!

Now that you're working from home (as all Creatis employees are), what are some of the challenges you've faced?

It can be challenging to concentrate at times. There's always something to clean or do around the house when you're at home! So it can be easy to get distracted. But it's helped to set up a dedicated workspace and "office hours" for myself to help with focus and just mentally get myself in the work zone.

Do you have any hidden talents, hobbies or goals you'd like to share with the world? 

Dream? To write a book. Working on that...

Hobby: I just started adult figure skating lessons! I've always loved skating, never took lessons growing up, and I've only ever known the basics of staying upright. So, last month I decided to sign up for lessons and learn how to twirl! 

Hidden talent: I can do an amazing loon call. And I make a killer apple pie.

Apply to Creatis today and get started an flexible, exciting career with some of the best marketers and creatives in the Twin Cities.

Apply now

Employee Spotlight:
Travis Wavescorx

Role with Creatis: Creative Director at Minnesota Realtors®

There’s no time like the ever-changing present for companies to innovate and reinforce strong values. One could argue that especially during challenging times, values and innovation must go hand-in-hand. Minnesota Realtors® is succeeding by doing just that.

The Minnesota-based non-profit has unveiled a new, vibrant brand identity that energizes and upholds their enduring mission to serve Minnesota real-estate agents—empowering members to come together and grow their businesses and help the industry prosper. Their many services to real-estate professionals include offering legal support, providing continuing education, strengthening the Realtor® Code of Ethics and hosting events and networking opportunities.

Creatis has been so pleased to provide Minnesota Realtors® with a creative talent to help elevate the organization’s brand over the past 6 months. That expert and creative director is Creatis employee Travis Wavescorx.

Travis has become an invaluable member of our team...the only thing that may rival his talent is his personality—he is a perfect fit and has made us shine in ways I didn't even know were possible. - Heather Boschke, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Minnesota Realtors®

Travis is a multi-talented marketer with cutting-edge expertise in video production, design, animation and experience as a Creative Director; who can lead and oversee creative projects. His unique skill set turned out to be exactly what Heather Boschke, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Minnesota Realtors®, was looking for in a resource to support her highly collaborative team. One of the projects Travis helped with was a redesign of the organization’s bi-monthly newsletter, Minnesota Realtor. You can view the latest version of this beautiful newsletter here.

Heather had this to say about Travis’ impact on her team, “Travis has become an invaluable member of our team in a short amount of time. The demonstrable difference he has made in organization with the elevation of our brand is 100% the gold standard. The only thing that may rival his talent is his personality—he is a perfect fit and has made us shine in ways I didn’t even know were possible.”

Creatis succeeds by providing our clients with the right resource and culture fit, right when they need it. Travis Wavescorx is just one shining example of our ability to serve our clients and further the careers of employees.

If you need a resource to support your team during this time, contact our This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. here. 

Learn more about Travis...from Travis! Read our Q/A with him below. 

What brought you to Creatis? How did you get connected with our team? 

A friend recommended Creatis. I had been with my previous company for around 8 years, and I was craving something new. After reaching out and meeting with Julie Mattson (Relationship Manager at Creatis), it wasn't more than a week or so before my first interview with a client was arranged.

What made Creatis a great career fit at this time?

The people at Creatis worked hard to ensure they could find the right fit for me. Julie understood the criteria I was looking for in an opportunity, and she found an ideal match straight away. Above all, Creatis makes everything easy. I do freelance work as well, but it’s nice to have that steady work on a longer term project without needing to invoice clients and chase down payments. I’d rather be creating stuff!

What kind of work have you been doing Minnesota Realtors®

In my role as Creative Director at Minnesota Realtors®, I’ve been very fortunate to support a company with a highly capable team. I enjoy working with amazing people that push each other to be our very best, and I have that here like never before. I’ve also been able to engage with the full spectrum of my creativity, which is very important to me. From design to video production, editing and animation, I get to do it all on a weekly, if not daily, basis. So boredom is not an option here.

Any work from home tips or advice you'd care to share with the world? 

Yes, definitely. When you work from home, you need to feed your 4 year old constantly, like all day. If she has food in her mouth she can’t scream while you’re in a Zoom meeting. But in all seriousness, these are unprecedented days for everyone. It’s good to keep a sense of humor, treat everyone with kindness and make the most of things.

Do you have any hidden talents, hobbies or goals you'd like to share with the world? 

I’m in a band with my fiancé called Firebirdie. We’ve been releasing singles and music videos leading up to our debut album, coming out later this year. If the world ever returns to some kind of normalcy, the dream is to tour the world and have Radiohead open for us someday. Or maybe Beyoncé, if she plays her cards right.

Apply to Creatis today and get started an flexible, exciting career with some of the best marketers and creatives in the Twin Cities.

Apply now

Employee Spotlight: Eric Kiebel

Role: Designer / Digital Specialist
Client(s) Served: Deluxe, Builder's Association of the Twin Cities

Eric & Creatis 

You might not hear it from him, but Eric Kiebel has a lot of expertise in design and production. His nearly 20-year career features a resume full of Fortune 500 brands, clients and industry experience He's done a little bit of everything in design including print and web, packaging, presentation, web animations, logo & identity and HTML designs.

It's his special combination of design skills and an adaptable, collaborative personality that made Eric a perfect fit for Creatis. Eric found us through social media and saw that we were hiring for a graphic designer role that we needed to fill quickly. We responded ASAP and sat down to talk with him – as we do with all our candidates. We invest time to get to know potential employees to ensure they’re the right skill and culture fit for our clients. And as soon as we met Eric, we knew he'd be right for the Builders Association of the Twin Cities, where he assisted with the creation of their annual publication, "Parade of Homes and Remodelers Showcase." He jumped in right away and helped make the time-sensitive publication a success.

Because of our focus on retaining employees, we found Eric another opportunity almost immediately after his work with the Builders Association had ended. That role? Supporting Deluxe on-site as a design and digital specialist. Eric works directly with the Deluxe creative and marketing team to create and edit emails, print collateral and much more. He’s been at Deluxe for over 2 years – which is a prime example of the kind of lasting impact Creatis employees can have for our clients.
Eric is highly praised by his manager at Deluxe for the way he owns his part in supporting their team, doing whatever it takes to help get work done. This year, our team nominated and selected Eric as one of our Core Value Award Winners. Eric won the "Teamwork" award for his team-first, diligent work ethic. Read more here.

 (Pictured: Eric, 3rd from left, with the Creatis Team)

Get to Know Eric:

How did you find out about Creatis? – What brought you here initially?

Eric Kiebel: I responded to an ad, after my previous position was eliminated.

What do you like best about working with Creatis and/or Deluxe?

EK: What I like the best about Deluxe is the people - I have great coworkers!

What kind of work is your favorite at Deluxe?

EK: Anything that really challenges me creatively.

Do you have any hobbies? What do you like to do outside of work you’d like to share?

EK: I enjoy cars and motorsports - going to car shows, watching racing, etc. I also enjoy pc gaming. I play mostly racing and flight sims, as well as few shooters and adventure games.

Employee Spotlight: Julie Mattson

Role: Creatis Relationship Manager

Julie Mattson joined the Creatis staffing team in 2017 and she’s been adding value to our business ever since. Her passion for the Relationship Manager role has been a big factor in our growth over these past 3 years. Julie has the “Midas touch” when it comes to building relationships over time. She can turn any staffing challenge into gold…sometimes overnight!

What is Julie’s day-to-day like?

Julie manages a number of long-term clients as part of our Staffing team, including relationships with DecoPac, Optum and RBC Wealth Management to name just a few. She’s responsible for building relationships with these clients and strategically finding opportunities for Creatis to add value to their creative and marketing teams through our onsite and remote staffing resources (i.e. our deep team of at-the-ready employees). Everyday she’s partnering with marketing leaders to identify needs and search for the right solution. Julie also sources and manages Creatis employee relationships, finding them the right fit for their skill sets and helping them be successful while serving our clients.

Adaptability is a big part of Julie’s skill set, as she adjusts daily to shifting timelines, priorities and challenges to provide the best possible service for our clients and employees. She makes it look easy, but it takes a heaping portion of talent, persistence and expertise to make it work so smoothly.

The Secret to Julie’s Success

Throughout her extensive career in account management, Julie has followed a few guidelines for providing excellent service:

• Be responsive and anticipate needs.
• Ask good questions
• Understand the client’s business (culture, operations, initiatives, workload, etc.).

One of Julie’s greatest strengths is her ability to help people determine what they need and manage their expectations so that they ultimately achieve success. These are two of the biggest ways Julie adds value to Creatis client partners and employees.

Here’s a recent example:
Julie connected with a leader at a local realtors association, who requested a resource to help design/develop an ongoing newsletter to be published for their extensive network. However, as the conversation deepened, Julie asked several pointed questions that helped this leader uncover a greater need: that of a creative director who possessed videography, visionary and design skills. The client reprioritized her strategy, and Julie got busy sourcing an employee who fit this rather unique set of skills and experience.

Julie found the perfect employee, who had all of the above skills and real estate experience. The stars truly aligned. But Julie knows that stars don’t always just align on their own; it takes consistent work to set yourself up for these moments of success (and a little help from the stars doesn’t hurt, either!). She’s praised by our clients and by the many employees she manages. Julie has helped hundreds of people change course in their professional life through rewarding careers with Creatis.

What keeps Julie energized in this challenging role?

Simply: She loves truly making a difference in the lives of our employees and clients. That’s the ultimate reward to Julie and it aligns with the Creatis core values. She understands that the Creatis model is about sharing a professional journey that starts by making a genuine connection with people. We’re honored to have Julie on our team. Her hard work and “Midas touch” truly elevate the Creatis organization and we look forward to continuing this journey with Julie!

Get in touch with Julie, here: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Employee Spotlight:
Cristina Segar

Role with Creatis: Marketing/Project Manager

Cristina Segar joined the Creatis team in January 2020. She brings 15+ years of agency experience working on global and multilingual marketing communications for US and international audiences in print, TV, radio, interactive and digital. Beyond her professional experience, she embodies the Creatis values and has quickly made a positive impact at Creatis.

We use EOS, or the Entrepreneurial Operating System to help us manage the day to day operations of Creatis. One of the most fundamental Right People, Right Seats. This means hiring individuals who fully embody your company values (Right People) and then confirming that they Get, Want and have all of the skills, experience, time and emotional Capacity needed for the job they are in (GWC = Right Seat).

The Marketing Manager/Project Manager role was newly created in order to help drive and synthesize Creatis’s growing marketing vision and to manage projects for our clients as part of our Studio team. Cristina’s abilities to juggle projects, drive to meet deadlines and to interpret action steps make her an incredible asset to our internal team and the clients she supports including Be The Match, HB Fuller and Thrivent. She is thorough and thoughtful with her direction; you can depend on Cristina to deliver and get projects done. This dependability helps keep us aligned, especially during challenging times.

Marketing Specialist Seth Conover took some time to ask Cristina more about her position in the Q/A below. 

What brought you to Creatis? How did you get connected with our team? 

I had been searching for a new permanent role in 2019 after my division at an ad agency closed permanently. In December 2019 I completed my CPPM (Certified Professional Project Manager) coursework at University of St. Thomas to diversify and “upskill” my professional skills. I will forever be grateful to LinkedIn expert and Lovitude™ artist, Anne Pryor, who connected me with Kathy Hollenhorst at Creatis and informed me of the open marketing role.

What kind of work are you doing for Creatis and our clients?

I help manage the execution and delivery of creative Studio projects for clients at Ameriprise, Be The Match, HB Fuller and Portico. I have a unique dual role at Creatis — I get to work on internal Creatis marketing efforts as Marketing Manager and Creatis Studio projects as Project Manager. As a person who enjoys working on a variety of projects and collaborating with different groups of people, I couldn’t ask for more.

How was working remotely impacted your job? Has it changed how you interact with clients?

There hasn’t been much, if any, disruption as most of my communications with clients is done via phone, email or WebEx. The biggest impact is how I interact with our internal team at Creatis; instead of walking into someone’s office or peeking over my cube wall, I have to use Slack, phone, email, Zoom or Teams to interact with my colleagues.

You’re multilingual, which is awesome! How does this make you an asset for companies like Creatis?

My language skills and years of experience in the translation and localization industry would allow me to support Studio clients who create marketing communications for US or global audiences in a language other than English. I also speak and can communicate in French, Spanish and Dutch.

Do you have any hidden talents, hobbies or goals you'd like to share with the world? 

I love to travel. Canada, Costa Rica, Laos, New Zealand, Japan are all on my bucket list.

Apply to Creatis today and get started an flexible, exciting career with some of the best marketers and creatives in the Twin Cities.

Apply now

Employee Spotlight:
Anne Deshotels

Role with Creatis: Digital Marketing Specialist at Minneapolis Area REALTORS®

How many industries evolve as much and as quickly as real-estate and the housing market? In the wake of COVID-19, it’s even more essential for realtors to get updated information on industry news, current data, and other membership services. That means strong marketing and communication are paramount. Minneapolis Area REALTORS® is the lighthouse in the storm for its members, continuing to help build a stable community for real-estate professionals to grow and prosper. It’s crucial that their marketing team is operating efficiently day-to-day.

Even before the storm of COVID-19 hit the economy, Creatis was able to offer support for the Minneapolis Area REALTORS® marketing team. Creatis President/CEO Kathy Hollenhorst and Minneapolis Area REALTORS® CEO Carrie Chang had formed professional relationship while previously working together at the Greater Twin Cities United Way. When connecting at an breakfast meeting in 2019, Carrie noted that she had reorganized her leadership team after becoming CEO, and would likely need some marketing/creative support. Through work by our dedicated Realtionship Manager, Julie Mattson, we sourced a long-term Creatis employee who would help them stay on the cutting-edge to better serve members by helping roll-out marketing initiatives and hit deadlines.

That resource is Creatis employee Anne Deshotels; who, by her own admission, is truly a perfect fit for the Minneapolis Area REALTORS® team.

Anne’s strong skills in and passion for all things digital marketing, including social media management, email and website management made her the perfect match for the role of Digital Marketing Specialist on this team. Julie Mattson, Relationship Manager at Creatis, worked with VP of Communications & Engagement Telly Mamayek to identify what kind of individual would provide the best support, fit the culture and ramp-up quickly. Their partnership proved effective. Telly has thoroughly enjoyed working with Creatis. She mentioned, "Iulie Mattson has been amazing to work with and found the right candidate to meet our needs. I would definitely work with Creatis again for our staffing needs."

Anne emerged as that perfect employee. It was clear that Anne had all the right intangibles of a Creatis employees—someone who is focused on serving the client and doing so with excellence. Telly had this to say of working with Anne, "Anne has been a standout addition to the marketing staff at Minneapolis Area REALTORS®. Her ‘can do’ attitude and her positive approach to problem solving have had a tremendous impact on the team. She is calm in a crisis, which has proven invaluable during these turbulent times in our community, and she brings fresh ideas to ensure our outreach is relevant and on point."

Anne has been a standout addition to the marketing staff at Minneapolis Area REALTORS®. Her ‘can do’ attitude and her positive approach to problem solving have had a tremendous impact on the team. She is calm in a crisis, which has proven invaluable during these turbulent times in our community, and she brings fresh ideas to ensure our outreach is relevant and on point. - Telly Mamayek, VP of Communications & Engagement

We’re so proud of the work Anne has done for the REALTORS® team, and pleased that her assignment has been extended, as she continues to make a positive impact on their marketing team through the COVID-19 crisis and beyond. This is the kind of difference Creatis is committed to making for our clients, no matter what kind of marketing and creative support they need.

If you need a resource to support your team during this time, contact our This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. here.

Learn more about Anne Deshotels...from Anne! Read our Q/A below.  

What brought you to Creatis? How did you get connected with our team? 

I had applied and interviewed with Creatis some time ago. Julie [Mattson, Creatis Relationship Manager] thought I was qualified for the position with Minneapolis Area REALTORS®, so she contacted me and sent the job description. It felt like a perfect fit for me.

What made Creatis a great career fit at this time?

Everyone I've worked with has been friendly and supportive of my career goals. Not only has my placement been great, but the Creatis team has stayed in contact with me and made sure I'm supported.

What kind of work have you been doing Minneapolis Area REALTORS®

Digital marketing, including social media, email, and upkeep on website content. I've helped with other projects as needed. My favorite part of my role is the amazing leadership and coworkers. I look forward to work, and I am so grateful to be a part of this team and company.

Any work from home tips or advice you'd care to share with the world? 

I've been trying to stick to a routine as much as possible, even if it is adjusted from the normal. Also, morning runs to Starbucks are always a nice perk-me-up!

Do you have any hidden talents, hobbies or goals you'd like to share with the world? 

I enjoy running. I've done a handful of half-marathons. Unfortunately, Grandma's Marathon in Duluth was cancelled this year (more time to train for a full? Hah, probably not.). I've had more time to read, and I am currently obsessed with The Last Dance documentary on Michael Jordan! (I played basketball in middle school, but had zero hand-eye coordination. It was a short lived career.)

Apply to Creatis today and get started an flexible, exciting career with some of the best marketers and creatives in the Twin Cities.

Apply now