We’re a tight-knit team of optimists who believe in each other and our clients’ causes.

Chantel is a Brooklyn native and self-proclaimed overachiever with a sweet tooth and luminous smile. The secret to her brand-building feats lie in her equal enthusiasm for design and business—and discovering the magic that lies between.

Before taking the helm at Firebelly, Chantel built an impressive career in the New York fashion industry. Early on, she made a name for herself by designing and launching Resin, an acclaimed luxury denim line. Through that process she realized she wanted to connect with women beyond the luxury space and pivoted into the corporate world. There she helped build the billion-dollar Jessica Simpson fashion empire, before developing a mid-range plus size brand that expanded her passion for both inclusivity and accessibility.

Her belief in the power of creativity runs deep. She’s traveled to Ghana with Beauty for Freedom, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering survivors of human trafficking through artistic expression. She’s also mentored young women and girls at GEM, an organization that nurtures future female leaders by teaching entrepreneurship, financial literacy and self care.

Vogue has called her a ‘brainy, hustling New York City hipster’, but to better understand what makes her tick, look to her Enneagram. She exemplifies The Achiever—charismatic, energetic, accomplished and kind. When she’s not living the hustle, you can find her feeling the beat on any dance floor, anywhere—or visiting family in Barbados, her home away from home.

Chantel received a Bachelor of Science in Fashion Business Management from the Fashion Institute of Technology, the largest and oldest degree program of its kind in the country.

Dawn is a troublemaker, bleeding heart, designer by trade and do-gooder by nature. Two things she likes: ideas and people. She’s been known to put them together in a room, just to see what happens.

Since starting Firebelly in 1999, she’s been diligent about seeking out fearless allies and building communities that care, both within and beyond the studio. She’s founded numerous programs, including Reason to Give, a nonprofit serving Humboldt Park families; Camp Firebelly, an intensive design apprenticeship; and Firebelly University, an incubator for aspiring social entrepreneurs. She created AIGA Chicago’s esteemed Mentor Program and co-founded Typeforce to shine more light on emerging local talent. In 2003, she launched the Grant for Good, an annual award providing a year of free design services to one nonprofit.

Under her tenure, the studio has earned a laundry list of accolades from the Webbys, Cooper Hewitt, Communication Arts, Brand New, TDC and then some, as well as an invite to exhibit a 10-year retrospective at Pratt Institute. In 2019, Dawn was inducted into the NewCity Design 50 Hall of Fame for her profound influence and unwavering leadership.

Named one of Fast Company’s 11 Most Generous Designers and a 4-Star Chicagoan by Windy City Live, Dawn has worked tirelessly to spread the gospel of good design, from Los Angeles to Qatar and countless places in between. She’s spoken at Creative Mornings, Design + Diversity, Made in the Middle and HOW; appeared on Debbie Millman’s Design Matters podcast; contributed to Good Company and Computer Arts; judged Sappi’s Ideas that Matter; visited ArtCenter College of Design as an Artist in Residency; and featured work alongside the city’s preeminent creators as part of CHGO DSGN. In every one of her many roles, she leads with tremendous thought and consideration for those around her, believing with a fierce sincerity that together, we will create a better world, one good idea at a time.

Dawn holds a BFA in Visual Communication from Northern Illinois University, all the rest she learned along the way.

Will is a designer and also a person-shaped manifestation of pure energy. He leads the studio’s ever-evolving creative process, embracing the chaos of early exploration and steering its evolution with a keen eye and steady hand.

Will joined Firebelly in 2007 and cemented its reputation for stunning, yet approachable visual design. He’s developed brands for hometown heroes Divvy Bikes, the City of Berwyn and Halfwit Coffee; helmed trailblazing site designs for Affiliated Engineers and SCB Architects; and led award-winning campaigns and identity systems for cult favorites, legacy institutions and industry heavies alike, including FLOR, Planned Parenthood, Shanghai American School and Grant Thornton.

Since 2010, he’s been the brains (and grizzled hands) behind the iconic annual Typeforce installation, and as of 2020, he’s one of the event’s co-chairs. As an instructor at Chicago Portfolio School, he teaches Typography Fundamentals, mentoring and preparing young designers for leadership. His work has been recognized in the STA 100, Chicago Design Archive, Society for Typographic Arts, numerous TDC Annuals, Fast Company’s Innovation by Design, Under Consideration, and Newcity Design 50. Will has spoken at Creative Mornings and the Type Directors Club, somehow run eight marathons, fostered 80+ dogs and believes in the persisting power of a good night’s sleep.

Will received his BFA in Graphic and Interactive Communication from Ringling College of Art and Design, where he also minored in Photography.

Stefani is a multi-hyphenate of the highest order. Researcher-strategist-designer by trade, she’s also a skilled woodworker, sketch artist, educator and recovering wanderer. She joined Firebelly in 2020, on the heels of directing The Studio at dscout, where she led a team of researchers who explored brand and product questions for the world’s most iconic and innovative companies.

Her journey from Richmond, Virginia to Firebelly is a real page-turner. Ask her about her time in Alaska or the Marshall Islands before heading to Chicago for grad school. Focused on research and strategy at IIT’s Institute of Design, her passion for studying human behavior really came to life. After graduating, she took a stint at SC Johnson before landing at dscout to join, and then lead, their research studio. Since putting down professional roots in Chicago, she’s also fulfilled her longtime dream of teaching at her alma mater.

When not leading research and strategy teams, building furniture in her This Old House-featured workshop, or hanging out with her partner and young son, you can probably find her visualizing industry workshops and events. Even TED took notice and featured her work.

A whirlwind of curiosity, Stefani is driven by the unrelenting desire to solve problems and improve experiences, and sees herself as optimistically critical. Simply put, she wants to make people less pissed off as they go about their day.

Stefani received a BS from Virginia Tech in Industrial Design, and a Master of Design in Research and Strategy from IIT Institute of Design.

Nate is an interdisciplinary hacksaw. When he’s not writing stacks on stacks of impeccable code and leading the studio’s dev team, he’s living a not-so-secret second life as a cartoonist and literally herding cats.

Since joining Firebelly in 2011, Nate has graciously accepted every challenge thrown his way, from engineering seamless back-end integrations to wrangling SASS and crunching webpacks. He’s been coding since the 80s, when he received his first Commodore 64 with a 15-pound floppy drive. More recently, he’s built boundary-busting websites for Chicago Learning Exchange, Onward, CGRE, and Chicago Freedom School.

Nate’s also a brilliant illustrator and photographer, who’s been self-publishing zines and comics since 1995. He’s created custom illustrations for Duke University and McSweeney’s, shown work at the MCA, given artist talks at SAIC and the Center for Cartoon Studies, and regularly contributes to Southern Cultures.

Nate studied Computer Science at Virginia Tech and lived in the woods of Washington without electricity for a while.

Meg is a bright-eyed bundle of excellent vibes and a believer in the beauty of details. She’s also a policy wonk, brazen feminist and ENFJ to the core. As leader of project production and client accounts, she ensures a smooth process from start to finish while inspiring genuine trust, transparency and creative partnership.

Meg previously served as Director of Research Operations and Strategy at the University of Chicago’s Lindau Lab, where she helmed strategic planning, grant analysis, financial operations and relationship management. In former lives, Meg’s taught English and Math at a Nepalese orphanage, worked in chronic disease management at a community health center and, as a graduate student, researched the effect of local and federal legislation on the social sector. Her passion for health equity runs deep, as does her ear for good messaging and eye for design.

When she’s not trying to save the world, Meg approaches parenthood like she does everything else: with a little grit and a lot of grace.

Meg earned her BA in English and Women’s and Gender Studies at Boston College and AM in Social Sector Leadership and Nonprofit Management from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.

Matt is a tea-drinking, rock-climbing, plant-based gem of a human being. He is also a seasoned web dude and one half of the studio’s full-stack development team.

He joined Firebelly precisely three days before our first annual Crosspark Challenge and he’s been indispensable ever since. In a fun twist on standard practice, Matt’s often involved in a project from day one, digging into discovery and helping clients and colleagues translate wild ideas into accessible, beautiful web experiences. He’s the character behind the code for Sustain Chicago, a one-stop resource for going green, as well as TDC.org and Unstoppable, both big-time award winners in interactive design.

A born community-builder, Matt founded the CodePen Chicago meet-up to connect local nerds and share ideas for making the web a cooler place. He’s given lightning talks at HTML5 Chicago and JSCHi, taught photography for After School Matters as well as development courses at General Assembly. He’s lived abroad in Chile, biked through the Great Plains and currently roams the country out of Susanne the Van, in search of simple joys and decent wi-fi.

Matt attended Columbia College Chicago, where he majored in Photography and minored in Black World Studies.

Elaine is a walking, talking ray of sunshine. Curious to the core and expressive to the max, she lives like she writes—in full glorious color.

Hailing from a long family line of dreamers, makers and educators, Elaine’s creativity and thirst for knowledge come naturally. She first joined Firebelly in 2017 as a seasoned art director and designer after spending two decades in agency and inhouse roles. Her work encompassed developing campaigns for large healthcare systems, designing identities for global nonprofits and leading internal branding and marketing efforts. In her spare time, she’s volunteered her design skills to ACLU and served as creative director for a local feminist fashion zine.

In her time here, she’s made herself indispensable. The recovering graphic designer is as skilled at knocking out comprehensive brand strategies as she is taglines or newsletters. She’s always ready with a kind word and get-it-done attitude and has worked on projects for Planned Parenthood, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Grant Thornton.

An anti-diva through and through, she treats no task as too small to merit anything less than her best. When she’s not busy in the studio, you can find the Pisces singing in local ragtag choirs, uncovering plus size fashion inspiration or traveling the globe with her wife.

Tom contains multitudes, exquisite multitudes. He is a documentary photographer, illustrator and gifted cocktail party conversationalist, as well as self-taught designer.

Since emigrating from China at age nine, he’s worked methodically to understand the world around him. Perceptive and steadfastly proactive, he’s talked his way into several jobs simply by observing an unmet need and meeting it—for instance, as political cartoonist for his high school paper and managing editor for the Chicago Maroon. Drawn to the cerebral aspects and human effects of visual communication, he talked his way into freelance projects for IDEO, the University of Chicago and Postcards from Ferguson, before joining Firebelly in 2015. He’s directed UI/UX design for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Sustain Chicago, developed brand identities for Girls Garage and Plant Chicago, and led studio experiments in 3D modeling and GIS design. The STA, Brand New, Typewolf and Communication Arts have (wisely) seen fit to honor his work.

Tom holds down the Firebelly presence in Portland, where he’s continued his foray into woodworking and statistical programming. You know, for fun!

Tom put the arts in his Bachelor of Arts, which he earned in Political Science from the University of Chicago.

Dean is a human swiss army knife—a type nerd and illustrator with a killer eye for detail and a background in front-end development. He is the quintessential team player, bringing humility and discipline to every task.

Prior to joining Firebelly fresh out of college, Dean polished typefaces for Google Fonts, oversaw the design of Kent State’s poetry magazine and interned at VSA. Since coming on board, he’s led web design for NowPow, Onward, GFOA, and Designing a Better Chicago; played with power tools in support of the annual Typeforce installation; and helped refine the studio’s visual language and communication strategy. His work has been recognized by Communication Arts and the International Society of Typographic Designers.

He has been called an Obsessed Perfectionist (a real undergraduate award!) and an absolute mad yoke (an Irish term of befuddled endearment bestowed by a former professor), thanks to his bottomless appetite for a job well done. From career panels to studio visits, he takes every opportunity to encourage young designers to go on and get weird and unusual.

Dean earned his BFA in Communication Design from Kent State University.