KATE BYARS
Baton Rouge,LA
Summary
Seasoned Entrepreneur with a solid background in business management, operational planning and revenue generation. Hardworking, dedicated and resourceful leader with 15+ years in B2C design services. Ready to leverage experience and drive to pursue new professional challenges.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Design Entrepreneur
Lo & Behold
01.2009 - Current
- Researched and found highly profitable, low-competition gap in luxury family photo market with high demand from existing photography clients: custom framed photo gallery design and production
- Created new photo gallery product, which increased revenue by 100% in the first 12 months
- Became full-time multi-six-figure business owner with team of four admin and shop personnel
- Grew in-person sales skills to achieve multi-four and multi-five figure sales
- Unconventional and creative projects included floor to ceiling galleries of 50+ pieces arranged in interlocking grids or in organic configurations of round frames
- Managed framing shop (vendors, equipment and staff) to produce and install projects
- Managed processes and workflows in PM systems to handle complexity of many-step, many-stakeholder projects, to create digital and physical product deliverables such as design layouts, revisions, materials meetings and production and installation of galleries
- Planned and produced website photography and content to create a compelling case for the business and as a jumping off point for the client's journey through an unfamiliar buying process
- Created high-conversion email marketing with 43.6% average open rate (benchmark industry averages: 23.24% Photo/Video, 21.60% Home & Garden)
- Featured in Reader's Digest, Fine Art Connoisseur and Simply Buckhead
- Designed e-commerce shop to sell framed children's silhouettes to deploy scrap material and sold out grand opening inventory
- Took silhouette product through many rounds of prototyping and revisions with artists and framers to achieve a high demand product.
Director of Operations
Blackshaw Partners
01.2007 - 07.2008
- Managed operations for busy C-level office of 5 recruiters.
- Improved operational efficiency by streamlining processes and implementing innovative solutions.
- Managed budgets and resources, optimizing allocation for maximum impact on business objectives.
- Oversaw daily operations across multiple departments, ensuring seamless coordination and efficient execution of tasks.
- Created quarterly meeting format and booklet to better visualize quarterly information, which increased meeting organization and decreased quarterly meeting time
Education
Certificate in Product Design -
CareerFoundry
Berlin01.2024
Bachelor of Arts - French Studies
Smith College
Northampton, MA05.2003
Skills
- Surveys & Interviews
- Qualitative Analysis
- A/B, Usability Testing
- Heuristic Evaluation
- User Personas & Task Flows
- Wireframing & Prototyping
- Responsive Design & Accessibility
- Rapid Iteration
- Design Systems
- Project Management
Timeline
Design Entrepreneur
Lo & Behold
01.2009 - Current
Director of Operations
Blackshaw Partners
01.2007 - 07.2008
Certificate in Product Design -
CareerFoundry
Bachelor of Arts - French Studies
Smith College
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