01 · Agency team
U.S. Navy × VML
Art Director, VML · 2023–2025
Recruiting campaigns for a 50-state VR tour, Snapchat, Reddit, and Sneaker Con.
Open to creative leadership roles + select freelance
Theodora Trandafir · Creative Director + Brand Builder
I build brands
people slow down for.
I lead brands from the first idea to launch, and direct the designers, photographers, and producers who make the work.
Brand direction, Campaigns, Film, Content, Experiences
Selected work
All work and the archive
02 · Creative direction
USA Streetlifting
National Creative Director · 2025–
National creative lead: competition campaigns, athlete communications, and merchandise.
03 · Creative direction
Road Armor
Creative Director · 2025
Turned the brand promise “Protect What Matters” into photography, print, and a content series.
04 · Co-led partnership
Off Road Gear Guys
Creative strategy + brand direction, with Chris Merbler · 2026
Positioning, brand direction, and field content for an INEOS Grenadier outfitter.
05 · Creative direction
Passages
Brand Manager, leading brand + creative direction · 2026–
Brand and creative lead for Turning Point Ministries’ next-generation media ministry, ahead of launch.
Also: a company I founded, and a self-initiated film
06 · Founder
Verus Coffee
Founder + owner · 2025–
My mobile specialty-coffee company for weddings, private events, and brand activations.
07 · Self-initiated
TOM FORD — Soleil de Feu
Concept + creative direction · 2023
A self-initiated fragrance film. Spec work, not commissioned by the brand.
What I do
I find the idea. Then I build the world around it.
Find the idea.
The strategic or cultural idea strong enough to organize everything else.
Build the system.
A visual and verbal system that works in every channel, and that a team can build with.
Direct the work.
The right designers, writers, photographers, and producers, kept on one idea from concept to launch.
Experience
Where the work has happened.
Agency work was made inside larger teams. Every case study says exactly what was mine.
- Led + directed
Turning Point Ministries · USA Streetlifting · Road Armor · Phoenixeer · Off Road Gear Guys
- Founded
Verus Coffee
- Inside agency teams
U.S. Navy at VML · The Integer Group / TracyLocke
Art Director. Integer work for Neutrogena, Aveeno, OGX, Maui, Rogaine, and Band-Aid.
- Freelance clients
Gather25 · Hold the Rope · Leeway HQ · Blueprint Creative · Logos Lab · Johnny’s Kicks
- Self-initiated
TOM FORD Soleil de Feu
Spec film. Not commissioned.
About
I’m most useful when something is unfinished or unclear.
I’m Theodora Trandafir, Theo, a Creative Director and brand builder based in San Diego. I find the idea that organizes a brand, build the system around it, and lead the people who make it.
More about how I work