Hi I’m Rachel,
It is my heartfelt mission to connect to the inner landscapes of business owners and those expanding into their life’s purpose and calling. I love to discover and reveal the true soul essence of brand identities and offerings - nurturing your vision in a collaborative way. I’m here to facilitate the co-creation of your offering alongside you. I want you to feel seen, heard and understood - creating a brand that looks and feels fully in alignment with your values.
Thank you or visiting the site of Luminova. I connect with business owners and leaders to create new brand identities and transform, heal and transcend existing brand identities that have lost their way.
I believe my strengths lie in my ability to empathise, understand, listen and connect straight to the core of my clients and their vision. I observe, intuit and identify weaknesses in brands, systems and structures that don’t create the most harmonious situations for brands to flourish or simply aren’t an energetic and vibrational match for their offering.
I can step into situations where businesses might be going through an identity crisis and restore balance to brands that have become confused about who they are and what they stand for. I can offer insights at a rapid pace to get branding back on track in the most efficient manner. I understand the holistic nature of brands these days and the need for consistency and connection across different touch points and how to bring this together. I love building up strong brand assets for companies with logo design, photography, typography, iconography, colours, collateral and digital imagery that start to instill a sense of pride and identity amongst staff and magnetise customers to their vibe and tribe.
I help illuminate companies in a way they haven’t yet seen. I can work as closely with business owners/leaders as they like. Some prefer to be very hands on, some prefer to be fully directed, and others like a combination of both. I have trained in latest methodologies in creative leadership and design thinking to activate the potential of people in teams and be an agent for change.
“Rachel is one of those rare and naturally talented people who makes her job seem almost effortless. Asking the right questions at the right time she helped guide me through this most important process of developing a strong brand and a “story” for my new business.”
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME…
For over twenty years I’ve been working as a designer, for a combination of corporate clients on well known international brands, creative brand agencies and start-ups in London, Melbourne, Auckland and Tauranga. From a young age I was drawn to the healing and intuitive arts and later mystical arts, and I find this has a way of weaving in and out of my creative and commercial design work. A long-time fan of holistic health and natural wellbeing modalities, yoga, 5 rhythms and ecstatic dance. Since 2017 I have been diving more fully into the world of shamanism, temple arts, feminine embodiment, archetypal and soul development journey work.
I believe incorporating this into my personal life gives me an edge which flows into my design. I have the ability to connect with people deeply, hold space, be a good listener, see things from a holistic perspective, I’m able to extract vital information and can understand energies and emotions and how this translates visually. I can see people and their potential, hear their story and this allows me to visually communicate their vision in a connected and conscious way.
I’m a borderline INFP/ENFP personality type. The classic creative personality. According to the Gallups Strength Finder test my top 5 strengths came out as Empathy, Input, Maximiser, Futuristic and Strategic.
My ability to support a diverse range of personalities across vastly different industries is something I thrive on. I can support people deeply with incubating their ideas, offering business development support and design to elevate their offerings and capture the essence of their brand. I’m a visionary and an agent for change who loves creating what doesn’t yet exist for a better future.
THE EVOLUTION OF LUMINOVA
After returning to NZ from London end of 2014, after a stint freelancing at design and advertising agencies, I started Luminova in 2015 mainly working in the financial services space after being offered a role at an investment company in Takapuna. Amongst many things during my time there, I helped to launch the first financial education magazine publication in New Zealand alongside the Founder Jacqueline Taylor, art directing photoshoots with successful leaders in business and bringing financial concepts to life in a luxury magazine which was run by a boutique fund investment company Pie Funds.
This lead into other projects in the finance space, all with a strong educational tone, helping to improve the financial literacy of every day Kiwis. After 5 years in this industry something new emerged within me creatively - a desire to capture the soulful essence of humans beyond all their masks and roles. This was inspired from my own personal journey navigating a physical injury and health issues for a long time while simultaneously exploring the temple arts and feminine embodiment movement. So I developed my skills from a hobby photographer to something more professional, invested in new equipment and launched a body of work ‘Mystic Muse’. This had me travelling to remote destinations, wild west coast beaches and forests. Exploring archetypal expression and making art with the human form. Quite the contrast!
From here I had Mystic Muse clients enquire about branding and website design which lead into becoming like a one-stop shop for birthing brands from conception through to full websites, doing all the photography and branding. I realised how much I love being able to offer this. This leads me to where I am today, helping to birth brands for Soulpreneurs and Small Business owners but still with a sprinkle of Corporate clients in the mix.
COMPANIES I'VE FREELANCED AND WORKED FOR PRIOR TO LAUNCHING LUMINOVA
JUNO KiwiSaver (NZ) - Creative / Art director & Lead Designer. Responsible for original branding and logo identity along with website design, merchandise, printed collateral and advertising.
Pie Funds & JUNO Investing Magazine (NZ) - Head of Design & Marketing for Pie Funds and Art Director and Senior Designer (Print & Digital) for JUNO Magazine. Responsible for rebranding both businesses with printed material and within the digital space.
Source Recruitment (UK) - Clients included: Saatchi & Saatchi X, SapientNitro, Links of London, T.M Lewin, Maverick, Innovision
Projects/Brands included: Nikon Cameras, Coca Cola, Securing Sports Conference 2014, UK Trade & Investment, DHL, Bank of Gibraltar, Sky, Vodafone.
BrandBuild (AUS) - Clients included: Australian Homecare, Melbourne Homes of Distinction, Melbourne Wedding Gift Registry, National Hearing Care, Silver Star Motors/Mercedes, Silver Thomas Hanley, Straumann
Ignoto Design (NZ) - Clients included: Scion Research, Embrace - Shower Systems, Ziwipeak
Uno Magazine (NZ) - Advertising designer for various lifestyle brands in the Bay Of Plenty.
Benefitz (NZ) - Clients included: L'Oreal, Kerastase, Redken, Nair, Model Co, Australis