Being Better in the
Room You’re Not In

Better Car People

I joined Better Car People as a Senior Product Designer and Front-End Developer. I didn’t come in to “lead” anything. I came in to fix things, build things, and make the product feel like it actually cared about the people using it.

At the time, that meant designing and developing digital experiences across applications, websites, emails, and dashboards. I worked closely with the development team and marketing to smooth out rough edges, reduce friction, and make sure the brand showed up consistently, no matter where someone encountered it. Much of the early work focused on tightening workflows and removing confusion. When you do that well, the numbers usually follow. In this case, engagement increased, and conversions followed shortly thereafter. All of that happened while remote, with no one in the same room. “Can everyone see my screen?” Yay, virtual meets.

One of the first big projects was the Better Car People website and its supporting landing pages. I designed and built the site using HubSpot and HubL, creating a scalable foundation that supports marketing campaigns, product education, and lead generation without turning into a maintenance nightmare. The goal wasn’t to make something flashy. It was to make something clear, fast, and flexible enough to evolve as the company has.

* Note: The website has evolved throughout the years. These two variations were the most recent and successful.

That foundation mattered more than it probably looked from the outside. As campaigns ramped up, traffic grew, and expectations increased, the site held up. Engagement climbed, conversion rates improved, and the marketing team finally had a system that worked with them instead of against them. It’s hard to overstate how much easier your job becomes when the website isn’t trying to punch you in the face.

Email was another major focus. I built out a full set of marketing, sales, support, and system email templates in HubSpot using HubL, that were designed to be consistent, personal, and reliable across the entire customer lifecycle. This meant thinking deeply about structure and data, not just layout. Emails needed to adapt to context, pull in the right information, and still feel like they came from the same brand.

* Note: Hey, me again. Same thing as above for emails.

Once that system was in place, it scaled quickly. Campaigns moved faster. Fewer things broke. Customers got clearer communication at every stage. It was one of those behind-the-scenes wins that most people never notice, which is usually a sign it’s doing its job.

That work also led to OEM-specific email templates for brands like Toyota, GM, and Ford. These were Better First Response and Better AI for Connected Car emails, built in accordance with strict brand and compliance guidelines. The challenge wasn’t design freedom. It was discipline. Creating modular, data-driven templates that were fast, readable, and unmistakably on-brand, without feeling robotic or bloated. When those launched smoothly across multiple OEMs, it reinforced how much thoughtful constraints can sharpen good design.

Over time, my role expanded. I moved into the Creative Director and Marketing Manager position, which shifted my focus from individual outputs to outcomes. I started driving brand strategy across web, mobile, and marketing platforms, mentoring designers, copywriters, and digital specialists, and building workflows that actually supported how people worked.

I developed scalable design systems and more agile processes, which improved efficiency and brand consistency almost immediately. Engagement increased by roughly 35 percent. Conversion rates climbed another 20 percent. Qualified leads grew by about 50 percent as marketing campaigns became more cohesive and intentional. Those numbers weren’t magic. They came from alignment with clear goals, clear systems, and fewer handoffs where things could fall apart.

Overseeing marketing and graphic design also became part of my day-to-day. Product one-pagers, branded merchandise, event assets, and large-scale moments like the NADA Show, all rolled through the same creative lens. Whether something lived on a screen or in a booth, it needed to feel like it came from the same place. Seeing the brand hold together both digitally and in person is one of the more satisfying parts of this job.

Alongside all that, I continue working on internal products such as Better Appointments, Better Engagements, and Better Dealership. These tools supports service scheduling, buyer appointments, and OEM landing page frameworks, and they have to scale across dealerships with wildly different needs. The focus stays the same: usability, performance, and clarity at the dealership level, not just in a demo.