For over a year, I was part of Skilld's journey from the ground up — a startup built around a simple idea: give grassroots footballers the tools to get better, not just the highlight reel. This wasn't a one-off shoot. It was a long-term commitment to shaping how a brand introduces itself to the world.

My role covered the full pipeline: planning and directing every shoot with the athletes who brought the app to life, and building the visual language that would carry across every piece of content. From there, I took ownership of Skilld's presence on Instagram and TikTok, using both platforms not just to post, but to build genuine engagement within a community that lives and breathes the game.

The creative direction always served three goals at once: promote the app itself, shine a light on grassroots football — a side of the sport that rarely gets this kind of platform — and build a story compelling enough to bring investors on board. Every video, every post, had to work on all three levels: visibility for the players, credibility for the brand, and confidence for anyone deciding whether to back it.

Working this closely with a startup meant every piece of content had to earn its place — no filler, no wasted posts. It taught me how to build a brand's voice from nothing and grow it with intention, one video, one post, one training clip at a time.