By Ninja

Together, different.

At By Ninja, I connect good people doing good things in businesses with good customers, and help them grow through strategic and thoughtful experiences. 

I don't just think outside the box, I fold the box into a paper crane. 

Our teams are brought together on a project basis to deliver exceptional creative outcomes. This keeps us agile, lean and efficient, while staying true to the outcome. We have delivered award-winning creative for startups, small businesses, state governments, and local and international beauty brands.

Visit our website to learn more👇
www.byninja.com.au

Creative Overlord

Freelance Graphic Designer

Design Ninjas

Design Ninjas is a subscription-based design service that brings lightning-fast creativity to the forefront. 

No frills, just skills.
After years of working alongside marketers, brand managers, co-designers, and agencies, I uncovered a common challenge – the need for high-quality design that's accessible and efficient. We believe that exceptional design should be within reach for everyone, and Design Ninjas is here to make it happen.

Check out the website to learn more👇
www.designninjas.au

Founder

Communify 

As a member of the Communications Committee I advise and support the Communify team on the strategy and execution of their marketing and communications plan.

Communify Queensland is an established community organisation providing a diverse range of services, from early childhood, mental health services to aged and disability services, including day respite and aged care packages. As one of Brisbane's largest and most active charities, Communify supports the community on all sides.

Communications Committee Member

Focused Marketing Solutions Pty Ltd

Lead Designer

QinetiQ Australia

Achievements:
QLD PICA Gold Award for the Flipper Book
National PICA Silver Award for the Flipper Book

Graphic Designer

Ashdown-Ingram

Assistant Senior Graphic Designer

Salton Group

Achievements:
Design of product which rated GfK top 10 for more than 5 months running
Developed a processes and training guide for New Product Development processes
Introduced a graphics brief system which reduced draft re-work by more than 50%.

Australian Department of Defence; and HTR Engineering and IT Professional Services

As a contractor to the Australian Department of Defence, I was responsible for the development and amendment of technical illustrations for a number of high priority projects. This position required me to obtain a Defence clearance at RESTRICTED level.

Technical Illustrator - contractor

RSEA Pty Ltd

Boeing Defence Australia

This position required me to obtain a Defence clearance at SECRET level.

Junior Graphic Designer

This position required me to obtain a Defence clearance at SECRET level.

Achievements:
Selected to participate in the Boeing Leadership Development Program
Finalist in the 2006 Boeing Young Leader Award
Nominated and short-listed for the 2006 Queensland Training Awards.

Technical Illustrator

For years I worked in the creative industry, delivering multi-million dollar projects for design houses that fell short on delivering value and ingenuity for their brands.

I found myself seeking more from an industry that offered low prospects for designers and brands alike — something that was creatively challenging, but also impactful. I had reached a turning point.

I freelanced as a designer while pursuing a mechanical engineering degree. A real change occurred when I began working with brands that shared my values, and that experience led to a profound transformation.

From this journey, By Ninja was born — a brand studio that differentiates itself through a deep commitment to customer intimacy and innovation.

We create meaningful impact, aligned to the values of the brands we work with. Our approach has earned us a reputation for excellence, exemplified by high retention and professional accolades.

Now, I empower beauty brands to craft unforgettable experiences that drive growth, through conscious branding and product design. 

We take your product idea from concept to consumer; crafting brand, design and packaging experiences for the conscious consumer. 

Our clients and their results are testament to our approach:

𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐚
👉 Cell Forté Serum Violet Grey top seller, selling out 3 times in 2 months. 
👉 BFCM D2C sales soared by 300%, with a 60% repurchase rate.

𝐑𝐄-𝐃𝐎𝐗 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐛
“Kathleen has an amazing ability to understand your needs and vision for your brand and translate that into a brand and product that exceed your expectations.”

𝐋𝐔𝐗𝐄 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬
“They transformed not only our branding but also our brand voice and digital presence in such a way that our business has grown in triple digits since the start of the partnership.”
👉 Doubled traffic and checkout value.
👉 Increased customer retention.
👉 Triple-digit growth in 9 months.

𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩
👉 Featured in Vanity Fair and Beauty Independent for branding and sustainability.
👉 Reduced transport emissions by up to 90%.
👉 Increased D2C sales by 65% within 12 months.

𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞
👉 Reduced carbon footprint by 24%.
👉 Diverted >1 tonne of plastic from landfill.

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬
👉 Minimised start-up costs.
👉 Mitigated product breakage.
👉 Eliminated ~0.3kg of carbon emissions per product.


Interested in working with me and my team:
🌟 Bespoke Branding & Product Design - www.byninja.com.au
⭐ Unlimited Graphic Design Support - www.designninjas.au 

Reach out to me kathleen@byninja.com.au

Kathleen Casford

Australian Institute of Company Directors

● Working with Sector Leaders to develop and manage planning and implementation of sector strategies and priorities.  
● Support liaison with other internal departments, ensuring cross-organisation alignment, prioritisation and delivery capacity as part of Sector strategic planning, direction and implementation.
● Manage sector communication plans and collaborate with Marketing & Communications to drive a strong digital presence on AICD channels to support sector visibility and impact. Collaborating with internal teams and external partners to create tailored governance education programs to successful completion.  
● Provide data and reporting insight and support the planning, management and execution of financial processes.

Achievements:
● A lead role in a securing a $1.1m federal government grant, to provide governance education for current and emerging First Nations leaders. 
● Relaunch of the AICD’s Not-for-Profit Resource Centre to provide members and non-members access to relevant director resources and tools to improve their performance. 
● Launch of the Not-for-Profit Governance and Performance Study interactive dashboard, enabling users to filter the research by sector, organisational income and location.  
● Chosen to represent the organisation at the 2023 Garma Festival, to build cultural understanding and awareness within the organisation.

Sector Manager (NFP & First Nations)

● Working with the Sector Lead, to support the development and end-to-end delivery of AICD-funded scholarship programs to further the organisations mission.
● Effectively collaborate with various internal stakeholders throughout the implementation and delivery process to achieve optimal program outcomes.
● Monitor, analyse and report on measures to optimise impact of Sector programs, consultations and major projects for members and stakeholders.

Achievements:
● Successfully implemented an internal scholarship platform, thus reducing third-party reliance and program expenditure to facilitate programs, whilst streamlining processes and building greater internal capability across multiple teams. 
● Transitioned qualitative research for the 2020 and 2021 Not-for-Profit Governance and Performance Study from face-to-face sessions to online formats, resulting in a more diverse and representative sample. 
● Worked collaboratively with internal teams to reduce manual processes and streamline scholarship recipients’ enrolment onto courses.

Sector Coordinator (NFP)

● Prepare for all end-to-end member, client and guest logistics needs including registration procedures, agendas, briefs, course notes, welcome emails and or administrative functions as required ahead of time.
● Ensure the consistent implementation of end-to-end delivery plans and processes to ensure a seamless member and client experience from registration to completion. 
● Assist with ensuring member and delegate needs, expectations and satisfaction are proactively met and maintained including quality assurance standards.

Achievements:
● Creation of new processes to provide greater clarity for invoice terms, resulting a reduction of outbound communications to confirm payment.  
● Undertook biographical research of each of the AICD Queensland Division, Gold Medal Award recipients in preparation for the 35th-anniversary event to produce a commemorative booklet.

Members & Directors Coordinator (Programs & Membership)

Community Foundation for Bendigo and Central Victoria

• Project facilitation, marketing and delivery of the organisation’s scholarship and grant programs. 
• Preparation of reports for the board of directors and minute taking during bi-monthly board meetings.
• Compliance reporting for the ACNC and ASIC to maintain the organisations registrations.

Achievements:
• Nominated by the board, to undertake day-day tasks of running the foundation, following the departure of the CEO and until a merger with another foundation could be undertaken.

Administration Officer

● Creating and delivering marketing copy and content across social media platforms and blogs to improve knowledge and access to local philanthropy. 
● Delivery of scholarship and grant programs to distribute funds, designed address to specific areas of need in the local community.
● Acquittal and post-program reporting for donors, the board and external grant 

Achievements:
● Lead role in delivering Central Victoria’s first online community giving day, resulting in more than $83,000 being raised for 73 local not-for-profit organisations to fund community projects.
● Completed a communications strategy for the Foundation to improve their brand recall and recognition and ultimately greater philanthropic participation in the Central Victorian community. 
● Established an online portal for donors to make tax-deductible contributions directly to the Foundation and their existing sub-fund holders, under the umbrella of the Foundation.

Communications and Marketing Intern

Make a Change Australia

• Diary management and note-taking during meetings with stakeholders. 
• General administrative duties such as data entry, email marketing and social media creation and scheduling.

Achievements:
• Assisted the organisation on a successful project for a local government, to better understand the needs of a local community through direct engagement and in-person forums.

Marketing and Administration Assistant

Various 

I spent approximately nine years in casual and full-time roles, working in front of house operations within the hospitality and events sector. Of this, six years were in leadership and management positions.

Hospitality professional 

I'm passionate about communities and the Not-for-Profit sector. Here’s why… 
 
In my third year of university, I sought an internship to gain practical marketing and communications experience. I was fortunate to be matched with a small community foundation whose purpose was to increase local philanthropy and build capacity within the greater community. 
 
We were led by an inspiring CEO, pioneering a local online crowdfunding campaign (Big Give) to empower other community organisations to raise funds for projects. Our platform enabled 73 local community organisations to raise over $83,000 for worthy causes (from shade sails for a kindergarten to toilets for people with a physical disability at a community centre). Longer-term, this campaign assisted organisations to build fundraising skills and engage local donors and sponsors.
 
During this time, I discovered the power that people with a common purpose have to improve society. Many exist with limited resources but are rich in their determination to effect change in the community. 
 
I continue to work with leaders of small NFPs and other underrepresented individuals, to access governance education through scholarship programs. Through these opportunities, we assist individuals to improve their organisation's effectiveness and ability to meet their purpose.

taplio

The Battle

Kathleen Casford

Scott Dickson

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