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

melis.ai

My vehicle for AI-related digital courses, products, and content. Over 20,000 students and customers across 150+ countries, and the #1 ChatGPT Course on Udemy in Q1 of 2023.

PA Consulting

Working with the Global Head of Generative AI Strategy & Innovation on various engagements.

GenAI Consultant

bot•hello

Notable clients include: Maybelline New York, Lancôme, Kiehl's, Culture Amp, Splendour in the Grass, Falls Festival, Goodlife Health Clubs, Anytime Fitness, Youfoodz, Inner Health Plus, Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns, Service.com.au, and many more.

bot•hello is Australia's leading conversational AI agency specialising in highly engaging customer experience solutions. Our focus on customer retention sets us apart from other digital agencies. Utilising platforms like Intercom, ManyChat, and UneeQ, we tailor bespoke self-service tools, such as chatbots, digital humans, and interactive help centres, driving customer loyalty while reducing operational costs. Our services range from Intercom implementation and optimisation, to chatbot and digital human development and optimisation.

Testimonials:

"The implementation of the chatbot has saved our Customer Service team so much time and resources, and the team have been an absolute pleasure to work with throughout the whole process." Megan Henderson - Audience Liaison Manager, Splendour in the Grass

"The team were incredible to work with - always coming up with solutions and features that exceeded expectations." Michael Gosman - Executive Producer - Digital Content, Brisbane Lions

"bot•hello were able to really understand and capture our brand personality extremely well and help us convey this in a professional, authentic tone, whilst also being playful and engaging at the same time." Tahlia Sher - Brand Manager (CeraVe), L'Oréal

"The team at bot•hello were able to take our brand to a level that we have been longing to achieve, and they executed it perfectly." Brienne Gould - Social Media & Communications Coordinator, Goodlife Health Clubs

"Working with bot•hello on our first Facebook Messenger chatbot proved to be seamless. Thank you for your expertise and patience, while we made sure we got it just right!" Laura Walkley - Content Manager, Publicis Groupe (Mercedes F1 Project)

Founder & Director

Intercom

Strategic Advisor & the first APAC LastMile Implementation Partner for Intercom's Chatbot & AI Automation products. 

Major clients include: Culture Amp, Equalution, Natural8 and MM Electrical

Strategic Advisor & Last Mile Partner

Deloitte

AI & Cognitive Automation Team
• Robotic Process Automation
• Intelligent & Cognitive Automation
• AI/ML/Conversational AI Research & Content Creation

Consultant

Analytics and Information Management Team

Key projects:

• Fortune 500 Investment Bank: Assisted in the delivery of one of Deloitte's largest robotics and cognitive automation transformation projects to date (50+ team members across 6 countries). My role included bot opportunity assessment, current state mapping, risk analysis, process re-engineering - and bot design, development, and testing. I worked across the organisation in a number of different functions in the banks Singapore, Wuxi, and Shanghai offices. 

• ASX:50 Insurance Provider: Assisted with the design of a Master Data Management (MDM) strategy and framework for the Finance, HR, and Procurement functions of the organisation. 

• ASX:50 Retail Bank: Robotics opportunity assessment, process re-engineering, and delivery of a working Bot that saved hours of manual data entry within the banks funds management function. 

• ASX:50 Freight & Logistics: Assisted in the delivery of a multi-million dollar technology transformation, enabled by IoT fleet telematics and in-vehicle monitoring hardware. The work I was involved in was globally recognised by Gartner, Forrester and IDC for its innovation in the IoT space.

Analyst

Comax Australia

Managed the development of a new website and CMS. As well as all marketing activities within the business; graphic design, photo editing/retouching, email marketing, social media marketing and offshore contractor hiring/management. Also redesigned a number of processes and implemented more efficient ways to manage operations.

Digital Marketing & IT Manager

Business Process Improvement, Business Process Mapping, and data analytics (SAP tools and data mining).

Analytics & Performance Improvement Vacationer

Uber

Proud to have been one of the earliest team members of Uber Queensland. Assisted the team with initial driver supply growth across Brisbane and the Gold Coast. This included driver onboarding, cold outreach, customer support, and general marketing of the Uber platform.

Operations & Marketing Intern

Bloomberg LP

Part of a global network of Bloomberg Ambassadors and Bloomberg Aptitude Test (BAT) Proctors. In 2014 I was nominated for the APAC Marketer of the Year for my efforts in marketing the BAT within the QUT Economics and Finance Society and QUT Business School.

Student Ambassador and Test Proctor

Prokure Australia

Prokure Australia is a unique and innovative sourcing agency that offers end-to-end import assistance to source, negotiate, and facilitate delivery of products from overseas suppliers.

'Exited' the business in late 2014.

Co-Founder

I've been a designer most of my life. I come from an artistic family and started freelancing in graphic design before I could do algebra.

My entrepreneurial journey started with forum signatures for video gamers in Adobe Fireworks at $5 a pop (anyone remember those!?). This then progressed to logos, business cards, event posters, newsletters, website banners, short animations, and eventually multiple eSports YouTube movie montages for the thriving eSports community in Australia at the time ('07-10).

Designing and selling these digital assets at a young age gave me the confidence to learn anything and stoked a fire within me for trying new things.

Since I started freelancing 15 years ago, I've worked and volunteered for over 20 organisations across disciplines such as social media marketing, photo editing, web design, video production, management consulting, data analytics, financial analysis, process automation, and chatbot development.

I just love to learn and try new things. And I especially love applying my background in design to new and exciting challenges.

Right now, I'm particularly interested in helping SMEs scale with the help of AI and purpose-built automated workflows to increase efficiency and drive unprecedented growth. 

Why? Because there's nothing more rewarding to me than being able to leverage my background in design, technology, and consulting to help improve people's businesses and livelihoods. 

I look forward to riding the ever exponential technological wave in the AI space and continuing to build applications that help businesses thrive.  

For more info on what I'm doing, read through my profile below (announcement soon!). 

A bit about me 👾
➡️ I'm an avid lifelong learner (books, podcasts, online courses, brain training apps - you name it)
➡️ I'm obsessed with personal/professional productivity and efficiency hacks 
➡️ I'm passionate about health, fitness, wellness, and anything that improves personal performance
➡️ I love discussing anything futuristic (crypto, metaverse, AR/VR, AI, robots, space travel, etc.)
➡️ As you may have guessed, I love video games and used to compete "professionally" across FPS, RTS, and MOBA games. For my nerds, my favourite game to compete in was Starcraft 2 (Protoss ftw 👽)

If you'd like to chat and connect over anything from the above, swing me a connection, follow, or DM ✌️

taplio

The Battle

Kathleen Casford

Sean Melis

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