Adrian Fidalgo

I’m a creative director with over 15 years of experience leading teams, building brand systems, and guiding organizations through complex creative work. My background spans hands-on design, creative strategy, and leadership, with a consistent focus on clarity, scalability, and execution.

I was born in Fresno, California and raised in the North Bay by a strong and supportive single mother. From an early age, creativity was where my focus naturally went. While I did well academically, I was always drawn to drawing, painting, and making things. In sixth grade, that instinct was recognized and encouraged, my creativity was treated not as a distraction, but as something worth developing. That early support shaped how I approach creative leadership today: by creating environments where people are trusted to do their best work.

My early career wasn’t linear. I left a physically demanding job as an arborist to pursue design, enrolled in formal design training, and spent several years freelancing. That period taught me self-direction, accountability, and how to solve real problems for real clients, skills that continue to inform how I lead teams and manage creative work.

Since then, my work has focused on creative leadership, partnering closely with executive teams, leading designers, and owning large-scale initiatives, including a company-wide, global rebrand. I specialize in translating complex products and services into clear, confident brand experiences across digital and physical environments. I believe strong creative direction is less about personal taste and more about judgment, consistency, and building systems that enable teams to move faster without losing quality.

Outside of work, I continue to create through painting, drawing, and music. Time spent composing at the piano is where I slow down, listen, and think, skills that directly influence how I approach leadership, problem-solving, and creative direction.