$25,000? No Pressure.
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Date: December 9, 2023
Role: Lead Content Editor
Services: Brand Management, Graphic Design, Live Event Production, Camera Operator
Location: LVMH Culture House Miami
Talent: ACT House team and pitch competition participants
Crew: Jordan McNear – Creative Producer, Dominick Ar’dis - CEO & Facilitator
Partner: Black Ambition, LVMH, Adidas
The No Pressure Pitch Competition closed out an unforgettable Miami run for ACT House, arriving just days after the successful launch of the Build Day X hackathon tour and a birthday spent on Miami Beach reflecting on how far the year had already carried us. Hosted during Art Basel weekend at LVMH Culture House, the event brought together creative founders from across the country to pitch bold ideas for products and services in pursuit of over $25,000 in seed funding. With partners like Black Ambition, LVMH, and Adidas involved, the stakes—and the expectations—were high.
My primary contribution was designing the official competition flyer, an asset that needed to balance cultural relevance, representation, and credibility in a city ACT House was entering for the first time. Early concepts struggled to distinguish pitching ideas from performance, so I leaned into AI-assisted illustration to craft a confident central figure grounded in ambition rather than spectacle. Typography inspired by Straight Outta Compton-era design added grit and urgency, while distressed textures referenced the feel of street-level promotion in major metro areas. After abandoning a strict black-and-white palette, I introduced a pink-to-teal gradient inspired by Miami’s retro sports culture, anchoring the design in place and moment. The final poster felt vibrant, representative, and aligned with the creative founders it was meant to invite into the room.
On event day, I supported live production by managing founder flow, designing branded pitch screens and checks, and filming behind-the-scenes moments for the official video recap edited by Jordan McNear. In just two hours, thirty founders delivered 60 second pitches fueled by momentum built throughout the week. It was an electric close to a whirlwind Miami stretch—one that blended design, storytelling, partnership, and personal milestones into a reminder of how quickly opportunity shapes when the right people share a stage.
