Nice to see you here! I'm a strategically led and craft focused Creative Director. Just as comfortable leading the art side of things as I am copy and strategy with a track record of nurturing dedicated creative departments to work alongside me in delivering great work. Having done the agency thing. And the client side thing - my projects stretch across advertising and branding. I'm good at gaining the trust of the people around me, from VP level to the intern. But wherever I am, and whomever I speak with, the “work” is always the constant.

I lead through agility, mixing old school with street cool.

I love what I do for a living and strive to be kind to the people around me.

If you're fresh out of the box looking to corner your market. Have lost your steam and looking to find your greatness again. Or simply happy where you are but curious to see how far you can push your creative - I’m the lady to have in your corner. Drop me a hello@helinkotan.com

TESTIMONIALS

"Helin is one of the most talented Creative Directors I've ever worked with. She has a keen eye for spotting and hiring talent and has a high quality bar that's reflected in her teams output."

Helin is one of the most talented Creative Directors that I've ever worked with. She's super smart and very tuned in to the needs of the org, and was an incredible partner. Helin helped paint a vision for the brand and marketing creative for Workplace at Meta, and through sharp creative leadership and stakeholder management, delivered some impressive and impactful branding and marketing campaigns.

She was also a very good manager, with a keen eye for spotting and hiring talent, and then working to help them achieve greatness. She has a high-quality bar that's reflected in her team's output.

It was an absolute pleasure working with Helin, and I would do so again in a heartbeat.

MARC DAVIES, PRODUCT DESIGN DIRECTOR @META

"A phenomenal addition to an agency in need of creative leadership, vision, and execution."

As the key stakeholder with the client during creative direction, Helin led an integrated team across user experience, visual design, and development, from concept through to delivery.
Helin is a creative lead through and through. She works closely with team members, giving them clear direction, discussing ideas and helping cut through ambiguity, and holding them accountable to creative quality. She was - at the same time – a pleasure to work with, and inherently understood the needs of both Account and Programme Management stakeholder groups. She worked closely with me to develop options that would meet her (and the team’s) vision, while keeping commercial and timeline viability in mind. She’d be a phenomenal addition to an agency in need of creative leadership, vision, and execution.

PAUL HARROP, SENIOR MANAGER AND PRODUCT LEAD @SAPIENT

"Helin’s creative guidance gave us structure & the chance to spread our wings creatively."

We absolutely loved working for Helin as our Creative Director. Her strong strategic talents made the creative process flow so smoothly. Her creative guidance gave us both structure and the chance to spread our wings creatively. Added to that her beautiful visual and verbal style were inspiring. Helen gave clear direction, allowing us to meet tough deadlines with confidence. But most importantly Helin created a calming atmosphere to work, something so rare and so valuable.

HANNA HERRERA & CAT HOWARTH, CREATIVE TEAM @ACNE GROUP

"Energy and drive starts at the top. And Helin doesn’t lack in any of it."

“I joined the Workplace from Meta's in-house Brand Creative Studio team as we established and launched the brand under the leadership of Helin. The energy and drive that requires, starts at the top. And Helin doesn’t lack in any of it. She leads from the front, is there to make the big decisions and support the wider team, but is also happy to be hands-on to make sure the work is of the highest standard at even the smallest touchpoint.
Her ability to see the bigger picture and drive a creative vision, especially in a huge tech company like Meta, is worth its weight in gold and saves hours of time, and bucket loads of cash. Helin continuously put together and guided the right team to deliver everything from the brand's look&feel, though to an integrated global advertising campaign and digital performance campaigns. She combined her knowledge of B2B and Consumer Marketing to push the creative and produce refreshing work in the tech and enterprise category. 
Helin managed a host of disciplines, levels and personalities. A lot to juggle, but she knows how to give everyone the right amount of support and steer them to grow their careers as well as deliver great work. I experienced this myself and I also saw how Helin handled more junior members on often difficult and complex tasks. As a Creative Leader and an all-around great human being, Helin is pretty damn hard to beat.”

IAN CAWLEY, CREATIVE DIRECTOR @META

"Helin is a true master when it comes to managing agency partners. Her super power is asking the critical questions that constructively challenge our thinking and help us avoid potential pitfalls."

Helin I forged a strong collaborative partnership and I have personally learned a great deal from working with her. As a creative leader, she is always receptive and curious to understand the business needs, and she proactively translates those needs into inspiring creative challenges for internal and external agency partners. When providing feedback, she takes a very respectful, strategic, and constructive approach, and it always makes the work stronger.

Helin is a true master when it comes to managing agency partners. She knows when to provide guidance and step back, and when to roll up her sleeves be "hands on". She was also a great source of support for me whenever I interacted with our agency partners, tactfully correcting me when it was needed, and helping me anticipate each agency's needs and concerns.

One of Helin's super powers is asking the critical questions that constructively challenge our thinking and help us avoid potential pitfalls. Thanks to her intervention, we've were able to course correct many projects and refocus our efforts in areas that hold the greatest promise. I strongly recommend Helin for any creative leadership role, whether it's in-house or at a creative agency.

RAMON RODRIGUES, MARKETING MANAGER @META

"Helin built her team up from scratch, and breathed new life into what Brand meant for us. She brought an incredibly strategic approach, matched with a strong creative vision, and worked across senior executives to land a new brand direction for Workplace. "

I was lucky to work with Helin extensively through a period of rapid growth for Workplace from Meta. Helin built her team up from scratch, and breathed new life into what Brand meant for us. She brought an incredibly strategic approach, matched with a strong creative process + design vision, and worked across senior executives to land a new brand direction for Workplace. Helin was able to balance a collaborative approach to the work with a strong design voice - this came through strongly in our partnership to bring the brand into the product itself. I also really appreciated how Helin operated at differing levels of granularity - being able to both zoom out to execute strongly at the strategic level but also being able drive high standards of executional quality in the outputs.

YAEL LEVEY, PRODUCT DESIGN MANAGER @META