As the head of brand and marketing design, Becky Galicia is responsible for developing and managing all aspects of our design and creative output. She supports the development and execution of offline/traditional, digital and paid social advertising. When she’s not at work, you might find her in the kitchen putting her personal spin on a new recipe she saw on one of many cooking shows and hanging out with her family.

What do you do at Houzz? 
My focus is on providing direction to ensure design and creative deliverables are aligned to stakeholder expectations. I support a team of incredibly talented designers who establish our brand guidelines, and create marketing assets including social media advertisements, product videos and landing pages. My role is to oversee our projects and ensure that our designers have the direction and resources available to execute their work successfully. 

Why did you become a designer? 
I love being able to create something from scratch. I’ve always had a passion for the arts and attended a creative and performing arts high school. In my senior year, I took a photography class as an elective and fell in love with Photoshop. I wanted to learn everything I could about it. My favorite form of artistic expression is art direction. I have always been fascinated by billboards and commercials and how they were created, so I went to the Art Institute of California and studied advertising. After college, I was hired at an advertising agency in Los Angeles and became an art director. My job was to create concepts for brands including, digital paid ads, commercials and billboards. 

What brought you to Houzz? 
I was working in the home space as a creative director and had always looked at Houzz for inspiration. I admired the site’s design elements and followed product developments. When I saw a design position become available, I decided it was time for a fresh start and reached out to apply. It’s been an amazing opportunity to help our design team develop our marketing design capabilities. 

What do you like most about working here? 
The environment and the people. My team gets along perfectly and I’m amazed by their talent and experience. It’s really rare to get to work with a group of people who are so supportive of each other. They are passionate about what they do and because there is no competition, we can focus on doing our best work and moving the brand forward. 

I’m also personally passionate about the home space. If I had to pick another career it would be interior design. I love creating a space, picking furniture and making a house feel like home. I’ve designed for brands that I don’t have a particular affinity for in the past and it’s much better to be connected to the brand in that way. 

What project are you most proud of? 
We’ve been very focused on our Houzz Pro business and project management software this year, creating engaging website landing pages and product videos that showcase how powerful our software is for home remodeling and design professionals. These types of high quality marketing assets elevate our communication to our community. 

Where do you get inspiration? 
Inspiration comes from the world around me. Sometimes it even comes in the form of a dream. As I’ve gotten older and stepped into managerial roles, inspiration comes from the goals of the business. Once I understand what the brand needs, I can focus on creating things that will best support those outcomes.

How do you keep your team connected while working remotely? 
As I mentioned, our team is really close. When we were in the office, we ate lunch together and got together outside of work. It helped that we had already fostered that bond, so it’s been easy to jump on a video call for a team meeting or happy hour and hold on to that connection that we had in the office. We’re constantly messaging each other throughout the day to share mockups and initial concepts, bounce ideas off each other and gather feedback. 

As a team lead, it’s important to recognize openly that the world is experiencing a pandemic. I’m trying to be as considerate and supportive as I can to see how the team is doing, understand what hurdles they might be facing and ultimately, give them the space and time to handle things outside of work, whenever possible. I’ve found that providing that flexibility actually inspires the team to work harder and more creatively. We’ve also been sending each other birthday cakes – a tradition at every Houzz office – to bring that experience home.   

How do you use Houzz at home? 
I’m saving to buy a home next year and I feel like I have a front row seat to how Houzz can help me turn my dreams into a reality. I’m constantly looking at inspiration photos, figuring out what type of layout I’ll want for my home, connecting with pros who I may one day hire to help with my own projects and learning about the tools that’ll help me shop for the perfect furniture and decor.