ePortfolio  ·  LSU Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies

JD
Nattinger

Creative Director  ·  Brand Strategist

With a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies from LSU, I pair a creative’s eye with the leadership, communication and business skills to lead creative teams effectively within any organization.

Portrait of JD Nattinger
01 — Centerpiece
Integrative Reflection

Bridging Code and Culture

I have always made creative work inside organizations that weren't built for it. At Dig World, I went from team member to creative director at a growing local business. At LSU, I spent two years as a student producer creating content within institutional brand standards. At Southstone Church, I served a ministry team whose creative communication answers to a mission, not a market. Today I lead marketing at Universal Lithium Battery Supply, an industrial energy company where every request is weighed against cost and ROI. I also run SVNTH STUDIOS, where I am the one pitching creative vision to clients. On every one of those creative teams, the hardest part was rarely the creative work itself. It was getting people who think in numbers to trust work whose value is felt.

Bridging Code and Culture names that problem and offers a framework for solving it. It draws on Edward T. Hall's high- and low-context communication (CMST 3118E), Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership (LHRD 4723E) and the financial logic of ACCT 2000E and FIN 3715E. From these, it argues that the friction between non-creative managers and creative teams is not a talent problem but a mismatch of communication codes. My answer is Code-Translational Leadership. It translates creative concepts into the low-context language of ROI that executives act on, and it translates budgets and deadlines back into terms creative teams can work with. It also extends situational leadership upward, to the leaders I need to influence but do not manage.

This reflection is the clearest evidence of what my BIS degree gave me. No single concentration could have solved this problem, but together communication, leadership and business became one way of working. The reflection also marks a transition in my career. I am moving from being the creative person who learns to get by inside non-creative organizations to being a creative director and brand strategist who builds that bridge on purpose, for my teams and for the leaders who invest in them.

Read the Full Reflection
02 — About

Four sides of how I work.

If you're looking for a creative leader who can sit in a budget meeting in the morning and run a film set in the afternoon, this site is my case for why that's me. These are the four parts of me you'd be hiring.

The Strategist

Brand & Marketing

Universal Lithium Battery Supply · 2024 – Present

I lead the marketing department for an industrial lithium-energy company. My job is making a technical product feel trustworthy, innovative and worth the long-term investment.

  • Story-driven campaigns for industrial energy
  • Dealer engagement & sales coordination
  • Production assets for national trade shows, including MODEX
The Storyteller

SVNTH STUDIOS

Founder & Creative Director · 2023 – Present

I founded SVNTH STUDIOS, a content agency built on bold brand development and cinematic storytelling, to turn what's in a client's head into something they're proud of.

  • High-end brand campaigns
  • Wedding & lifestyle films and editorials
  • Discovery, concept, production, edit, delivery
The Leader

Building Teams

Dig World · LSU · Southstone Church · ULBS

I've grown quickly wherever I've been trusted with people. Each time, I've learned to lead creative work within someone else's priorities.

  • Team Member → Creative Director in 12 months
  • Promoted twice in 9 months at ULBS
  • Student ministries leadership at Southstone
The Scholar

Interdisciplinary Thinker

Louisiana State University · BIS

My degree brings leadership, communication and business together into a single framework for leading creative teams in performance-driven organizations.

03 — Experience

Beyond the classroom.

Most of what I know about creative leadership I learned by doing creative work in places that weren't built for it. Here is what each role taught me.

What I'm exploring on my own

Nobody assigned me these questions, but I keep coming back to them. As AI and real-time analytics take over how companies judge marketing, how do you protect the human instinct behind great creative work? And could there be a better way to measure brand equity than the next quarterly report? I'm working on both in my own campaigns at ULBS and with clients at SVNTH.

04 — Growth

How my thinking changed.

Looking back over the last few years of school and work, the biggest change wasn't a new skill. It was how I see the same situations I've always been in.

I used to think

When leadership pushed back on a creative pitch, they were rejecting my work. It felt personal.

Now I see

Most pushback is a translation problem. I was pitching in brand feel while they were listening for ROI. Once I learned to reframe the same idea in their terms, the conversation changed.

I used to think

Leadership meant managing the people below you.

Now I see

Some of the most important leading I do is upward, influencing executives I don't manage so my team gets the trust and budget it needs.

I used to think

Good creative work speaks for itself.

Now I see

Good work needs an advocate who can speak both languages, creative and business. That's the role I want to play for the teams I lead.

I used to think

School and work were two separate tracks I had to balance.

Now I see

They became the same project. What I learned in CMST, LHRD and business courses I tested at ULBS the next week, and what happened at work gave my coursework something real to explain.

“The conflict between non-creative managers and creative teams is not an inevitable battle between finance and creative. It is a structural communication gap.”
— From Bridging Code and Culture
05 — Work

Selected work.

Things I've written, built and produced in and out of the classroom.

06 — Academics

Three disciplines, one framework.

Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Louisiana State University. Each concentration answers a different part of the same question: how do creative teams earn legitimacy in organizations that measure everything?

Communication Studies

CMST 1061E · 2010 · 3118E · 4100E

High- and low-context communication codes, rhetorical framing, interpersonal dynamics and how to structure a public message. This is the language of why creative work misfires and how to reframe it.

In practice: how I rebuild a pitch so executives hear the business case, not just the vision.

Leadership Development

LHRD 2723E · 3723E · 4723E

Situational leadership, team dynamics, motivation and organizational behavior. These are the tools for adapting how I lead to the people in front of me, both downward and upward.

In practice: leading a creative team while also influencing leaders I don't manage.

Business Administration

ACCT 2000E · FIN 3715E · MKT 3401E · MGT 3200E · ISDS 1100E · ECON 2010E

Financial metrics, capital budgeting, marketing strategy and management functions. This is the low-context vocabulary executives use to decide what gets funded.

In practice: building budget requests and campaign plans around ROI, lead acquisition and customer lifetime value.

07 — Resume

The one-page version.

My experience, competencies and education in a conventional resume format.

Your story, told.

Let's build
something.