10/10/2026
Join us on Wednesday, October 14 at 6:00 PM at Kiln for an inspiring evening celebrating the incredible creatives who work behind the scenes to fuel the surge of support for women's and gender expansive sports in Portland! This event features presentations and a dynamic panel with talented individuals who have contributed their magic to teams and organizations like the Rose City Rollers , Portland Fire WNBA, Portland Cherry Bombs FC (USL W), Portland Cascade (Athletes Unlimited), The Sports Bra, and Unmatched: The Team That Changed the Beautiful Game filmmakers who retell the iconic Portland Pilots 2005 season with legends Megan Rapinoe and Christine Sinclair.
Celebrate the creativity and dedication that keep Portland’s women's and gender expansive sports scene vibrant and thriving! This event is part of Portland Design Month hosted by AIGA Portland and is a Women Lead event.
Seats are going fast! Reserve your spot: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/design-for-the-win-creatives-behind-womens-sports-in-portland-tickets-2001894086101
Athena McCarver
Athena is a creative brand manager and photographer for the Portland Cherry Bombs, Bangers and Pickles, with a background in Media and Communications. She leads merchandise photography and coordinates the Local Artist Series, partnering with local artists to create limited-edition merch featured at home games throughout the season. Her work blends sports, visual storytelling, and community-driven creativity.
Jia Lu Ni (https://jialuni.com/)
Jia Lu (jay-loo, they/them) is a multi-disciplinary design leader based in Portland, OR who has spent the last decade partnering with brands to create human-centered products and services. They care deeply about understanding people – their hopes, dreams, and challenges – in order to design experiences that resonate. They are also co-captain of the Rose City Wreckers, Portland’s recreational adult roller derby program, and they bring the same curiosity and creative energy as they lead a team of 100+ skaters of all skill levels.
Kimberly Veale
Kimberly Veale is SVP of Marketing and Communications at RAJ Sports, where she's responsible for brand, social, growth & retention, digital, game experience, content, community and PR for both the Portland Fire and Portland Thorns.
During her tenure, the Fire set a WNBA team record for most fans at a home opener with 19,335 fans — a Moda Center sellout — during the team’s debut game on May 10, 2026. Additionally, the Fire were 4th in league attendance during the 2026 season, and the team saw a 400% increase in social following.
She led the creation and launch of Rose, the Fire’s glitter-breathing dragon, who has become an instant citywide hit and mainstay among WNBA mascots.
Named a 2026 Sports Marketing Power Player by AdWeek and with 15 years in the WNBA and NBA, she previously led marketing and PR for Golden State Valkyries, where she guided the franchise’s award-winning marketing efforts prior to and during the 2025 inaugural season. Prior to the Valkyries, Veale held senior roles with the Golden State Warriors and Seattle Storm, including leading PR during the Storm's 2018 WNBA Championship run.
Andrew Schloss
A native of Vancouver, Canada, Andrew’s career traces a path from consumer products, furniture and lighting design, to graphic design, branding and storytelling. He is especially interested in the power of design to directly influence human experience, identity and brand loyalty.
With a focus on sports, entertainment and fashion, He has partnered with progressive brands to engage with fans, consumers and partners.
Throughout his career, Andrew has also been dedicated to design education, teaching for many years in the Industrial Design Department at Pratt Institute, as a Founding Faculty member of the Products of Design MFA program at The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and as an adjunct Professor of Industrial Design at Arizona State University.
Andrew holds an MID from Pratt Institute, an MS in Sport Biomechanics and Human Movement Studies, and a BA in Biology, both from the University of Oregon.
Deborah Pleva
Deborah Pleva is a seasoned communications leader and SVP of Marketing and Operations at The Sports Bra, helping scale the world’s first bar dedicated exclusively to women’s sports into a global movement. With over 20 years of storytelling experience, including leading communications for Girls on the Run International, she holds degrees from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. Off the clock, Deborah stays active cheering on local women's teams, practicing yoga with her husband, visiting her college daughters in the Netherlands, and wrangling her rescue dog, Pip.
Joe Kuffner (https://joekuffner.com/)
Joe Kuffner is a Portland-based filmmaker and director of the upcoming documentary Unmatched: The Team That Changed the Beautiful Game about the 2005 University of Portland women's soccer team. His first documentary, Within Reach: The Fight to Finish Cancer, was nominated for a 2024 regional Emmy.
Caitlin Crowley (https://www.crowley-films.com/)
Caitlin Crowley is a q***r filmmaker and cinematographer. She brings a documentary practice shaped by long-form relationship building and is interested in what happens when you stay long enough for a story to stop performing and start revealing itself.
Caitlin has served as the Director of Photography on narrative short films, music videos, and the upcoming documentary, ‘Makers Gotta Make’. Her cinematography, editing, and producing on ‘Unmatched’ has helped shape the film from the beginning. Caitlin is also currently directing ‘Swamp Dykes’, a feature length documentary about q***r communities in her home state Florida.
Hosted by Meghan Bausone
📆 Check out the rest of the PDX Design Month calendar at https://www.aigapdx.org/portland-design-month.
