From Puerto Rico,
with love
Born and raised in Manatí, Puerto Rico to hard working and loving parents. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about alcapurrias or my mom’s homemade flan. Literally the best in the world.
My first industry job was Graphic Designer for Wapa TV, the biggest Puerto Rican TV network with almost 10M viewers across the island and the US East Coast. I designed complete graphics packages for some of the shows I grew up with (Super Xclusivo, Noticentro, Pégate al Mediodía), and big new ones we launched (Sunshine’s El Remix, Risas En Combo and Lo Sé Todo).
After that I set my sights on film and advertising, joining the premier post production studio on the island, Reaktor Post. On that team I did motion graphics and VFX for Sony, Netflix, T-Mobile and Honda, and shows like Crackle’s StartUp and Keanu Reeve’s Replicas.
In 2017 I took a leap of faith, moved to Cleveland, Ohio and tackled the massive challenge of building up a new in-house creative agency at Nestlé, where I’ve been working since. More on that below.
One of the highlights of my career and personal life was co-founding a nonprofit with my brother, Steven Feliciano, named Hunger Corp. We’ve lead that team for the past 10 years, building dozens of homes in marginalized communities in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Honduras, as well as a clean water project in the Amazon. You can see our work at hungercorp.org
I’m currently residing in Kissimmee, FL with my best friend and wife, Jehieli, our 3-year-old daughter Ellie, 2-year-old son Matías and our chocolate lab, Laika.
Building Teams
One of the greatest joys of my career has been building teams and helping artists grow. Few things feel better than getting obstacles out of people’s way and enabling them to make the best work of their career…so far.
I had the privilege (and challenge) of being one of the first two creatives to join Nestlé USA’s in-house agency, The LEAD, back in 2017. Our department head, Justin Dewiel, trusted each lead to build our own teams, so I collaborated with our HR and Recruiting reps to hand pick a team of incredible VFX Artists, as well as being heavily involved in the recruiting and interviewing process for all other departments. Within 3-4 years we grew the studio to a 40+ person, award winning team.
Along the way we implemented big workflow changes to mold our team into what our brands at Nestlé needed. Alongside my right hand person, Lead VFX Artist Jessica Sumption, we lead the six person VFX Team to a fully PBR rendering pipeline, training the team on Redshift and building an internal asset library for our Cinema 4D and After Effects projects.
We’ve also ventured into the world of Augmented Reality, developing AR filters for Snapchat and Instagram for brands like Coffee mate and Essentia Water.
Award Winning Work
As you’ve hopefully seen in my work section, I love bringing new and playful approaches to creative and design. Whether it’s an organic social post for a small nonprofit, or a multi-million dollar CPG campaign, every job is an opportunity to squeeze the most fun out of a set of goals and constraints.
Nothing brings me more joy than delighting an audience or client with unexpected, un-scoped and -honestly- unhealthy levels of charm, detail and sensory appeal through the work we do.
I love working with brands that see and seek that level of commitment to the vision and consumer experience.
Awards
2024 Gold and Silver ADDY Awards
Various - Hot Pockets Hot Ones
2024 Silver ADDY Award
Essentia Waters AR Filter
2023 Gold IHAF Award
Wildcard Creative - Essentia Waters AR Filter
2023 Silver ADDY Award
Social Media, Single Execution - Natural Bliss Blissful Rooms
2023 IHAF Honorable Mention
Social Media, Animated Graphics - Natural Bliss Blissful Rooms
2023 IHAF Honorable Mention
Video, TV & Web, 60s and Under - Natural Bliss Blissful Rooms
2023 IHAF Honorable Mention
Video, Sizzle Reels - Nestlé USA LEAD Sizzle Reel
2022 Gold IHAF Award
On a Shoestring - Nestlé USA The Sound of Coffee
2022 Silver IHAF Award
Social Media, Paid - Natural Bliss Blissful Pins
2021 Silver IHAF Award
Video Corporate, Internal Audience - LEAD 2021 Reel
2021 Bronze ADDY Award
Social Media, Single Execution - CPK Farm to Table
2020 Gold IHAF Award
Stuff The Client Didn’t Pick - Outsiders Tony’s World
2019 Gold & Silver ADDY Award
Social Media, Single Execution - DiGiorno Talking Pin