Our Team
Marisa Sanchez-Dunning
FounderFounder
Marisa Sanchez-Dunning is the Chicana woman behind If Only Creative, a Bay Area creative studio founded in 2022 that builds and executes brand design, strategy, social media management, and trend-setting commercial photography. A veteran of working with POC-owned and purpose-driven brands, Marisa possesses a POV that taps into different cultures and can resonate with a global and diverse audience.
Central to Marisa core are sustainability, equity, transparency, authenticity, and quality. If Only Creative became a reality because she was motivated and driven to craft a better world for creatives from all backgrounds. Whether it's developing a sustainable materials guide, working with high-profile brands like Whole Foods, Bawi, and Date Better or hosting, El Otro Lado, a series of dinners reclaiming and celebrating Cinco de Mayo, Marisa has proven herself a game-changing creative director and founder with a talent for design leadership and strategic thinking, dreaming up brands rooted in human connection and industry know-how. She has spoken at conferences like AIGA, Brand New, and Dieline.
Jessica Deseo
Working Partner
Jessica Deseo is a multi-hyphenate creative with an extensive background in graphic design. Her career spans across studio work, in-house design, and packaging. For the past eight years, she has been teaching packaging design at ArtCenter College of Design, where she champions sustainable practices within the curriculum. Under her mentorship, since 2018, her students have earned numerous prestigious awards for their innovative sustainable design concepts, including accolades from D&AD, The One Show, Core77, and Pentawards.
Beyond teaching, Jessica runs CoolWish, a PR/Marketing consultancy, helping design studios refine their brand voice. She is also a partner at PRINT Magazine, a renowned graphic design publication established in 1940. Jessica actively contributes to the design community through mentorship, including her work with the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Additionally, she has served on juries for the 2023 Young Ones competition, Costa Rica Design Week's 2022 "Sin Peña con Gloria," and the New Visual Artists program.
Creative Director 
El Otro Lado
An annual dinner we host to reclaim and celebrate Cinco de Mayo in an authentic, genuine and groundbreaking way.
Get in touch.
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