Ramirez, DJ · Subject-001
Creative Director
Integrated campaigns · film · stills · experiential
LA / Boise · Est. MMXXII
I'm DJ Ramirez. Creative director first, director second. I tell stories, I make things, and I like being part of things bigger than myself. Give me a mountain of data and a big problem, and I'll create my way out of it. I call my work monuments, because they are a sign that something mattered enough to be remembered. Four things I believe:
- Every great story is a human story. It's there if you're willing to listen.
- Less agency, more rock & roll. A big creative project feels like a heist or a rock show: everyone plays their part, and the thrill is pulling it off together.
- Ideas are cheap. Execution is everything. Nothing is real until it's shipped.
- AI is a tool, not a magical answer. AI needs guidance, strategy, and experience to do its job well.
I start in the mountain: the data, the research, the conversations nobody else sits through, and I dig until I hit something true that nobody's using yet. I listen before I write. What the conversation values, who it already trusts, what it would actually welcome.
The line. There's a difference between joining a conversation and interrupting one. The audience decides which one you did, and they decide fast. My job is making sure the work earns the room it walks into.
A problem defined is a problem half solved. Most of the work is defining the problem. Choosing which direction to run. Then communicating the vision, and aligning the team behind it.
The test. A real insight makes everything after it easy. The audience, the idea, the work: they all fall out of it. If the idea needs a media budget to make sense, it's not an insight yet. When it's right, you can say it in a sentence and everyone in the room stops arguing.
I sell big ideas, then do whatever it takes to make them real. Once the vision is clear I'm not afraid to assemble the team, pick up a camera, run and gun, and get scrappy where it's needed. Strategy is only worth what the execution makes of it.
The bar. Big campaign or a single shoot, the craft is the same. Digital reach is cheap; belonging isn't. When a brand shows up with something real, people don't just watch, they participate, and they bring their friends.
I hand over the templates, the standards, and the reasons it works, so whoever picks it up next isn't guessing. The job is done right when the work outlasts my involvement in it.
The rule. Nothing I build should need me in the room to explain it. If the standards only live in my head, I haven't finished the job.
A decade, itemized.
The last decade: Sony, Intel, Adorama, an Emmy-winning campaign. I've run the room and I've taken a seat in it, whichever the work needed. Clients tend to come back. I like that stat more than the big ones.
✳ Nothing here I wouldn't say in an interview.
People ask me what I do, and fifteen years in, it's somehow gotten harder to answer. The short version: I sell big ideas, then do whatever it takes to make them real.
Everyone gets handed different tools. Mine was a camera. Photo and video came naturally, but I'm not technical at all, and I never cared to be. What hooked me was what the camera unlocked. It was a key to the world: access to people, places, and stories I had no business being close to. So when people ask if I'm a photographer, I say kinda. I'm a storyteller who knows how to use a camera.
Where it all comes together is the marriage of two crafts: storytelling and building. Building brands, building campaigns, building experiences people actually show up for. That intersection is genuinely magical to me, and it's where I've lived for fifteen years. Honestly, I'm not good at much else. Luckily, it keeps me busy: one month it's a nonprofit in Uganda, the next it's directing commercials shaping the future of education in Idaho, sometimes it's on camera on location in New York.
But here's my problem with advertising: it evaporates. Here one day, gone the next. If you make an ad about a tree falling in the forest and nobody likes it, did anyone care? I refuse to spend a career making things designed to be forgotten. What I obsess over is the other kind: shaping culture, helping people make complicated decisions about their future, giving a voice to people who can't speak up for themselves. Work that stands the test of time. Things worth remembering. That's the legacy I'm after.
I build monuments: signs that something mattered enough to be remembered.
The brainstorm
Big new ideas don't always have a script. Sometimes it's just getting the right people in the room and jamming. Some days it's scrappy and punk, others it's much more defined. I specialize in having a point of view, and range.
The pitch
Your agency has a big one on the calendar and needs senior firepower in the room. I've pitched and won work for Sony, Adorama, MSI, Intel, ViewSonic, DW Drums, and more.
The pinch hitter
Stepping in to lead a team around an idea. I hold the room: the standard, the notes, the client. And I hand it back better than I found it.
On set
Directing and creative directing on set: making calls on the fly, carrying the brand and the strategy when decisions can't wait. The energy on set speaks to my soul. It's chaotic, crazy, and a rush like no other.
The team lead
Managing creatives is like wrangling cats. I've spent years hands-on across multiple disciplines, so I know how to mentor, lead, and give notes people can actually use.
The culture lens
I have my finger on the pulse of culture. A modern brand needs to speak the culture of its customer. I speak Gen Z, I know TikTok trends, and I've built a career across traditional and not-so-traditional advertising for a global client base. I am a point of view machine.
I've got a guy for that.
I pride myself on having a guy, a girl, a person for it. Fifteen years between Boise, LA, New York, and Europe builds a deep bench of creative talent. However odd the job gets, I've usually got someone who has done it, and done it well.
- Sony a7S III motion · low light
- Leica M240 rangefinder · stills
- Zeiss primes the whole set
- Gimbal movement, no crew
- Photoshop comps, retouch, finish
- Lightroom library and color
- Illustrator marks, type, vector
- Don't know I'll learn it
- DaVinci Resolve the edit and the grade
- Capture One tethered capture
- Darkroom stills, capture to color
- Frame.io client review, versioned
- Figma decks, systems, UX
- Claude Code sites, tools, agents
- Codex + OpenClaw the automation bench
- Airtable pipelines and trackers
Less agency, more rock and roll.
The clients stick around. Sony came back four times. Adorama, three. One project becomes a run. That's the part I'm proudest of: anyone can book a gig, the encore is the review that matters.
REF-01Tommy LundbergPhotographer · directed by DJ+
He was clear about what he needed and always made me feel empowered to explore my creative impulses while staying true to his creative direction. Can't wait to work with him again!
REF-02Jake GobleComposer · direct report on set+
DJ is a true artist who isn't afraid to get dirty (or lose sleep) to get the job done right and on time. He's been a team captain on multiple projects over the years that always ended in a W. Most of all, he's a pure-hearted human who always looks out for others first and puts as much empathy into his relations as he does intention into his craft.
REF-03Lauryn HodgePhotographer · mentored + hired by DJ+
On set, DJ's fun personality allows him to connect well with both the talent and the crew, creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable and supported. If things don't go as planned, DJ handles it with a calm and collected demeanor, quickly pivoting to a new direction that's just as strong.
REF-04Casey LevinsCollaborator · 7 years+
I have seen him shoot, edit, produce, direct, design, PA, and be in charge of the food and/or the music on set. He brings the vibes. He embodies every role with a spirit of excellence. He has a very special gift of bringing the best out of everyone on the team and he elevates every project to its highest potential.
REF-05Tess RizviLead Producer · Casting Director+
When it comes to creative strategy, I've never questioned that DJ would produce work our team would be proud of. He brings life and joy but also a grounded demeanor that allows everyone else to follow suit. As a leader, he knows how to encourage other people to be their best selves.
MEXICO · NEPAL · UGANDA · THE GIVING SIDE Some stories are not for sale.
I have carried cameras through Mexico, Nepal, and Uganda for work that was never about selling anything. Those trips taught me patience, respect for the subject, and how to disappear so a true story can show up.
I still take that work when it matters, and I bring everything that pressure taught me to it.
Giving backGreat ideas need
great execution.
