Port is a place brand for Port Richmond Avenue, one of Staten Island's most culturally vibrant commercial corridors. Created through the Van Alen Institute District Design Fellowship in partnership with La Colmena NYC, the project challenged the conventions of place branding. Rather than marketing a neighborhood to visitors, I led strategy and copywriting to build an identity that strengthened community ownership from within. 

Working alongside La Colmena—an immigrant rights organization deeply embedded in the corridor—we grounded the brand in the insight that pride unlocks participation. That thinking inspired Together on Port, a platform that invites businesses, residents, and visitors to shop, celebrate, and invest in the neighborhood together. 

From the butterfly symbolizing migration and resilience to the verbal identity and messaging system, the brand celebrates the immigrant communities and small businesses that have sustained Port Richmond through decades of change, giving the corridor a shared language to express the pride that was already there.