Kristin Maija Peterson Art Director

Kristin runs her own business, Grand Ciel Branding & Design. She creates ideas, enhances brands (for a living) and thinks big (for herself, clients and side pet projects).

She does watercolors and drawings (her ambition is to show her artwork in galleries). Kristin writes (for her clients and stories for her children’s picture book projects).

She is passionate about art and design, how it can truly make the world a better place, the social do-gooders and the entrepreneurial spirit.

When she was 30, Kristin was laid off from a job she really loved and took off to Australia for a month. (What else are you going to do during a war and a recession?)

There she was exposed to the extraordinary art and culture of the Aboriginal people, the beauty of the Australian landscape (over 600 species of Gum trees are found there) and that travel can help one heal, build strength and discover renewed focus.

Kristin has donated countless hours and talent to non-profit organizations, helping them better position themselves through branding and build awareness with

smart design solutions. She is dedicated in helping and empowering all women, especially young women realize their dreams and succeed in their careers.

(In completely re-branding Minnesota Women in Marketing & Communications, Kristin has earned herself MWMC’s Volunteer of the Year 2014-15 Award).

She is an on-going “brand ambassador,” design advocate and huge supporter of Astronaut Abby’s (a.k.a. Abigail Harrison) space and STEM outreach initiatives and her dream to be the first astronaut to land on Mars.

Kristin is incredibly curious about just about everything, is fascinated by the mechanics of bird flight and is very nice to spiders.

View her work on her company site 

Art site

Connect with Kristin on Twitter @GrandCiel and

on About.me