Portfolio highlight: Sammy Joe Temple, art director
Sammy Joe Temple was part of the first-ever cohort for Shift New York when it launched in 2017. Now a Senior Art Director at Brooklyn-based ad agency Orchard, she has also worked at 72andSunny, FCB New York, and BBDO New York, pitching and making work for clients like Sleep Number (the NFL's official sleep and wellness partner), AT&T, and Intuit Credit Karma. In a full-circle moment, Sammy also served as a juror for the New Blood Awards in 2023.
See highlights of her work below, with behind-the-scenes insights straight from Sammy.
Ndaki-ña
These images depict a three-parter project that was the highlight of 2025 for me: the photoshoot, book compilation, and subsequent opening night for Ndaki-ña, the first all-Indigenous jewelry exhibition during New York City Jewelry Week. I co-curated the showcase, creative directed the shoot, and designed the book. This showcase highlighted the diverse, intricate artistry long familiar to those in the Indigenous jewelry space, as well as the need for continued cultural sovereignty over the practiced techniques sacred to each artist’s heritage.
All of the work that went into the photoshoots, the book design, and of course the creation of each of the pieces of jewelry itself was immense. Every single one of the pieces shot, styled, and on display held a vignette of the larger, and very much living, cultural history of every one of the 20 designers whose origins span across 2 continents. When applying creative direction and styling instincts to the shoot, as well as designing the photo book, I especially wanted to make sure that those vignettes came through, and I’m so glad they did.
Karma You Can Count On
This work for our Intuit Credit Karma, Karma You Can Count On campaign was born from a fun task: how do we talk about something as complex as financial wellness services while conveying the benefit simply? As is often the answer in financial creative work, metaphor proved to be the route most fruitful for us to take.
We explored the most cinematic ways to tell three stories about people on distinct financial journeys via illustrative metaphor and landed on someone restricted in a cumbersome suit, someone on a journey with a seemingly dead end, and someone navigating an endless maze of options. All end up reaching open-ended solutions at the end of their films.
We shot them in both Madrid and Lanzarote, borrowing heavily from the expansive nature and brutal architecture of these locations. This was my first time working with our talented CGI partners, art directing and guiding the process. The result was a trio of highly effective films, accompanied by a slew of :15 second spots produced simultaneously. These shorter spots explored a similar metaphor storytelling technique, but reflected more of the types of everyday lives our target lived versus the fantastical, filmic stories in our hero spots. The result was a well-rounded campaign!
Sleep Number Sleep Next Level
When bringing to life these spots for Sleep Number’s Sleep Next Level campaign, we knew we needed to show just how impactful effective sleep can be. Placing amazingly talented and friendly rivals Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase at the center of the spots was the perfect move to help ground our big stats about the sleep/performance relationship.
Production followed the pace of our athlete stars. Ryan ran with the camera alongside the players to capture the action we needed. While staying in the specific art directional space of our brand and market, we got to make editing and aesthetic choices in line with our NFL partners. As a result we created a high-sport, competitive, and professional set of films that captured the camaraderie of our stars, the efficacy of the smart beds, and the power of the athletes who sleep on them.