One 💬 has the ability to 🔓 the 📈 in all of us. This is a place to 🫱🏻🫲🏽 for personalized 1:1 👔 coaching, 💼guidance,✏️ advice & 🧠 consulting all done simply with a 💬 over 🖥️.
“Creativity needs a seat at the adults table. It might be the only job left in the future.”
- David Moon Ki Lee
David Moon Ki Lee is a creative and business visionary known for his transformative role as the Chief Creative Officer at Squarespace. Over the past decade, he has played a pivotal role in Squarespace's journey from a humble dorm room startup to a prominent IPO unicorn.
His remarkable achievements have earned him numerous accolades and industry recognition. David was named Brand Chief Creative Officer of The Year by Ad Age and led his team to be recognized as Ad Age's A-List In-House Agency of the Year. In 2023, his team at Squarespace was honored as the Brand of the Year and became the world's top-ranked in-house agency by the One Club for Creativity. He has been celebrated as a Branded Content Innovator on Adweek's Creative 100 List, setting new standards for storytelling and artistic integrity. Fast Company recognized him as one of the Most Creative People in Business, while Business Insider acknowledged him as one of the Best Designers in Tech. He has also been featured in Gold House's A100 list, honoring Asian Pacific leaders who have made a profound impact on culture and society. David's multicultural DNA as a French Canadian, American, and South Korean is a testament to his diverse perspective and unique lens on how he see’s the world.
David is an accomplished speaker and frequent guest lecturer who has been asked to speak at Harvard Business School, Cornell, Pratt and Columbia University in addition to speaking at industry events such as the Cannes Lions, One Club for Creativity, D&AD, Ciclopes and many more.
Prior to his time at Squarespace, David held key roles at TBWA, Wieden+Kennedy London, AKQA San Francisco while beginning his career at Sid Lee in Montréal. David holds a degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and currently serves on their Board of Trustees helping set the foundation for a creatively led future for the next generation of artists, designers and thinkers.
Experience that sits at the 🎯 between Product, Brand & Entertainment
David is a C-Suite executive with 23 years of expertise and a background that defies conventional boundaries in the world of business and creativity. With an innate ability to seamlessly traverse between product innovation, design thinking, brand strategy and creative storytelling, he is known as a unique visionary at the intersection of these disciplines. David has led Squarespace from a tiny start-up to IPO. He has launched his own start-up that won the best product of the year in SXSW. He has also spent over 15 years on the agency side, living vicariously through the most iconic brands in the world and has been nominated twice and won an Emmy Award for best commercial of the year.
Brand & category experience
Some topics we can have a 💬 about
👔 Executive Coaching
Executive coaching provides personalized 1:1 conversations that will bring support for leaders to enhance their skills, develop self-awareness, and achieve professional growth. With over 23 years of industry knowledge and experience from over a decade as a C-Suite Executive, conversations will focus on leadership, communication, emotional intelligence, decision-making, and time management, helping individuals set and reach specific goals.
🧑🏻🤝🧑🏻 Leadership & Management
Whether you're a seasoned executive or aspiring leader, our tailored conversations can offer invaluable insights, strategies, and advice to enhance your leadership skills and excel in managerial roles. Our conversations can unlock solutions on how to tackle challenges, develop effective management techniques, and foster your growth as a confident and impactful leader in your organization.
🏢 Organization Design
One small organizational change can unlock innovation and productivity. Whether you're a business leader looking to optimize your company's efficiency or undergoing a significant transformation, let’s focus on how to collaborate with you to assess, strategize, and implement organizational changes that align with your goals. Enhance your organization's effectiveness, adaptability, and overall performance through thoughtful design and structural improvements.
🎓 Student Mentoring
Whether you're a student navigating your educational journey or a young professional aspiring to excel in your career, let’s have a conversation that will provide personalized coaching and expert guidance by setting up clear educational and career goals, developing essential skills, and mapping out a path towards your desired future. This is about giving you the toolkit that will empower you to make informed decisions, explore opportunities, and achieve success in your academic and professional career.
Domain Expertise
🧠 Brand Strategy
Want to get a third party view on your brand and your business? Let’s have a conversation that will unearth the authentic DNA of your brand, examining values, aspirations, and unique selling points. Together, we can unlock a brand strategy that defines your brand's essence and behavior. Whether you're a startup crafting a new identity or a well-established brand aiming to refresh your image, this conversation will give you insights and strategic guidance for a unique brand strategy tailored to you.
💭 Creative Direction
Unlock the tips and tools of the trade that has built the most globally recognized in-house creative agency in the world. Let's have a conversation around what it takes to create stand out creative in today’s world. We can have a chat about how to craft a compelling brand narrative that deeply connects with your audience. Gain insights from successful case studies to inspire and elevate your creative vision, with marketing strategies to amplify your message and create distinctive storytelling that sets you apart.
Do you need your own personal design coach by your side? Get guidance on how to make design a first class citizen at your company. Whether you’re a founder of a start-up to a executive at a publicly traded company, let’s start a dialogue that will help you create a cohesive and unique design system by gaining insight into design principles that will allow you to set goals for a captivating brand identity across all platforms.
✏️ Design Direction
📐 Product Strategy
Let's discuss coaching for break through product development success. Gain personalized advice and strategic direction to refine unique offerings that stand out in the market. Get expert insights into market dynamics, consumer needs, and how to find the right product-market fit. Discover untapped opportunities and navigate the evolving world of product innovation, whether you're a startup or an established business seeking differentiation and growth.
🎧 Podcasts to get a sample of the type of conversations we can have
Thriving in an Age of Automation
The world around us keeps changing, and that’s unlikely to slow down any time soon. What does it take to remain relevant in a deindustrialized world increasingly automated age of AI and machines? On this week’s episode, we welcome David Lee, Chief Creative Officer of Squarespace, to hear his journey from designer to leader at one of the most successful tech companies in the US, his thoughts on why creativity is the only job left for humankind, and the increasing importance of working close to decision-makers to have a meaningful impact on business.
Why Creativity Needs a Seat at the Adults Table
Creatives are often seen as the crazy ones, and creativity as a nice-to-have in the context of business. But that’s not going to be enough for businesses and individuals in an age where creativity may be the only job left for humankind. On this week’s episode, we welcome back David Lee, Chief Creative Officer of Squarespace, to hear about the importance of creativity at the adult’s table, effective ways to understand a company’s value proposition and what it truly cares about, and insights on companies placing ads during the Super Bowl.
Listening to Your Inner Voice
David Lee is the CCO of Squarespace. He is thoughtful, self-aware and restless. As you’ll hear, he’s allergic to the status quo. Which makes David and Squarespace a good fit. In many ways, Squarespace have been at the heart of the democratisation of the internet. Unleashing creativity for millions of people who suddenly found they could be the designer of their own web presence. As a species, human beings crave control. With control, we can take care of the bottom two layers of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Without it, everything else that we aspire to and yearn for is hopelessly out of reach with the emphasis on the hopeless. This week’s theme is Listening. And this episode is called. “The Inner Voice”.
How to tell Sexy Stories About Unsexy Brands
Not every company has a whiz-bang product, so how can you make it pop? Squarespace Chief Creative Officer David Lee has done that, winning tons of awards and making campaigns with the likes of Adam Driver, Zendaya, Dolly Parton, Keanu Reeves and John Malkovich (which earned him an Emmy). Here, he offers a unique way for entrepreneurs to think about their brands, and some big questions to ask when you start crafting your new stories.
Squarespace Reel
An overview of award winning creative work from Squarespace. This work has been conceived, written, designed, produced and hand built with care by our internal team over the last decade to become Ad Age’s In-House Agency of the Year.
Ciclopes Festival 2022
The Ciclope Festival is an international conference and award show that celebrates the craft of moving images. The festival is a platform for directors, producers, and other creatives to share a, be inspired, and celebrate the best work. The festival is a gathering of some of the top creative minds in the industry. It provides a chance for the most talented directors, producers, editors, and composers to get inspired, build professional networks, and elevate film craft. The festival also offers a library of over 100 talks by the most recognized directors, producers, and creatives around the globe.
C2 Montreal 2022
C2 Montréal meaningfully connects people and organizations from diverse backgrounds, fields and industries in order to drive development in all its forms. We believe that society is at the heart of business. Which is why we put people’s stories and perspectives at the centre of the conversation. The theme this year is “Innovation Nation” and will be led by the Chief Creative Officer of Squarespace, David Lee.
D&AD Festival 2023
In his talk: Why creativity needs a seat at the adult’s table, held at D&AD Festival in London, Lee delves into the origin story of SquareSpace as a proud NYC brand and the way this is reflected within the design of its headquarters, located in Manhattan’s West Village. Speaking on how every brand touchpoint, no matter how small, offers a glimpse into the company’s narrative and what they actually care about he says, “Our DNA is built on creativity, design and craft. This is in the water that everyone is drinking.”