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co-founder + COO

Crystal McKenna Green.

Copy editor turned presentation studio VP turned co-founder + COO. At Ruby + Citrine I lead design and production execution and keep the back of house humming — process, finance, and the small decisions that hold a studio together.

Two decades inside publishing, presentation, and production. I've spent that time building teams, systems, and decks that hold up under pressure — and I'm still the one editing the captions on the way out the door.

Crystal McKenna Green

New episodes weekly

Meet her at Faceted Thinking

The podcast she co-hosts with Crystal — strategy, design, and the conversations behind the rooms that move.

01 — How I got here

From the copy desk to running the floor.

Crystal
Crystal and Baby
Crystal in a cafe

2006 — 2011

Copy editor at a publishing house

Crystal started at LRP Publications in Florida, copyediting monthly newsletters under AP style. She built training programs and InDesign user guides for a team of forty-five editors — the first time she realized she liked teaching the system as much as working inside it.

2011 — 2014

Freelance editor + senior editor at Infinitely Big

She moved to North Carolina, hung her own shingle as Green Leaf Editing, and joined Infinitely Big as senior editor and project manager. That's where she started project managing software dev and video — and where she first got her hands on PowerPoint.

2014 — 2019

VP of Presentation Services

Crystal ran a $2.25M presentation studio at Infinitely Big — on-site graphics ops, video-style decks, animation, hyperlinked navigation, and the freelance bench of designers, producers, and proofreaders that made all of it possible.

2019 — 2020

Founded The Powerful Point

She went solo for a beat. Templates, custom decks, animation, social content, on-site production — all under her own name. The model proved out and became Ruby + Citrine a year later.

2020 — today

Co-founded Ruby + Citrine

Crystal co-founded the studio with Alex as COO. She leads design and production execution and runs the back of house — process, finance, hiring, and the small operational decisions that hold a studio together. Ruby + Citrine has grown 30%+ year over year since 2021, and she's still proofreading every deliverable on the way out the door.

Education — BFA, Graphic Design, School of Visual Arts, New York City (2010).

02 — How I Guide the Work

Four ways I shape the work.

Content direction

Making sure the story holds before anything gets designed. Structure, flow, and clarity come first so the work has something real to stand on.

Motion + detail

Using animation and transitions with purpose. Just enough movement to support the message and keep things engaging, never distracting from it.

Design leadership

Setting the visual bar and guiding the work to meet it. From early concepts to final polish, making sure everything feels intentional and aligned.

Editorial eye

Nothing leaves half-finished. Every slide, every layout, every detail gets a second look so the final product feels considered and complete.

03 — Rooms I've helped move

A few of the brands along
the way.

Pharma, biotech, financial services, CPG — programs where the schedule, the budget, and the reviewer all had to line up.

  • 01

    Pfizer

  • 02

    Bayer

  • 03

    Johnson & Johnson

  • 04

    Nestlé

  • 05

    MiltonCat

  • 06

    Carfax

Plus dozens more across managed-markets, sales kickoff, and long-form training programs.

04 — Outside the studio

When I'm off the keyboard.

  • 01

    Mother to two.

  • 02

    Plant person. The kind with a watering schedule.

  • 03

    Will drive two hours for a date with IKEA.

  • 04

    Always in the middle of a good book — usually two.