In late 2023, I partnered with T. Mari Gallery, a small Chicago gallery owned by local artist Tina Marie Rucker. Drawing on my experience at galleries and museums, I sought a flexible role where I could support a small creative business while maintaining my full-time job in tech.

Over the course of the fall, I helped Tina build a strategy for deepening community engagement and growing her patron base — executing across events, client relationships, and partnerships.

On the events side, I planned and executed three community events, including helping launch the gallery's first-ever patrons' gala. The cornerstone was Art & Coffee with Audrey — a recurring morning series where I wrote and facilitated activities connecting pieces in the show to Chicago architectural landmarks patrons passed every day. The goal was to make the art sticky: familiar, personal, and worth collecting.

For client development, I helped manage and deepen relationships across a portfolio of 25 existing clients — using social media outreach, handwritten notes, and intentional post-event follow-ups. Targeted cold outreach on social media brought new faces through the door and contributed to crowded openings. The result was a growing, intergenerational collector base with varying familiarity with art collecting.

To expand the gallery's visibility beyond its four walls, I also brokered partnerships with two local small businesses, creating new channels to introduce Tina's work to neighboring communities.