Kelly Carnahan helps mission-driven organizations get crystal clear about what they stand for and then communicate it with confidence, clarity, and style. Part strategist, part storyteller, and part organizational therapist, she’s especially skilled at helping clients connect the dots between their mission, messaging, and business decisions.

If a program, service line, or post doesn’t align with core values, Kelly will gently (but firmly) ask: “Does this still make sense?”

With decades of experience in branding, editorial, design, and strategic communications, Kelly is known for transforming complex ideas into clean, cohesive narratives that resonate. Her work spans web, print, digital, and environmental formats, and her designs have been implemented by clients that include Intel, Intuit, Purina, Cigna, and the National FFA Organization. (See her portfolio at KellyCarnahan.com.)

Before co-founding Write Design Group, Kelly led Indiana University Alumni Association’s award-winning alumni marketing team and served as associate publisher of IU Alumni Magazine. Her work has earned national and regional recognition from CASE and UCDA, helping build long-term engagement across higher ed, nonprofit, and public-interest sectors.

She holds a BFA from Marshall University (Go Herd!) and an MA in journalism from Indiana University. While at Marshall, she met longtime collaborator Jim Stowers, who’s been her trusted editor, sounding board, and internal conscience ever since, helping strengthen, structure, and sharpen her creative schemes.

A longtime advocate for clarity and good design, Kelly has also served in volunteer roles with the Advertising Federation of Charleston, WV; Bloomington Area Design Association (BADASS); Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce; and Trinity Episcopal Church.

Kelly lives in Bloomington, Indiana, with her partner, Mark, and a vegetable garden under siege by a deeply committed chipmunk and deer alliance. She has played Scrabble weekly since 2007 with a local crew of artists, gentle vandals, and rabble rousers, and has co-hosted a weekly Sunday Supper Club since 2020.