Michelle Nguyen

How This True-crime Fanatic Kills It In The Branding World.

- Janet Stilson

Crime is a passion for Michelle Nguyen. The crimes that other people commit, that is. “Earlier this year, I actually went to a true-crime convention. It was the best thing ever,” she said.

Growing up in San Jose, Calif., Nguyen toyed with forensic art, but she went down a more traditional art-nerd trail instead, ending up in the agency biz. “A lot of Asian parents would rather have their children be doctors or lawyers,” she said. “But luckily, my sister ended up going to med school.”

Nguyen’s worked her way up the food chain from an initial graphic designer post. A few years ago, she was the in-house creative director at Brit + Co. She then helped launch the agency Scout Lab. After a year and a half there, she created Salty Studios, a creative operation and influencer-marketing agency in San Francisco that she co-founded about a year ago with director of creative production Tiffany Tran.