Meet Sydnea Lewis

BRAND + WEB STRATEGIST, YOGA TEACHER, ARTIST, AND COLLEGE PROFESSOR

Sydnea Lewis /Sa-Nae LOO-is/ is a multidisciplinary designer, educator, researcher, and creative entrepreneur whose work lives at the intersection of design, mindfulness, and sustainable creative practice. She specializes in brand strategy, digital design, and creative direction informed by wellness and intentionality. Her teaching and scholarship explore how mindfulness can reshape the way creatives learn, teach, and work—helping artists and entrepreneurs build thriving, burnout-resistant careers.

Sydnea is a Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design at the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University, where she teaches courses in Digital Design, Brand Strategy, and Creative Business & Entrepreneurship. At Howard, she has developed interdisciplinary curricula that bridge design thinking with entrepreneurial leadership, encouraging students to approach creativity as both an art and a sustainable practice. She frequently guest lectures on time management, mindfulness, and project clarity for emerging artists, and oversees initiatives that support student success and community engagement.

In 2011, Sydnea founded Creative Obsessions, a brand and web design agency dedicated to helping small businesses and organizations communicate with clarity and impact through strategic, story-driven design. Her work spans identity systems, websites, marketing strategy, and information design. In 2016, she expanded her practice with Bamboo Balance, a yoga and mindfulness platform centered on holistic wellness and community care.

Sydnea’s research is deeply informed by her dual professional worlds—her years of experience as a designer and creative strategist, and her ongoing practice as a yoga and mindfulness teacher. Her scholarship examines burnout in the design industry, mindfulness in art and design education, and how embodied awareness supports sustainable creative work. This integrated perspective shapes her writing, teaching, and her podcast Busyness & Burnout, as well as her academic presentations exploring sustainable creative pedagogy and the intersections of art, wellness, and entrepreneurship..

As a visual artist, Sydnea has recently returned to painting as an act of resistance against the relentless pace of productivity. Her series Chaos + Glitter embraces acrylic pouring and mixed media to explore process, texture, and emotional release—celebrating imperfection as a form of rest.

In every facet of her work—whether designing a brand, leading a classroom, painting in the studio, or guiding a mindfulness practice—Sydnea is committed to creativity with purpose. Her practice invites others to slow down, reconnect with intention, and build lives and careers grounded in alignment rather than exhaustion.