Marketing Director · Houston or remote · Available now
I lead marketing teams, and I still make the work.
18 years building video, email, web, and brand programs. Most recently Marketing Director at Think Bright Marketing, leading the six-person team that ran end-to-end marketing for a national franchise client across 30 markets in 23 states. Before that, seven years and four promotions to AVP of Marketing at a 150,000-member credit union. Strategy in the room, camera in hand when it counts.
Led teams of 6 and 8 · 4 promotions in 7 years · Programs still running after handoff
By the numbers
Selected work
Case studies
Programs I built from scratch and ran end to end. More get added here as new work wraps.
Generator Supercenter video program
No video existed in the program. I scripted, shot, and edited the first round myself to prove it worked, then made the case for headcount. It grew to 100+ assets localized across 40+ markets.
Leadership, systems and people
Rebuilt a team's operating cadence (814 deliverables shipped across seven accounts) and developed five specialists across two organizations into people who could run the work without me.
Email marketing programs
Rebuilt a 130,000+ subscriber program at a 150,000-member credit union (opens 5% to 11.5%), then built a 3.2M-email lifecycle engine for a national franchise, including a recovery sequence for quoted-but-not-closed prospects across 18 markets.
FCCU website, three generations
Carried one credit union's website through three platform generations over seven years, each from a more senior seat. Still live and still personalizing today.
Storm response & rapid mobilization
Replaced a multi-week launch cycle with a same-day playbook: pre-cleared creative, landing pages, and a team ready to move. Proven under a live storm event.
Portfolio
Visual proof of the work
Finished videos, web and design samples, email and print pieces. The receipts behind the case studies above.
VIDEO PRODUCTION
Generator Supercenter Power Up Christmas Emails
Campaign emails for Power Up Christmas Campaign. Four touchpoints to ensure campaign is effective and hitting the desired audience multiple times.
EMAIL CAMPAIGN
Perfect Palapas Marketing Materials
Print Collateral for Home Service Brand.
PRINT COLLATERAL
How I work
Find the gap, build the system, and run it until it runs without me.
Scout
Every team has a gap nobody's covering: leads going cold, channels sitting empty. Most people work around it. I go stand in it.
Build
I don't pitch an idea and wait for a budget. I make the first version myself (shoot it, design it, write it), run it small, and let the results make the case.
Scale
Once it works, I make it work everywhere: approvals, brand standards, local customization, at whatever scale the network needs.
Run
Then I engineer myself out of the daily work. Clear process, automated logic, a team that owns it. Built to run, not to babysit.
About
Oscar Lara
I'm a Houston-based marketing director who came up through the craft. I started as a designer and web developer, picked up a camera along the way, and spent seven years and four promotions at First Community Credit Union growing from web developer to AVP of Marketing, leading a department of eight. Most recently I was Marketing Director at Think Bright Marketing, leading the six-person team behind a national generator franchise's marketing across 30 markets.
I'm a player-coach. I set the standards, run the cadence, and develop the team, and I'm still the one who can storyboard the shoot, cut the edit, or fix the email template when it matters. What I care about is the machine: building programs well enough that they keep running after I hand them off.
Eagle Scout. University of Houston-Downtown, B.B.A. in Marketing.
From the people I led
“He never considered himself too senior to be in the work with you. In high-pressure moments, Oscar was the calm in the room. Not passive, just steady.”
Irving Boykin, Marketing Coordinator, reported to Oscar for nearly three years“The kind of leader who genuinely invests in the people around him. His guidance has had a lasting impact on my career.”
Skyler Hamilton, Email and Social, reported to OscarContact
Hiring a marketing leader who still makes the work?
I'm looking for my next full-time, in-house role: Marketing Director, Head of Marketing, or Brand and Creative Director, Houston-based or remote, with a team to lead and a function to build. If that's the seat you're hiring for, I'd like to hear about it.