People Behind the Product: Designing Pinterest’s Return to the Desert

Pinterest is headed back to the desert for our third year of inspiration, creativity, and empowerment. In the months leading up to Coachella, our teams are hard at work, collaborating on how we go bigger and bolder for our users. Go behind the scenes and discover how the Pinterest team brings it all to life.

Vanessa Rupp, Integrated Marketing Lead

This year will be my second year leading the Coachella campaign. That means everything from writing the strategy and brief, working with teams to develop our channel plans, collaborating with our creative team to produce the work, getting everything out the door on time, and measuring its success! As a few people have said, it’s like “conducting the symphony.” It’s so fun working with many different types of teams and bringing all the work together in a seamless way. 

I feel truly lucky that I’m getting to work on Coachella again. So much of my work as a marketer lives in the digital world; it’s refreshing and rewarding to experience something that was born out of a strategy six months earlier!

Aly Lund, Sr. Creative Producer, Marketing

I lead creative development for Pinterest’s 2026 Coachella sponsorship. This is my second year back in the role, and I’m excited to help bring our presence at the festival to life.

I partner with our internal creative team to keep the process moving smoothly, from briefing teams on the marketing objectives to presenting that vision to our Coachella stakeholders. From there, I manage day-to-day development of the design and copy across our spatial experience and campaign touchpoints. I also collaborate with marketing partners to plan and produce our onsite content capture, so we can share the experience broadly through press and recap content.

My favorite part is being on the ground, meeting attendees in the space and hearing firsthand what they love about Pinterest.

Kelsey Lemons, Experiential Programming Manager

I served as the Programming Lead for our 2025 Coachella activation and am returning as the Programming Lead for 2026! I work at the intersection of various teams to connect the dots and deliver a wonderful attendee experience.  

This means partnering across teams like Marketing, House of Creative, Editorial, Comms and Social to turn the creative brief into something that’s tangible, exciting, and screams Pinterest. It also means integrating festival trends, influencers, talent, and partner collaborations into a cohesive on and off platform experience.  

My favorite part was seeing how much joy the experience brought to attendees and then spotting our makeup looks and accessories out in the wild all over the festival grounds.

Laurel Stier, Global Head of Editorial Content

For Coachella, we inspire Pinterest users in their planning journeys. They want to know what the vibe is going to be this year, and they’re looking for that inspo and shoppable content to bring their own vision to life. The Editorial team identifies trends we predict for this year's festival, create boards that inspire users' looks and partner with brands and Coachella talent on activations to drive press and social buzz. Last year, we worked with Kpop group ENHYPEN, unveiling their Pinterest profile, which became the ultimate destination for fans and Pinterest users in the lead up to the festival.  

Coachella is such a cross collaborative effort, and I love working with our teams to bring it all together. My favorite part is being on the ground taking photos, and meeting people who planned their outfits on Pinterest!

Aja Edwards, Integrated Marketing Manager

That's me, on the left!

I’m on the Influencer Marketing team, where I focus on amplifying Pinterest’s presence in moments where culture and inspiration meet, like Coachella. My mission is to leverage our influencer partners to introduce new audiences to the possibilities Pinterest offers. For our Coachella activation, I translated the overarching brand strategy into an influencer-first approach: helping people use Pinterest’s Coachella trends to plan their festival looks and experience our activation, whether at the festival or from home. 

My favorite part? Watching the magic unfold, when the content is electric, collaboration thrives, and you can feel the buzz around Pinterest building in every moment.

Ainsley Romero, Designer  

This year will be my second Coachella with the team, helping bring Pinterest to life through everything from defining the look and feel of the campaign to designing the physical space and Pinterest-branded ephemera. What my job on the Coachella campaign looks like:

I work with a copywriter and art director to respond to our creative brief and shape a campaign story. This helps define how we want to show up as a brand, including our message and the overall look and feel of the experience. I help envision the space through sketches and mood boards and design across custom typography, illustration, spatial and digital design, and overall branding.

Pinterest means so many different things to the users who love it. My favorite part is creating something that feels like a true embodiment of the inspiration and positivity that drives people to our platform.

Learn more about Pinterest’s presence at Coachella 2026 on the Pinterest Newsroom.