2023 Featured Artist: Carla Mattioli

Carla was the winner of our 2023 Pride Festival Logo Contest. Her rendition of our festival theme, “Pride by the Tide,” will be prominently featured on our marketing materials for this year’s festival. Congratulations, Carla!

Carla is a design and marketing professional with a passion for social justice, advocating for reproductive freedom and LGBTQIA+ rights. She is currently the Marketing Director for Harford Bank. Previously, she worked as the Director of Marketing & Social Media for a private PK-8th grade school for 15 years. During her time at the school, she witnessed how some students struggled to fit in. That experience led her to start Free to Be, a social group for LGBTQIA+ teens in Harford County. Free to Be offers a safe place for queer kids to socialize, gather, and just have fun without fear of judgment or exclusion. Launching Free to Be has been Carla’s proudest professional achievement in her 30-year career.

Carla also runs IM Design, her freelance business where she has produced award-winning work for her clients. In addition, Carla serves on the board for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford and Cecil Counties and is active in the community as a member of the NAACP of Harford County, the Bel Air Downtown Alliance Promotions Committee, and supporter of UCBPride. Originally from Philadelphia, she now calls Bel Air her home where she, her husband, and two children have lived for more than 20 years.