Tandem Creative LLC is a women-owned agency led by Debbie Butler and Melissa Vivari, built on proven best practices, an elite skill set, and decades of experience delivering smart, creative solutions across government, commercial, and nonprofit sectors.
Our team includes project managers, writers, graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, and creative directors—each one dedicated to helping you solve complex business and branding challenges with clarity, creativity, and calm.
We bring structure to the chaos with a collaborative, strategic process that keeps projects moving, teams aligned, and outcomes on point. Whether you’re responding to an RFP, launching a new brand, or developing content that tells your story, we’ll handle the moving parts with confidence and joy. With deep expertise in the transportation, food & beverage, hospitality, and government industries, we help our clients stand out with style, substance, and results.
Debbie Butler
Creative Director + Co-Founder
Melissa Vivari
Creative Director + Co-Founder
Rave Reviews
Sarah Cody
Chief Marketing & Development Officer
“Melissa developed innovative approaches to deliver industry-leading proposals and presentations. She led her team to become, in my opinion, one of the most influential teams to support the company in securing and retaining airport dining contracts.
Melissa worked tirelessly with her team, always on extremely tight deadlines, and with a positive attitude that helped offset the challenges of the work environment. Melissa will be a strong asset to any organization looking to develop and reach its goals.”
“I have known and worked with Debbie for more than 15 years. In every capacity, Debbie has been proficient, helpful, a team player and a joy to work with. In her most recent role in Proposal Development, Debbie found her stride. She was amazing at creating content that was compelling and creative. She worked extremely well under pressure on crazy deadlines. Her proposals were both creatively driven as well as tedious and Debbie never missed a detail or opportunity for HMSHost to shine.
She vacillated between both areas with ease and expertise. Debbie was a wonder in being able to wrangle her consultants, brands, and her internal team to provide what she needed and do it in a timely manner. I have never seen Debbie without a zest for her job and a smile on her face. I truly looked forward to working with her on every project.”
Jennifer Reynolds
Owner
Renee Tedesco
Vice President, Business Development
“I’ve had the pleasure and opportunity to work with Melissa while I was at HMSHost. I remember when she interviewed, amongst other qualified candidates, to lead the proposal development team.
She stood out. Because she was level headed, soft spoken but had a no nonsense way about her. I knew she was a get-it-done type.
She proved to be that and more. Super organized, great leader, very supportive of her team and always took on an active role in getting the job done – not just a good delegator, she did that – but she worked – hard.”
“[Melissa] always brought deep native intelligence and curiosity to her work, plus a natural ability to master and communicate new concepts, to feature these concepts through focused messaging and rhetoric, and to guide her teams accordingly.
She’s also just a great pleasure to work with. I recommend Melissa unreservedly to any organization whose operations or new business would benefit from sharp, clear, and persuasive communication.”
