Meet Your Instructors
Real working creatives. Real-world experience. Zero dusty textbooks.
Colleen Finn
Founder/Instructor
For more than two decades as a designer, illustrator, and educator, Colleen has spent her career helping creatives rediscover what makes them light up inside. As a design instructor and department co-chair at The Creative Circus, she had a front-row seat to some of the most talented minds in advertising and design finding their voices.
Later, through her coaching practice The Moody Tiger, she began working with seasoned professionals who felt burned out, stuck, or disconnected from the joy that once fueled their creativity.
That work is what inspired Colleen to create The Blanket Fort Academy — a natural next step in helping people level up their skills while reconnecting with the optimism, curiosity, and creative spark they had before it all became tied to a paycheck.
Gentry Akens
Creative Director/Instructor
Gentry is an award-winning designer in the world of entertainment design — a truly multi-dimensional creative executive and entrepreneur with over 45 years of experience in immersive, interactive family entertainment across a wide range of media and merchandising brands. His talents have been utilized by major corporations, including WALT DISNEY WORLD, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ORLANDO, THE DISNEY CHANNEL, NICKELODEON, HASBRO INC., MATTEL TOYS, SONY PICTURES, HANNA-BARBERA STUDIOS, and many others.
Specializing in production design for motion pictures, television, theater, national commercials, animation, toy design, story development, and live entertainment, his masterful visionary skills create magic and marvel the world over.
Gentry’s prolific talent also led him Off-Broadway, where he designed sets for the highly successful musical comedy DISENCHANTED!. He has designed for numerous regional theater productions, each requesting his creative hand. His career also includes a notable tenure at Hasbro as Vice President & Head of Creative Development, where he oversaw conceptual design and production for new themed attractions at The Walt Disney Company worldwide.
From quick sketch renderings to conceptual thinking, his “out of the box” visions have laid the groundwork for environments and experiences that inspire audiences across the globe.
Blake Tannery
Creative Director/Instructor
Blake is a brand strategist, designer and founder of Bravo Charlie Tango, where he helps companies figure out who they are and how to show it. Over 25 years, he's guided creative for brands like Coca-Cola, IBM, FedEx, and Chick-fil-A. His work has been recognized by the One Show, Communication Arts, Print, and the National ADDYs. Blake has taught at The Creative Circus and continues to judge industry competitions when asked.
Richard Nenoff
Sr Designer/Instructor
Richard is a designer and educator who has spent over 15 years exploring how type, layout, and storytelling work together to shape meaning. He holds degrees in Psychology and Graphic Communication, and completed advanced portfolio studies at The Creative Circus in Atlanta, where he later returned to teach Typography I & II.
As Lead Designer for Site Selection Magazine, Richard specializes in publication design and thoughtful, detail-driven visual communication. But teaching has always been where his heart lives. He’s happiest in those moments when a student is struggling with something — and then suddenly gets it. Watching someone light up with confidence never gets old.
Marie-Chantal Milette
Global Color Expert/Instructor
Growing up, Marie-Chantal wanted to name the colours in paint stores; today she is one of the few colour experts in the world. Marie-Chantal has a unique design background. Not only did she graduate in graphic design and advertising from world-class school The Creative Circus, she also completed advanced colour psychology training with none other than Leatrice Eiseman, Director of the Pantone® Color Institute and a world leader in colour psychology and trend prediction.
This experience, which makes her one of the few colour and branding experts in Canada, has allowed her to make the most of her talent in the context of many successful branding operations and to win the Best Sales Environment Award at the Western Imprint Canada Show for her client S&S Activewear. Marie-Chantal also develops custom colour education programs for world-leading companies such as Formica and Teknion.
Marie-Chantal shares her passion and teaches designers how to take their understanding of colour to the next level.
Neisha Tweed-Bell
Creative Director/Instructor
Neisha is an award-winning creative director and strategist with more than 20 years driving creative transformation for global brands and Fortune 50 businesses. A former leader at Meta and Publicis, she built billion-billion-dollar practices and designed culture-shaping programs that raised the standard for creative excellence, innovation, and inclusion.
Now as founder of Next Level Up, Neisha helps executives and teams elevate their creative systems by infusing cultural intelligence, AI, and creative energy — unlocking sharper ideas, stronger collaboration, and measurable business impact.
A sought-after speaker and educator, she has delivered more than 300 keynotes and trainings worldwide, from Cannes Lions to corporate boardrooms, and brings expertise in social media, cultural storytelling, and AI-powered creativity to professionals and entrepreneurs alike.
She currently lives in Atlanta with her family, where she enjoys experimenting with custom GPTs, tasting whiskeys across the city, and doing her best to keep up with Minecraft.
