The Visual Artist Behind the Pop World of Chappell Roan
By: Jeff Joiner | June 5, 2025
Ramisha Sattar BA’21 has experienced a whirlwind in her young life. Since graduating from The University of Texas at Dallas, she’s been named creative director for pop music sensation Chappell Roan, and her career has been on a meteoric rise. It doesn’t hurt that the singer-songwriter and Sattar have also become nearly inseparable best friends.
With artistic influence over nearly every aspect of Roan’s look and performances, Sattar’s unique and personable scrapbook design style has found a wide following across the country and even around the world. It’s artistic work that Sattar began nurturing while still a teenager and matured with her time at UT Dallas where she graduated from the University’s arts and technology school in 2021.
“I loved going to UTD because of how kind all the students and faculty were,” Sattar said. “[The School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communications] was really special because it’s small and all the students got a lot of support from the faculty.”
Sattar majored in design and production in the school now known as the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology, which offers arts programs featuring a strong technological approach.
“I learned a lot about art from a more tech outlook,” Sattar said. “I got to learn about coding, user experience, user interface and other things that may have never caught my attention elsewhere.”
Sattar, born in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Pakistani parents, has always loved a DIY crafty take on the arts, especially drawn to scrapbooking and printmaking. Her time at the University inspired her to use technology and software like Photoshop, as well as using motion graphics to work with digital art.
“I have always loved making stuff with my hands because it feels really special, and I love tangible things,” Sattar said. “Learning how to translate that into digital art through technology has been so fun and has allowed me to take that skill to another level. But my first love will always be making art with my hands ― collaging, doodling, bedazzling.”
Sattar got her start as a professional creative while still in high school in North Texas where her family moved to be closer to a South Asian community. When she was 14 or 15, she began creating illustrations for the online teen magazine Rookie, which she said laid the foundation for the rest of her career. It was at the magazine, now discontinued, surrounded by the art of fellow teens that inspired her creativity.
While a student at UTD, Sattar came aboard as the director of design for a startup group creating the astrology app CHANI, where she continues to work on visual strategy for the app’s products. CHANI has since grown to become one of the country’s most popular astrology apps.
Though Sattar has a strong fan following, her reputation as an artist took off in 2022 when she began working with Chappell Roan and soon saw her creative insights evolve in Roan’s visual and artistic projects.
For Sattar, working with Roan covers the gamut from wardrobe and other visual concepts in music videos to album artwork and tour merchandise to the creation of the onstage, animated stage backdrops for Roan’s tour performances. She created the design and packaging for Roan’s hit debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” released in 2023.
Before connecting in person, Roan saw Sattar’s work on Instagram and began following her. The two first became online friends and then began working together.
“We’ve followed each other for years and supported each other’s art virtually,” Sattar said. “I love the internet because you are able to connect with people from all over who have common interests as you.”
Soon the two artists began collaborating on visuals for Roan’s musical world. Sattar’s first assignment was as a wardrobe assistant for Roan’s 2022 “My Kink is Karma” music video. Fast forward a few years, and now the duo shares an Instagram account, @lovekishakisha, where the two talk about their love of art and creativity, pop music and other shared interests.
As Roan’s creative director, Sattar has a huge hand in designing her stage presence for music festival performances. In 2024 Roan, traveling with Sattar, appeared at Coachella, Lollapalooza and the Governors Ball, performing in front of huge, animated backdrops featuring Sattar’s art concepts.
“My favorite moment working together was at the Gov Ball where Chappell came out of an apple dressed like the Statue of Liberty,” Sattar said. “It still gives me chills seeing videos and photos of that day. Getting to do all the visuals for Chappell’s festival run was a huge moment for me.”
Sattar not only traveled with Roan on the music festival circuit, but she was also present with her friend at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2025 Grammy Awards where, at each show, Roan was named best new artist.
“I love seeing the world appreciate her artistry, so watching her win best new artist was something I’ll never forget,” Sattar said.
Sattar believes that she and Roan have connected so well personally and professionally because they have similar backgrounds.
“We are both weird art girls from the Midwest who love crafting, pop music, playing dress-up and just being silly together, so all the work falls into place so naturally,” Sattar said.
At the heart of her creative realm is Sattar’s love of creating worlds through her art. At the recent 2025 Coachella Music Festival, Pinterest partnered with Sattar to create a pop-up space dedicated to making collages. Sattar said it was amazing to be asked to help with the project, especially involving an artistic expression that is so close to her heart.
“They recently launched a new collage feature in their app,” Sattar said. “It was so much fun dreaming up what their space would look like and what it would consist of visually. Getting to see the design files I’ve been staring at on my computer screen come to life is so surreal!”
Sattar continues to work creating the visual world behind Roan’s music, sharing some of the hands-on creative work with Roan herself. But her creative universe continues to expand as her sphere of artistic influence spreads with new clients. Current projects include a line of clothing Sattar is designing for a brand that will be available soon.
“I love to see what all the art fans have made based off my visuals. That has been really cool,” Sattar said. “I love seeing art take on new forms.”