Brief Bio
Graphic Design Career
I began my graphic design career in 1993 as a part-time intern for a publisher while working towards my graphic communications degree. At that time, graphic design was mostly hands on (manual paste up) and computer work was still a new, yet growing trend. Six months later, I was hired as a full time employee designing advertisements and several years later moved on to a local bath & beauty product manufacturer where I gained priceless knowledge about packaging, package design, flexography printing, as well managing employees and juggling hundreds of projects at one time. It was a great experience.
Although an extremely tough (and frankly frightening) decision, my leaving the corporate world in 2007 brought back the passion I have for graphic design. I love being creative and solving problems and graphic design is all about finding solutions for business needs. I explain more about that here.
Community
Graphic Design Meetup Group
I'm the organizer of the St. Louis Graphic Design Meetup group. As of today, we have over 700 members. The purpose of the group is merely to link designers to each other and have a platform to socialize (many of us work alone), and to provide opportunities to learn and discuss new trends, practices, software and to merely “talk shop”.
SLADS (St. Louis Area Dressage Association)
I occasionally do “pro-bono” work for causes or organizations that I have a vested interest in. SLADS is one of them. They organize dressage shows in the St. Louis area and I design the newsletter for them.
Rise n’ Shine for Ovarian Cancer Awareness
This is a small group of women who have an annual yoga event called “Rise n’ Shine, 108 Sun Salutations for Ovarian Cancer Awareness” which helps raise money for SLOCA (St. Louis Ovarian Cancer Awareness). For the last several years this event has taken place at the end of August at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park of St. Louis. I designed the logo as well as promotional materials for the event.
Personal
I'm a sucker for: quality leather, sparkling rosé and puppies.
I'd rather avoid: fast food; The Muny in July; sociopaths.
I'd rather be: galloping on the back of a horse out in the country.
I'm really good at: color coordinating.
I'm influenced by: colors and patterns found in nature, especially bugs!
I'm fascinated by: brilliantly designed products (like Dyson vacuums, BMW, Chantal tea kettle, Method, iPhone just to name a few...).