SKILLS, ABILITIES & CHARACTERISTICS

EDUCATION

CONTACT

WORK EXPERIENCE

DESIGN

Design is fun. Plain and simple.

Creating, branding, working with color, typography and images for the sake of evoking an emotional response from an audience, creating a call to action, that is the design I enjoy. It is the design work that I prefer to create. Eight years of freelance experience in Graphic Design & Illustration, and a few opportunities with my current employer have allowed me to create branding, illustrations and other illustrative vector graphics for small businesses, local musicians, events, even holidays. I have enjoyed designing on a small scale. It's time to augment my opportunities and my portfolio, creating new brands, invitation designs, packaging, illustrations and graphics.

After all, design is fun.

Fun is terribly important to me.

PRE-MEDIA/GRAPHIC PRODUCTION

Shutter clicks, ‘pen-tool-wizardry’ and image adjustments have made many work days fly by for me. Having spent 2.5 years in a Pre-Media environment has sharpened my vision on the screen and while peering through the lens. At present, I operate as a Graphic Production Assistant, handling tasks in the Photo Studio and Pre-Press Department of a leading educational supply company, which is a position with a wide variety of responsibilities. I have taken on photographing various products for a large number of catalogs and the company website, recording and editing video footage for internal training purposes and the company’s YouTube channel, in addition to converting, editing and color correcting images supplied by vendors of the company. Being employed by a company that carries over 80,000 products has challenged my skills in lighting and shooting a wide variety of materials and objects.

Previously, I apprenticed in a similar environment in a nine-month long study of Photoshop editing & manipulation techniques and product photography. I once participated in a seven-day long photo shoot for a major athletic apparel company, styling and photographing over 400 items, with the lead Photographer and I operating two camera stations in the Photo Studio. In this apprentice position, I learned the basics for studio photography, color masking, color correction and various other Photoshop wizardry tactics. Keen vision and great attention to detail are true assets in this field.

SOCIAL SERVICE

People deserve your very best. All people do. We each have our own stories and unique way of seeing the world. Being in the company and service of others, particularly members of the community with disabilities, has been a humbling experience, one that I am grateful for.Though they have been challenging, these experiences have been ripe with rewards for personal development. The various lessons I have learned while being in service to others, have shown me to have compassion for where others exist in life, to have patience with others, and that my personal little human drama need not consume me. It can matter, but it does not need to fill every nook & cranny of my existence. Sometimes I forget these valuable lessons and life reminds me, with a firm yet gentle tap on my shoulder of their importance. The largest thing I took away from these experiences was that I might not know what someone is experiencing, there are a number things I am not going to know, and that is okay. Not knowing is okay. Just because I don’t know something doesn’t mean I can’t show up, be of service and make a difference.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

With seven cumulative years of customer service experience I’ve learned a lot about communicating with people. I have learned to speak with people in a respectful, cooperative manner. More importantly, I’ve learned to actively listen to others, ensuring an engaged and effective conversation takes place. These experiences have also taught me to have openness with others, to think quickly on my feet and to reach resolution, agreement, and most importantly, the ever-elusive clarity.