My Experience

Portfolio Center in Atlanta was the real beginning of my design career. I had played in design in high school and college, but attending PC was a level above. It is now Miami Ad School @Portfolio Center, and it was a fantastic way to learn real world design from people working at the top levels of design in Atlanta and beyond. In this two year program, students work as if in a real agency, in teams and alone, learning the fundamentals of design, from hand drawing type to prototype manufacturing. It is all covered.

From PC, I worked in Atlanta at Coka-Cola and Rich’s Department Store, and in a year, I was ready for something bigger.

I moved to Saint Louis to work at Zipatoni. This promotional agency was a dream to work for. They were creative, supportive and fun. The work was exciting and I was allowed to push my design. I worked at S.K.U.zzio the packaging department before moving over to the promotional agency.

A few years later, I was headed to Los Angeles, CA to have an adventure. There I worked for a world famous fashion designer, Bijan, in his packaging/promotional design group. As a small staff of three, we created promotional packaging for his fragrances, Bijan and Michael Jordan Fragrance. Working on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills was a big adventure and I am happy I took the plunge.

A move back to the south was inevitable, and as my husband (a copywriter at the time) got a position in Columbia, SC, that was where we headed. While there, I created Wowhouse Design, my small boutique design house where I helped many small clients reach potential markets.

After several years and a child later, we embarked on our next big adventure. We started a niche family magazine distributing 40,000 copies monthly to Columbia and surrounding areas through pick up locations and mail. This endeavor was a huge undertaking for a writer and designer who were also selling ads, managing staff, and raising a child. It was fantastic and exhausting. I am proud of what we created but when it was time for our second child, we felt the best move for the magazine was to sell it to Ganett Publishing (Greenville News.)

As the children grew, I kept designing. I had small business clients and became one myself, as I began to pursue my love of oil painting. Through the years, I kept learning, and growing and keeping up with the trends, all while working on my fine art skills.

A few years later we found ourselves in Apex, NC. Since I have been here, I have grown my art business, taught K-5 art, and become a Marketing Associate at Arts North Carolina.

Working at Arts NC has been a wonderful opportunity for me to learn about the nonprofit arts sector in North Carolina. I have been part of a small team (just three of us total - two of us are part time.) I have grown our license plate sales (an initiative that provides additional funding for our work) and have grown our presence in the state. Our advocate network has grown, as ARTS Day attendance has grown each year. Reaching more arts lovers and advocates, with more diversity in age, race, gender, sexual orientation, location has been a goal for us, and each year, our audience has reflected that. Accessibility has also become an important part of our work, and we are taking steps to make our information and conference more accessible. We have done some of this work on our own, but we are also gaining insight from ABLR, a group that is training us to find more ways to make our work accessible.

This work has made me wiser, as all of my experiences have, and I am ready to share and grow into the future.