Alrighty, so lets take a stroll down memory lane! I grew up in Dexter Michigan, a little town just outside of Ann Arbor. It was a small farming community that had one main street and a sheriff that knew everybody's name. Dexter was a great town to grow up in! There is a small drive-in A&W that my family and I would go to after I finished t-ball games and a Dairy Queen where you would often bump into a neighbor or friend.
Dexter was just as equally as great of a town to go to school in. I enjoyed art class the most as an elementary school student. My art teacher (Mrs. Price) was the inspiration for much of the projects that I did. She would put me into galleries all over Ann Arbor and my work even won a couple of awards! When I got into middle school and high school art wasn't really that emphasized so I started focusing on science instead. Since both my parents are scientists (my dad is a research scientist for U of M and my mom was a cytogeneticists at U of M as well) I started focusing my attentions on that. My passion for art wasn't rekindled until high school. My art teacher saw so much promise in me that she would have myself and a few other gifted students do independent projects. Although I loved art I didn't really know what I could do with it outside of fine art. I decided to follow my passion and become a veterinarian. I went to Albion College and decided to let my artwork be a hobby.
One semester into college I realized that science wasn't for me. I would study incessantly and couldn't manage to keep a decent GPA. I decided to try something else. The following semester I took all psychology and art classes. I received A's without really trying so I realized I was in the right area. Most of my time was spent in the art building working on my drawings and paintings. When I started looking into art as a serious career I discovered that you could do much more than working in a gallery. I thought that design would be a great fit for me because it was such a diverse career with lots of options. I quickly realized that Albion wasn't going to be a good college for design and decided to go to the College for Creative Studies instead. It was the best decision I made for sure! The college really pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of. All of the students were talented and inspiring. Some of my happiest memories is driving around Detroit with my friends late at night taking pictures of the city or working late at night on projects with my friend Ken and Adam. We both wanted to see each other succeed and pushed the limits of our projects.
When I graduated I quickly realized that Detroit was great but not a place to start a career. Much of the design work produced is for auto manufactures and I was afraid that it would make my job very unstable. I decided to start looking in other cities. I found a job at Go Media in Cleveland and decided to try something new. Before moving to Cleveland I didn't know a single person in the town besides my boss. I was scared to be starting something new but started making friends and building a life here. Soon after moving to Cleveland I decided to get a cat to have a companion. His name is Caslon, after one of my favorite fonts. He's very spunky and always gets into trouble but he's so adorable I could never be made at him long.
After just living in Cleveland for a matter of months I decided to get more involved in the design community and joined the board of AIGA Cleveland as membership director. It's great because I get to play a part in the events that happen in the design community in Cleveland! Very exciting. AIGA has opened a lot of doors for me professionally but also personally. I was introduced to my boyfriend Jasen through a mutual friend. He's also a designer that had recently lost his job at American Greetings. He's very passionate and talented. Soon after we started dating everything seemed to be falling into place but a few months later I lost my job at Go Media. It was a huge blow emotionally and financially to me. Fortunately it has given me a chance to really focus my energies on my freelance work and help priorities what I want in life. Currently I'm doing freelance projects which as been really rewarding, I've had a chance to work with some awesome people.
Well that brings us up to today. I assure you that there is more to come but this is sort of just an introduction so you know who I am and why I'm a designer. Get ready kids!
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