You little rebel. I like you.

At UMass Amherst I joined the BFA program and, of course, majored in Photography. I painted, sculpted, protested and spent beautiful sunny days in the dark room. Between classes I Resident Assisted for 3 years, planning and running fun/educational events for my floor, managing drama and being a confidant. I was elected Student Governor in charge of chatting up the students living in Orchard Hill and voting on their behalf on important university-wide issues—likely concerning food. Then, there was the Sweets Snackbar—the student-run organization in the basement of my dorm that served coffee, cookies and ice cream (as well as other yummy items). I was one of the student-runners and was charged with advertising and marketing duties. I LOVED IT. I made fliers, planned special events and went door-to-door dressed in strange costumes to grab attention. I created promotions and booked bands and created ads for the university newspaper. THIS was my thing.

For 4 summers during college I was Residential Proctor/Intern at PCCASP (Project Contemporary Competitiveness Advanced Studies Program). The 6-week overnight program hosted nearly 500 high-ability 9th, 10th, and 11th grade learners from all over the world. As a proctor in the Journalism & Publishing class and (of course) PCCASP’s Photographer, the kids gave me shooting assignments for their news stories, features, editorials, sports, reviews and columns. It was a tight knit community of staff and students filled with hard work, crazy fun and ended with lots of tears at the end of the summer.

Upon graduating from UMass I followed my dream of becoming a Photographer and was hired at Olan Mills portrait studio. For a few years I photographed babies, families of twenty, pets and the newly engaged. Dealing with wild animals and cranky newborns was not quite what I had in mind, so the dream slowly faded and died.

For the next few years I worked at General Cinemas and quickly became a Manager. These were the “finding myself” years where I disliked selling tickets, cleaning theaters and managing schedules, but LOVED working with the Marketing Director to produce and advertise special events for highly anticipated movie releases like the Star Wars Prequels. We ran costume and trivia contests for the nerds waiting in the building-wrapped line for tickets. I painted Darth Maul and Yoda on the windows of the theater. THIS was my thing.

Opportunity struck when a high school friend called to see if I wanted a job as a Jr. Graphic Designer where she was the Senior. Since I was born to an IT Director and Oracle Developer I figured I could fake-it-til-i-made-it with the digital art tools I was unqualified to use. I learned very quickly to create high-quality, custom presentations for our consultants and marketing collateral for the company. I literally learned on the job with the awesome support and training from my friend/design guru.

Looking for some horizon-broadening experiences, I applied to become a Staff Assistant in the Office of Diversity and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School. The only thing that jumped out of the job description was “maintain event web site”. I had gotten the web development bug at my previous job and was wanting more. After 5 years and a hefty promotion I had produced a plethora (I love “plethora”) of print, digital and web projects.