A Little Bit About How I Got Here—
Born in Virginia beside the Atlantic Ocean, and raised in an eclectic mix of Europe, South America and New England, I was a shy girl who became adept at being the new girl.
As the perpetual new girl I learned that after a move, before new friends were found there were my old friends: Books.
Yeah, I was that girl. I read everywhere and anywhere—often I'd read while walking home from school—much to the embarrassment of my brothers who’d walk on the other side of the street.
After art school {with a minor in comparative literature}, my early design years were spent as an in-house designer for a book and calendar publisher. I developed, created, and managed projects from design to the finished product. I worked with big-name licensors like Disney, Pixar, World Wildlife Fund, Harry Potter, and Warner Brothers, and I learned the ins and outs of approvals and deadlines and print runs.
But what I really learned? I learned that what I most wanted to do was work one-on-one with indie authors and small presses, with creatives and artists, to design high-quality books and create website homes for their projects.
I longed to sit down with a writer who had poured 3 years of her life into writing a book and talk to her about her story and how she wanted people to experience her book. I wanted to talk about cover ideas and fonts that would open up her words to the world, discuss focus and direction, voice and image and then sit down and get designing.
I wanted to partner with other creatives and creators to build online worlds that would speak directly to their people and create homes for their ideas, projects, and portfolios.
I wanted to hear stories from other women, and I wanted to help create a platform and space for their stories to be shared, published, viewed, and read. I wanted to be a part of the movement that put to rest the idea that women’s stories were less important than men’s stories.
Today I work primarily as a Book Designer, Illustrator and Squarespace Website Designer and I can honestly say that my shy new girl has been with me on all the winding paths that got me here. Through everything, my constants have remained: Books. Color. Painting. Listening to Stories. Telling Stories.
I believe these constants—these core experiences—serve me well as a Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Art Director. It's one of my greatest delights to grasp the nuance of a story and get to the core of the meaning for each one of my projects.
The World of Design is an amazing place where Stories become images; Experiences become containers and packages; Color brings emotion and clarity; and Words can be rendered to tell a deeper story.
My goal as a designer and illustrator is to help you communicate your idea, translate your vision, share your story—and create a beautiful bridge that connects your work to your truest audience—we all need a hand with this stuff.
