Mile High United Way Creative Services
Denver, Colorado
During my 13 years of employment with Mile High United Way I held the position of sole, in-house designer, supporting the creative needs for a staff of 100 individuals and countless volunteers and donors. Creating for a $32 million dollar organization provided me with a wide variety of opportunities, these include; strategic planning, storytelling and writing, unique collateral design (brochures, direct mail, invitations, posters, newsletters, annual reports, etc.), photography, advertising, website design and electronic communication (CRMs Kintera and Blackbaud), and event collateral for as many as 43 events each year. As you can imagine the target audience for this organization is quite diverse, therefore, each project was approached with clear outcome objectives to support budget-conscious solutions. I also served as the brand marshal. General skills employed: Fully-versed in Adobe CS6 design programs, HTML, budget management, relationship building, project management, efficiency, inventive quick-thinking, complex problem solving, decision-making, and organization... to name a few.
Shortland Publishing - The Wright Group Publishing
Denver, Colorado - Auckland, New Zealand - Seattle, Washington
Books are my personal addiction. I count five years of design practice in the book publishing arena functioning as the Denver-based Art Director for Shortland and as a designer with the Seattle-based Wright Group. Our mission was to developed bilingual, whole-language reading program materials for the U.S. education market. The exciting aspects of this position were: working with illustrators and authors across the globe, developing each book’s direction and illustration within the whole-language structure, learning some Spanish as our audience learned English, and directing/styling photography. I also created the marketing materials and catalogs, supported the maintenance of the IT system and had the opportunity to travel and promote our product. At the Denver office I supervised the four individuals who made up the graphic and production staff.
Leaman/Rodale Publications
Wheat Ridge, Colorado
Magazine publishing and marketing were the focus of my four years at Leman. Assignments included: illustration, page design, catalog and book design, and newsletters. The added benefit was learning quilt design and fond appreciation for the fiber arts community. This position also provided the opportunity to refine my photo styling and direction skills.
Other
’Round and about
Beyond my experience in the graphic design field I am an oil painter and lover of all things “art”. Endlessly curious, I capture new and useful information every day. I hold an Associates Degree in design with a masters in experience. I enjoy the privilege of assisting a few local organizations with freelance, specifically The Denver School of the Arts (Dance department) and The Denver Scholarship Foundation. My life experience has benefited from: being a great mom (or having a wonderful daughter), living abroad and working in Africa where I taught reading and writing to women in Lingala and developed visual teaching aids.