Bio:
I was born on October 1st, 1978 in Baltimore MD. I was raised in the suburbs, near Sykesville. I remained there until I was 17 and I went to College. I graduated Cum Laude from the Bachelor of Fine Arts/Graphic Design program at Shepherd College in Shepherdstown WV. Okay. Now that's done…let's get down to the nitty gritty.

What I did with my Summer Vacation:
When I was in School I took my first real design job for a company called Intrepid Technologies. I was a Web Design intern...but not for long. Within a few dinner meetings I was on the fast track to creative freedom, and before long I was given the informal title of "Interim Creative Director." Within a few months I mounted a campaign to invigorate the company's somewhat stodgy corporate identity. This consisted of writing and designing advertising for newspapers, magazines, billboards, and new media. It also included revamping the company's graphic standard guidelines to adjust color use, and a drastic overhaul of the company's own web site as well as their user portal and newsletter.

The campaign was a huge success. Internet Service Subscription rates went up, web hosting subscriptions went up, and we were getting real attention from the business community. Then, not six months to the day after I had begun my campaign to revitalize the company's marketing, the owners sold us to another ISP from Pittsburgh. The Result? I was out of a job. A company isn't going to keep the old "Interim Creative Director" around when they already have one in place. I stayed on for 2 months or so to help ease the transition and finish up the web design projects we had taken on. Then it was on to the next adventure.

Jon Walker Graphic Design:
Jon Walker was an adjunct faculty member at Shepherd College. He was honestly the best teacher I ever had. He was patient, and supportive, and he allowed us to indulge in our petty, if not momentary, obsessions with obscure design principles. I was honored when he asked me to join his small firm, as his partner, because of my web design skills and my creative flair.

While with Jon Walker Graphic Design I added web site and new media services to the company, as well as adding capacity to handle more and larger print design projects, through my skills in design for both Print and The Web. I also expanded the firm's client base by working with clients over the internet, allowing us to take on accounts on the West Coast, and even as far away as Singapore. This effectively doubled the capabilities of the firm, and in turn, drastically increased revenue. Our clients included: MCI, NAGHSR, NCOA, Merck, AOL, Lucent Technologies, The Hydropower Reform Coalition, The Solution LLC, National Public Radio, Nutshell, Meetings Etc. , and TalentSpin.com.

Alas, my efforts were not enough to save the struggling firm, and after a year and a half Jon Walker decided to leave the company in favor of full time employment. I personally can't blame him. He has a growing family and a mortgage. Self employment is hard, and unstable.

LeftUpstairs Studios:
As the sole remaining partner in Jon Walker Graphic Design, I decided to change the name. After all, Jon Walker wasn't here anymore. As LeftUpstairs Studios I maintained accounts from Jon Walker Graphic Design, as well as gaining my own small, but very loyal crop of clients.

For a time I was the 'Official Designer" for a group of self-publishing authors, focusing a large piece of my work on them exclusively. This work taught me a valuable lesson, as it is different to work with a client who considers the end product to be theirs...while I consider the form in which it is presented to be mine. It's a very interesting problem. Is a book theirs because they wrote it, or is it mine, because I designed it? Without my work theirs is just a collection of words. If it is to remain theirs, why don't they just set the whole thing in Courier and wrap it in brown paper and sell it like that? Also – What is more important? Filling a whole in the market, or the author's vision, or honestly portraying the content of the book?

Now that I am a few years removed from the process, I think I can solidly put myself in the "Honest Portrayal" camp.

Paramount Mortgage & Points Beyond
In March of 2003 I packed up my stuff and drove 1400 miles to Colleyville, TX, and started a job as the Marketing Director of a small mortgage brokerage in Fort Worth. Within a fairly short amount of time it became obvious that what this company really needed was someone to run their IT stuff, and I ended up doing it by default. It also became obvious that although the principals of the company knew that they needed someone to take over the marketing of the company, that they weren't ready (and still aren't) to relinquish that control.

So, for the first time in my life, instead of having extra responsibility and latitude given to me after a few good ideas, I find myself in a position where responsibilities and latitude have been taken away consistently, and where I am being punished for having ideas that fall outside of the mainstream.

That brings us to points beyond...or where do I go from here, which is hopefully why you are reading this epic of a bio.

Where a lot of people my age and with my experience might decide to try their hand at freelancing again, I have decided that I do not know enough of the design world or the business world to make a serious go at self-employment. The next time I start a company, I want it to be a well planned, well-funded, well organized business, with partners and employees and equipment and a real office, and I don't know enough to put something like that together right now.

So, I am looking for a place where I can learn about being a designer, and a business person. I am looking for a place that rewards creativity, where they understand that creativity is the business of all businesses, not just "creative" businesses, and design doesn't mean making things pretty, but making things better.

The End.