“I need your creative brain." I love seeing this message pop up from one of my clients. It means there's a problem to solve and the beginning of a fun, creative project with someone I admire - someone with an idea, a passion, or a crazy dream they want to make real - and they want me to be a part of it. They reach out to me not because I am an artist or designer, but because I can see the business and purpose of their idea, and keep this top of mind throughout the creative process. I’ve learned that the best creative solutions come from collective feedback, iteration, time, and critical thinking - concepts that can be loathsome to some.
MY CAREER STORY
My career started during the dot-com boom in the SF Bay Area when I was fortunate to land a job working closely with the incredibly smart leaders and engineers at Autodesk, Inc. and their start-up, Buzzsaw.com. I've held various leadership positions since then, most recently as the creative director for an executive development firm, before launching Free Radical Collective. My responsibilities included building a fresh new brand for the firm along with oversight of the design and production of client program materials for Nike, PayPal, Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Dell, and many more. As a people manager and leader in the firm, I frequently led talks and training webinars across the firm on technology and design subjects and tried to make people laugh as much as possible.
MY EDUCATION
While I’ve always been a “maker” and an artist, my college career started in the sciences. My hometown university, CSU Fresno, offered field study programs that appealed to me because they offered real-life inquiry and most importantly, provided the opportunity to explore. Through these programs I traveled the western US and Mexico studying the anthropology of indigenous people and the environment. My wanderlust then took me to Europe where I traveled through 11 countries until the soles of my shoes were worn and my pockets were empty. With my worldview expanded, I returned home, transferred to CSU, Northridge and focused my study on the arts and technology. Living in Los Angeles gave me the opportunity to fund my education by working as an assistant in the entertainment industry, supporting managers for Bob Dylan, Edie Brickell, and others while working nights at Larrabee Sound studios.
Today, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my husband, two young kids, and two old dogs.