I was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and spent most of my youth growing up in the beautiful Baltimore County countryside known as horse country.
From an early age, my family and I traveled around the world where I was exposed to places with vastly different cultures. In particular, it was our trips to Spain, Portugal, Austria and Morocco which fueled my fascination with ancient cathedrals, paintings, sculpture, castles, and tombs. These experiences, along with my first art history course in college, would later shape my first series of paintings known as “cave paintings.”
While in middle school, I was accepted into the gifted and talented art program of study which I continued throughout high school. I began competing in art shows, and in 1989, was selected to attend the Maryland Summer Center of the Arts for Gifted and Talented students where I studied painting and drawing. That experience forever changed my life.
After graduating from high school, I attended James Madison University, and was awarded an art scholarship in 1991. I majored in Fine Arts with a concentration in graphic design. I studied the masters of art history, and enjoyed painting, poetry, sociology, film theory & criticism, and law. In 1995, I added a second major of electronic media to my resumé as I thought I wanted to become a sports broadcaster.
Upon graduating from college in 1996, I began working as a Production Assistant and Assistant Director for ESPN. I enjoyed that fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment, but craved getting back into doing what I truly loved which was working as an artist.
In 1998, I returned to my first love of working as an artist when I took a job as a graphic designer in the editorial department for a national, sports business magazine, SportsBusiness Journal (SBJ), a division of American City Business Journals (ACBJ). While in this position, I had a terrific mentor who encouraged me to grow as a designer, and to follow my head and heart with whatever I chose to pursue.
Yearning to work in advertising, I made a lateral move, and began working as a graphic designer in the advertising department at a sister publication, Charlotte Business Journal. From day one, I took ownership of my position and great pride in what we were producing. Shortly after joining the journal, I took the new
state-of-the-art technology I learned at SBJ and introduced it to my new publication. Within a short amount of time we went from cut and paste to a fully electronic publication.
I was committed to growing my career with ACBJ, and in 2006 was promoted to Senior Graphic Designer. I was actively working towards becoming a Production Director under the guidance of the advertising director and a supportive publisher.
In April of 2009, the division of my company was restructured. It was this restructuring which allowed me to become clear about my true calling. I have had the opportunity to look at what I am meant to be doing instead of what everybody told me I should be doing.
Today, I am living my dream of working as a freelance graphic designer and fine artist. I feel I have been given the gift of what few people ever get to do which is to do something I love with integrity, create beauty from thin air, and to follow my heart and my dream.