Itwas a high school teacher who first inspired me. Even though I took her elective drawing class as the least of three evils (cooking, sewing, or drawing), Ms. Weber detected potential, and encouraged me to pursue an education in graphic design.

With that vote of confidence, I attended and graduated from Trenton State College (now called The College of New Jersey) with the rare Bachelor of Arts Degree in Advertising Design. I say rare because those were the days when the typical Bachelor of Arts degree was the more upscale “Fine Arts.” As Ad Design majors, we created mechanicals with a cyan pencil and a t-square, enlarged or reduced artwork using the “Lazy Lucy,” and copy-fit text with some complicated mathematical formula and a prayer. Then, we would burn metal plates, run our design job on a 2-color press, clean the press, and finish the bindery. The experience was invaluable in demonstrating how our design affected every aspect of the process, especially the cost, through to the sample we held in our hands. Priceless!

In the summer of 1985 in a bulging-at-the-seams Nissan Sentra, I moved to Vero Beach, Florida in search of my future. I was thankful to land steady freelance work with a small, full-service advertising agency, Ad-Venture Inc., where I gained experience designing logos and corporate identity packages, full color brochures, catalogs, newspaper ads, and signage. I learned to satisfy a spectrum of design needs on budget, and meet deadlines at all personal costs. My work was recognized year after year at the Florida Addy Awards.

Then I met the love of my life when I performed as the spokesperson on his television commercial. Everything was going my way. I was planning a wedding. It was the right time for me to take that freelance experience into my new home office. It was also time to purchase my first computer with graphics software to ride the wave of the rapidly changing times. Had I only known…

For the next ten years, with three additions to our family, I continued to grow a thriving business and reputation in the area. Punctuating my client list were the prestigious John’s Island Real Estate Company, large gift citrus operations Kennedy Groves and Lambeth Groves, the elite Saint Edward’s School, and Indian River Memorial Hospital, all of whom I served for five years or more. Besides these and other recurrent clients, I fulfilled the marketing needs of our family-owned Automatic Water Conditioning and Purification.

With our move to Colorado in 1999, we had a new goal in mind: home schooling. All of the energy I had always put into my career was to be focused on educating our children. I continued to serve existing clients and even some new ones on a limited basis throughout the ensuing years. I developed the logo and corporate identity for the Broomfield Chamber of Commerce (Broomfield, CO); product catalogs, brochures, and magazine ads for Source Products Group (Broomfield, CO); grapefruit shipping cartons for Premier Citrus Packers (Vero Beach, FL); and a full spectrum of marketing materials for Clean & Brite Laundry Centers (Boulder, CO). For more than four years (2001-2005), I produced the quarterly journal, Young Exceptional Children, for Sopris West Educational Services (Longmont, CO). I also designed their Functional Assessment of Academic Behavior (FAAB), A Road Map for Facilitating Collaborative Teams, and Spellography: A Student Road Map to Better Spelling, Teachers’ Resource Guide, Preliminary Edition.

More recently, I completed To God Alone Be Glory: Celebrating 200 Years, a 166-page full color, hard bound commemorative book with dust jacket to usher in the bicentennial celebration of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pa. Then I created all of the marketing and promotional materials for the event, including the full-color die-cut invitation, magazine ads, church bulletin inserts, and posters. I also served the maximum two consecutive terms on the Board of Education and Publication for the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, ending in 2010.

Well, kids grow up and set their sights on college. But “old dogs” learn new tricks, too. Thanks to marketing expert John Arnold and the team at Aveta Marketing, Longmont, CO, I was trained in all aspects of web marketing and establishing a web presence for small to mid-size businesses and solopreneurs, including:

• Web Site Design
• Search Engine Optimization
• Web Analytics
• Online Advertising
• E-mail Marketing
• Social Media Marketing

At this new phase in my life, I’m excited about collaborating with clients to create the entire spectrum of print advertising and web design and marketing. I look forward to fresh opportunities to be inspired through new creative endeavors, and the satisfaction of participating in the success of those I serve.