As a native of the Pacific Northwest, I grew up in Everett, WA. I was an honor student, very active in sports, and captain of the swim team.
I spent my senior year of high school living in Finland very close to the Arctic Circle on the Swedish border. While there I not only had a wonderful host family, but also the amazing opportunity to travel to Russia twice, visit Lapland and Helsinki, and go skiing in Italy. I spoke Finnish quite well and even studied Swedish. We rode our bicycles across the one-mile wide frozen river in 35 degree below zero weather with no sunlight during the winter. Yes, that is true! We even played outdoor ice hockey in p.e.
I moved to Tacoma, WA to attend University of Puget Sound where I obtained my BA degree in Foreign Language / International Affairs with an Economics emphasis and a minor in Psychology. I had scholarship funds and worked in the Student Union Building Cafeteria to help me to help cover expenses.
I enjoyed the area, stayed, got married and have a house that is now 102 years old.
My husband, Keith, and I have 4 cats (Kiki, Bandit, Tanker, and Izzy) that keep us company and busy with their antics. We also have land in the forest where we love to spend time enjoying the great outdoors. No electricty, no running water (other than the river), but lots of lanterns and candles, stars, and wildlife galore.
I was fortunate to go back to school and in December 2008 completed an intensive 15-month Graphic Technologies program at Clover Park Technical College (CPTC) to earn an Associates of Applied Technology (AAT) degree.
During my final quarter at CPTC I interned 20+ hours per week in the Graphic Design Department at the Business Examiner Newspaper. Talk about baptism by fire! It was a challenging and rewarding experience.
I am pursuing further education with night classes and webinars. I have taken Elements of Design and Introduction & Intermediate HTML and CSS at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle. I attend many of the CreativeTechs webinars covering InDesign, Photoshop and Dreamweaver. I also enjoyed a drawing class at Pierce College and a photography class at Tacoma Community College.
My creative and technical skills are enhanced by my 10+ years of experience providing unsurpassed customer service and administrative services. I possess excellent interpersonal abilities and am a skilled active listener. I excel in team collaboration and solution brainstorming and my non-judgmental approach allows me to build trusting relationships.
I understand the importance of branding and corporate identity in the creation of collateral pieces and can successfully visualize and translate ideas from thumbnails into concrete design. I have the ability to be creative and imaginative one moment and analytical and rigorous the next moment.
Being open to and appreciative of constructive criticism allows me to quickly learn and apply new ideas and techniques. My work ethic is strong and my sense of commitment ensures I put in the time and effort required to accomplish the objective. Possessing a can-do attitude, I am ready, willing, and able to exceed any goals.
I enjoy being active in the community. I was Organizer of the Tacoma Job Club, a member of Community HealthCare's Marketing Advisory Council and Social Media Committee, and have volunteered through Metro Parks. I am an active participant of the Gig Harbor Web Design group and the South Sound Adobe Users Group and also enjoy my Book Club and Movie-Book Club.
I continue to pursue freelance graphic design and am working on a business endeavor with my newly formed company, DesignBubble. Stay tuned for www.DesignBubble.biz.
Please contact me with any questions or comments. I'd love to start a conversation.
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