I've always been committed to telling accurate stories & would accompany them with illustrations to make them more beautiful & easier to understand. When I was growing up in Sandpoint, Idaho -- a gorgeous corner of the globe that I truly feel blessed to have been able to throughly experience -- I'd spend hours writing, researching, drawing & designing, just trying to find the best way to communicate my ideas, passions & stories to the rest of the world.
I may be more grown up now, but my goals haven't changed. In May, I graduated from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, with a degree in journalism graphics. My major, while allowing me to develop an extremely unhealthy obsession with ampersands, also taught me to combine communication with creativity & design. Throughout my four years at Ball State, I learned how to tell stories through visual aspects, rather than just using words.
The opportunities Ball State has given me are endless. I've been on the implementing team for a brand-new tablet publication focused on college-aged students & their weekend activities. I spent a semester designing materials for a curriculum that's now being used in elementary schools to prevent childhood obesity & I even traveled to the London 2012 Olympic games with a team of 40 student journalists to work as a graphics producer for the Chicago Tribune & Tribune companies. I was also able to be the summer 2013 creative intern for Cercone Brown Company, a full-service communications firm based out of Boston, where I enjoyed producing work for multiple clients & exploring the wonderful city my family now calls home.
My last year in Indiana found me immersed in design work. In February 2014, I lived in Chicago for two weeks to once again create Olympic data analysis graphics for the Chicago Tribune. I participated in a program that allowed me to design tablet publications for the News-Press based out of Fort Myers, Fla., while also creating & conceptualizing my own print & tablet magazine called TwentyTwo, which you can view here. I was the first Enterprise Design Editor of Ball State's new Unified Media Lab & the Creative Director of Cardinal Communications, a professional, student-run creative communications firm. I enjoyed these roles because they allowed me to explore both the aspects of journalistic design as well as branding & public relations.
Currently, I am in living in Boston & working at The Boston Globe as the Editorial Design intern. I'm looking forward to these next six months as I learn more about being a professional designer, journalist & storyteller from my extremely talented coworkers as well as beginning to navigate the world of freelance and post-graduate life.
So, please: follow me on my new adventures of life after college: check out my portfolio. Read my blog. And, definitely contact me if you want to work together (or even if you just want to say, "Hey, I think ampersands are pretty neat, too.")