07/23/2026
A little luck, a dash of talent, and a lot of hard work.
I grew up not particularly enjoying school. As a teenager, I was much more interested in skating, designing, and hustling T-shirts and skateboard decks, dreaming of being sponsored and opening my own shop someday.
At 14, I won a logo design contest for a new snowboarding company. That was probably when the design bug first bit me.
My first real "paid" job was as a courtesy clerk at a grocery store at 15.
Then I worked at a video store, back when VHS tapes still had to be rewound.
From there, I joined a small-town newspaper in the circulation department.
Eventually, I moved into advertising as a photo scanner, despite having no previous computer experience.
I learned everything on the job.
After the advertising director saw a cover illustration I had drawn entirely by hand, I was given an opportunity to become a graphic artist.
That experience eventually led me to a design agency, where I started as a junior designer and worked my way up to senior designer and web developer.
That was probably the job where I learned the most.
When I decided to leave and go out on my own, the principal of the agency was so upset that I was told I would never make it.
From there, I built my own design and photography studio; Maverick Designs; later on, I worked as a freelance designer for AJA Video Systems as a senior designer, and later moved to Telestream as Creative Art Director, overseeing creative work across print, web, UI/UX, app dev, environmental graphics, tradeshows, and more.
I eventually returned to my own studio, took an unexpected turn into healthcare construction as a project engineer, and today I work at PACS, combining photography, video, design, travel, and storytelling.
The path was never straight, and very little of it was planned.
Every job taught me something: how to serve and work with people, meet deadlines, solve problems, become super organized, manage projects, adapt, and keep going.
There was certainly some luck along the way. There were also people who saw something in me and gave me an opportunity. But there was a lot of perseverance and hard work, too.
Now, nearly 30 years into a creative career, I can look back at that moment and say this:
I did make it on my own.
