If I’m being honest, I never thought I would be a Graphic Designer - hence the concentration in Sustainable Applications. I spent three years in the Environmental Biology program, only realize I hated it. I did some exploring and found the Design building on campus and I loved it. I quickly changed my major and have loved being Graphic Designer, ever since. I was even nominated and chosen by the Faculty and Staff in the Art & Design Department to be the 2019-2020 Student of Excellence.
I graduated at the onset of COVID, which made finding a job rather difficult. I threw tons of applications out, got quite a few interviews and ultimately decided to accept the position as the Assistant Director of Athletic Marketing - Creative Design at Utah Valley University. After about a year, a realized Utah was not the place for me, I loved all the state had to offer, but I missed family. I moved back to Minnesota after accepting a job as the Content Marketing Specialist at Enlightened Equipment. While I loved what I did there, I wanted to work remotely and (lucky for me) my boss had recently been hired at a fully remote company and they were looking for a Graphic Designer, so she took me with her - which led me to Fountayn (formerly Datatrak).
I loved what I did at Fountayn, I was the sole designer working with an international design firm on a huge, company-wide rebrand. A dream for an in-house designer, I was able to help create a brand new identity and establish the branding standards. I created daily social media, sales materials, email blasts, and so much other content for the entire company across every department. Being that it was a Clinical Trials SaaS company, there was a ton of documentation that needed to be rebranded and detailed due to audits. (I’m talking 300+). I was in charge of getting all of those rebranded, kept in order, old and new copies filed away, distributed to the proper parties and organized in a way that everyone in the company could find exactly what they needed. However, layoffs began about a month after I started. I never felt fully ‘secure’ in my position, but the two-person marketing team was reassured that we were not going anywhere. Fast forward to May 19th, we were let go due to budget cuts.
Now that I’m back home, I love spending time with my family and friends. I spend a lot of time with my niece and nephew, baking bread (I fell into the trend during COVID of baking different breads and it’s still something I love to do). My Fiance and I bought a house, almost a year ago, so we’ve been renovating, painting and updating our first home. We’re getting married in August, and planning a wedding is no small feat! We’re definitely ready for the day to be here.
But more often than not, I find myself wandering through a bookstore, coffee shop, greenhouse, or a pet store looking for new toys for my cats Tuna and Beans.
I love a good belly laugh, kind people, some good coffee, and stand-up comedy.
Reach out.
If you would like to see my resumé, contact my references or you just simply have questions, please send me an email.
Qualifications
Software
Illustrator
Photoshop
InDesign
After Effects
LightRoom
Monday & Asana
Microsoft Office
BigCommerce
Mailchimp
Training
PRINT - Chicago, IL | 2019
Adobe Digital Summit | 2020
American Heart Association - You’re The Cure Day on the Hill
Washington D.C. | Summer 2019
Live Campaigns
Freelance Project Contract Writing & Project Completion
UW Madison Course - Social Media Marketing
Interpersonal
Communicative
Respectful & Professional
Organized
Quick Learner & Motivated
Openness
Conscientious & Reliable
Dependable & Disciplined
See how I arrive at my final designs through my process.
Sketches, drafts, versions and research.
Inspiration
A pioneer in the field of Biomimicry and a co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute, Janine Benyus is inspiring others, including myself, to find answers to everyday human issues with solutions found in nature. She isn’t formally educated as a designer, but is an author, biologist, innovation consultant, and a self-proclaimed “nature-nerd”. Biomimicry has interested me since I was young, I just didn’t understand that it was an option for a career path. She has inspired me to look deeper, look in unusual places for answers unknown. Why wouldn’t we look for solutions in nature? It’s the most successful, evolutionary system to have ever existed.
“Learning about the natural world is one thing. Learning from the natural world—that’s the switch. That’s the profound switch.”
An Architect, Designer, Inventor and is a Sony Corporation Career Development Professor and Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab. She founded and directs the Mediated Matter Research Group at MIT and also coined and pioneered the field of Material Ecology. She and her group create products and buildings that are engineered by, and with nature. She has won multiple awards, such as the “Revolutionary Mind” by SEED Magazine, ICON’s “Top Most Influential Designers and Architects to Shape our Future”, and Esquire’s “Best and Brightest”. Neri’s works are deeply based and influenced by natural processes and designs, which has inspired me to look deeper; find solutions for problems that aren’t easily come across.
“We need to treat the planet as a system, and up until now, we've operated more as if the world were made of separate parts - this part is environment, this part is economy. But everything is connected.”