I grew up in rural Ohio about an hour from Clevland, next to my Grandfather’s farm before moving to the Tampa Bay Area during High School. This is when I discovered my artistic passions and skills, while also learning how to play guitar. Exploring this during high school I learned how to use programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as Autodesk Maya for a brief time. Wanting to take this further I applied and was accepted to Ringling College of Art + Design who have one of the best Graphic Design programs in the U.S.
During college, I worked as a freelance graphic designer and photographer for many clients including; the Sarasota African American Coalition, Nesland Athletics, Connect Student Ministries, and Manatee Memorial Hospital where I also worked part-time as a patient transporter.
In the summer between my Junior and Senior year of college, I interned for ten weeks as a Junior Graphic Designer at S-One Holdings, a company that managed smaller subsidiaries such as Lexjet. At the end of my internship, I was asked to stay on as a Junior Graphic Designer and worked in-office and remotely as a part of their marketing team while I completed my degree. After Graduating, I left S-One to look for a more full-time position. During this period I continued freelancing and briefly did a stint for a few months creating marketing graphic concepts for Sign Zoo in Sarasota.
At the beginning of 2020, I worked full-time as a Graphic Artist at the State College of Florida as a member of the communications and marketing team. During the Covid 19 outbreak, I continued to perform my duties while working remotely for a period of six months before returning full-time to the office. While there I worked as a collaborative team member to help create the graphics of student recruitment campaigns, refreshed old marketing materials for various college departments, and helped tell the ongoing story of the institution.
In 2023, wanting to take a new step in my career I applied for a position as a Graphics and Web Designer for the 26 West Entrepreneurship Center, a new department at State College of Florida with a focus on developing entrepreneurs in the Bradenton/Sarasota Area. While there I have worked in an agency setting doing work for local entrepreneurs ranging from graphic design, social media graphics, and web design. I have also worked on creating graphics and campaigns specifically for events held at the center.
In my spare time, I still do freelance design and photography work and record music under the artist name Chasing The Storm.