About me

"Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one."

- Stella Adler

Where the line of normalcy has been shaped, repeatedly remolded, and remains contradistinctive in the eyes of artists, (as everything is relative), therein exists the freedom that only an artist can create. Whether its though the use of colour, space, texture, lighting , that line of "normalcy" is drawn and it is to that individual understanding of where it is placed that my egomania and creativity become useful tools that are implicative of my personal style and are now guiding me towards the career I've always longed for.

For those of us that choose art, it is not a career or a hobby, but a passion and a way of life. It is a never-ending pathway from which it is impossible to know, see and discover everything out there. For myself, it would be fair to say that art has been an integral part of my life, whether it was winning awards in my youth or doing commissioned work on an individual basis, I have begun to realise art is my anchor and as such remaining connected to the art community, a world of talent and imagination, is where I am most content and thereby productive. This realization, although only relatively new, is becoming an ever fixed mark on the horizon of my future and I can honestly say that I am quite dismayed not to have accepted this sooner.

In the past, I have worked mainly within retail management merely because I had calculated the best way to drive career success was by continually building upon natural and intrapersonal skills in an obvious direction vs. a calculated and happy future. Thus, my need to set-up and create a highly organised system within each environment I found myself in, while continuing to develop my intrapersonal skills, both with regards to developing my customer service and team success made it seem as though retail management was the correct direction as it came naturally. However, I found that while I was successful it was not fulfilling and I was constantly being drawn more and more to art. This accumulation of desire to change my career coupled with the unfortunate timing of a family illness, only increased my drive to change. Since then, I have begun a home study web development/e-commerce course to top up my knowledge of graphic design, taken on privately commissioned work, and completed an internship as a 'Production and Web Assistant' at LeBook London in Hoxton Square.

It was this internship where I was faced with the reality of where my career should be headed, as although I'm extremely creative and have the ability to design bespoke brochures, flyers, web page layouts, and emails, my true strength lies in my ability to troubleshoot, work to deadlines, and maintaining organization and effective time-keeping. Whilst working with the team at LeBook, I was responsible for updating and maintain web content for La Creative, constantly liasing with clients, ensuring online material was current, innovative and not only reflected LeBook brand values, but also increased company awareness through the use of social media. In addition to this, I instigated using 90% client editorial, campaign, and portfolio work instead of using mainly qualitative research. The knock on effect of this essentially made LeBook more attractive to new customers, thereby increasing possible sale leads for the marketing team.

The combination of this recent experience and my ability to effectively manage my time and work load has driven me to change my career to a more creative one. I have proven to both myself and to my latest line manager that I can manage a website, effectively use social media to encourage sales via SEO, train new interns, maintain a professional relationships with current and future clients, utilize my natural creativity to produce and oversee designs for both printed and online materials, refer to and analyze current trends with regards for how to move the business forward, all while maintaining a positive attitude and I hope to use this role to improve and expand my knowledge and connectivity to the art community- a community that possesses the core belief that no matter where you live or whatever your background, you can meet with like minded people to not only interact with, but discuss views, exchange ideas, learn new things, discover new artists, and see live bands and innovative films/performances. A community that seems anchored to my soul and to my future. Afterall, art is not a career choice, it is a life choice, my life choice.

I am available to begin asap and am looking for a role where I can build upon my skill set and gain more creative experience.

Skills

Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, dreamweaver- intermediate, Word, Excel, Powerpoint- Advance, Processing, CSS, html, flash, AutoCAD- beginner

Sector Experience

LeBook- web and production assistant: web content management, social media management, data entry, qualitative research, photo editing, producing weekly international newsletters for LeBook London and LeBook Berlin, Alist- flyer and poster design, Gloople- web layout and artwork, Cheeckybeach.com- photo editing, web design and layout, Wilthshire Music centre- graphic design, Quidos- junior artworker/studio co-ordinator

Awards

Central Saint Martins- Foundation degree (merit), The American School in Switzerland- high school diploma (B+), currently studying CIW Master Web course to further knowledge of java

Clients

Alist, Cheeckybeach.com, Gloople, Lebook, Quidos, Wilthshire Music centre