Community Health Work
(and graphics)

While my last employed title was Community Health Worker, I spent much time also marketing the nonprofit I was working for. Completely rebuilding their website from scratch, formatting their monthly newsletter into a tiny newspaper, and creating hundreds of flyers ad graphics for Facebook shares, I often utilized my graphics ad publishing experience.

I was especially proud of the mini comic book insert I created for Yerington Food Pantry. Having lost their building to a collapsed roof, the pantry workers were forced to make do with parking lot food distribution in the senior center parking lot. Working with the volunteers who braved the cold, I saw them as heroes of the community, so I presented them as such.

Promoting an HBO Star / Politician

I spent a few years working as the marketing department for the world famous Dennis Hof. This was certainly an interesting experience! If you don’t already know, Hof owned several legal brothels in northern and southern Nevada. As if that wasn’t crazy enough, he also decided to run for State Assembly.

Unfortunately, Dennis didn’t live long enough to see his victory. He passed away the morning after his last birthday – one month before the election he still won.

The Exciting World of Calculators

Eight years of my life was spent creating user guides, countertop demos, trade show displays, and packaging for a specialty calculator manufacturer. While the products themselves may not have been creatively stimulating, I was lucky to have one of my best mentors there. Charles Nemitz was an amazing teacher when it came to Adobe Illustrator and color theory.

Remember Newspapers?

Back in the day when we anxiously awaited day-old local news in print form, I was a newspaper graphic artist. I am actually old enough to remember copy/paste as something you did with a razor, wax, and a roller.

The work was very fast paced. Starting off as an advertising graphic artist, I worked many years and earned several statewide awards. Eventually, I worked my way into the newsroom, where I was in charge of the overall design of the newspaper.

Sadly, this industry has mostly disappeared. Now there are no newspaper presses left in northern Nevada. While I don’t always miss the deadline stress, and I certainly don’t miss the low pay, I sometimes still have dreams that I’m designing the front page.

Random Acts of Creativity

To close, I’ll just throw in a few random pieces I’ve done for my own entertainment. I’ve been told I can get a little weird when left alone too long!