My Creative Journey

From a young age I enjoyed expressing myself through drawing. It was no surprise to my family that I decided to pursued my education in the creative field. After graduating from high school I attended a one year Arts Program offered at Saint John Vocational High School taught by Mr. Peter Salmon a well respected Artist and Educator. Through his guidance I was able to develop a portfolio which lead to my acceptance at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design.

There I enrolled in their 3 year Fine Craft Diploma program, majoring in Creative Graphic. It was there that I developed the skills need to combine my love of drawing with computer design skills. This enabled me to land my first job  in an art deparment as a layout artist for the Yellow Pages upon graduation in 1999.

I worked for the Yellow Pages Group for 10 years, until downsizing affected the entire art department in 2009. At the time our first child was only 4, so we decided that this may be a good opportunity to support my family from home as a stay at home mom.

In 2011 while still working from home I decided to take a web design course to expand on my graphic design/artist skill-set. Upon completion of this program, I decided to move into the entrepreneurial sector by starting my own design agency, Big Umbrella Designs.

I worked as a freelance designer for roughly 4 years during which time our second child was born.

As my children grew I began to realize that as much as I enjoyed being home, I wanted to look for part time employment outside the home.

This lead to my employment at iSpire, an IT Management company, working as an assistant to the office manager, while continuing to do small projects for my graphic design business.

While at iSpire I had the opportunity to take a design refresher course offered by a start up design educational start up called CAM Institute of Design.

Through CAM I enhanced my training by adding both 2D animation and 3D modelling to my skillset.  This ultimately led to my current employment with CAM on a part time basis.

Although it has not expanded into the design career I had hoped for with them, it has given me ideas for other career paths I may also enjoy.

I'll continue to look for creative paths and opportunities that allow me to grow and develop into the artist and designer I hope to become.