I was raised on a small family farm in the Pacific Northwest. Growing up I did not have chores. I worked. There seems to be something arbitrary about chores. What my elder sister and I did was not arbitrary. We did it everyday if we wanted to or not. The work ethic I learned has served me well in my life.

I excelled in school. Looking back, I have no idea how I accomplished everything that I did. I competed at the state level successfully in journalism, speech, drama, and other things. I was in many of the school clubs, on the student council, and my senior year, I was a captain on my football team. At the time, it did not seem that overwhelming.

During my junior year in high school, I was selected to visit a graphic design company in order to learn desktop publishing skills that would allow my school to publish the school annual ourselves. I would spend the next two years constantly at their doorstep learning everything that I could about the industry and business in general. Their excellent instruction laid the foundation for what would become my chosen profession.

From there I would go on to earn my Bachelors in Visual Communication, be a successful business owner, and then start all over as I followed the love of my life to Ohio and then New York as she earned her PhD. During all this time, I have remained connected to the graphic arts industry and passionate about the technology that makes it possible. So now you are up to date. This is not the end of my story, just a new starting point.