Instructor Bio

I was hired in 2019 to launch the Graphic Arts program here at Southwest Tech. I come from a professional background of both education and industry.

 

I have a BFA in Photography and a MAT in Art Education. I worked for years in NYC as a digital retoucher in a professional photographic print studio. After grad school, I went on to teach Studio and Digital Art in an alternative high school in Manhattan for 4 years. I started my own Etsy-based design business that ran from 2010-2018. I also do side work as a freelance designer, photo retoucher, and educational consultant. 

• Growing up, I had always been good at art, but I became riveted by the way people could be reached when I won a poster contest in Middle School and I saw the power of repetition, recognition, and distribution of a design.
• I fell in love with photography, advertising, and critically analyzing representations in print media when I was a teenager.
• I originally went to college on scholarship for math. I think the part of my brain that enjoyed the challenge involved in mathematics is the same part that is activated when I am faced with a design problem. I love trying out solutions and working things out until it is reduced to its simplest parts.
• I eventually studied photography in college, right on the cusp of the explosion of digital.
• I have been working with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for longer than my students have been alive!
• I love teaching because I enjoy helping people tap into their own creativity and I am constantly learning new ways of doing things, due to both technological advancements and the amazing abilities of my design students.