It’s always been about communication.
When I was eight years old I learned the ASL (American Sign Language) alphabet from a guest in our home who was deaf. This stayed with me (I used it, just the alphabet) and I took additional signing classes in high school and thought about audiology and working at Gallaudet College.
I fell in love with live sound production quite awhile later, and set up sound for everything from weddings and church services to music festivals and bands. That progressed into the design of audio and then audio/video/networking systems for install in schools, stadiums, conference centers. For a brief time I owned a systems design firm.
I realized in the late 90′s that sound wasn’t going to stay in a room or the telephone – it was going to be transported – and I needed to know how that worked. I went back to school and got a degree in Telecommunications Administration, and used that knowledge in a position at an international internet-to-phone start-up and later a global telecom technology company that was wrestling with the leapfrog third world nations were making – over wired phone systems – to mobile.
When the dot com/technology bubble burst in 2001, along with pretty much everything else, I returned to the creative. I picked up my camera again; it was like meeting an old friend. In those doldrums, I was able to listen to my inner artist, and soon enough, images & design came forward. It’s been a part of my work ever since.
But. I realized in late 2008 that design and images were not going to stay on the page or on television – they were going to travel in real time – and I needed my design work to be a part of that. So again I returned to school, this time at Portland State University, and earned certificates in Digital Marketing Strategy and Interactive Media Production.
All of this I bring to my work with you: knowledge of the inter-workings of the Internet & telecommunications – the backbone of new media; knowledge of ADA Accessibility standards for the web; an eye for visuals, design and media-as-communication; experience in birthing a brand in this digital age; experience in producing interactive elements in a website; search optimisation & digital strategy practices for your website or campaign.
Grace Studio is an outlet of all this drive & creativity & technical knowledge; I bring it to you with a grateful heart.