I studied digital art at Southern Oregon University and now I'm a graphic designer with a marketing agency called Tinuiti
I'm still pretty early in my career but for me even getting a job in my field a couple months out of college was huge. I started as a junior designer and got promoted up to midlevel after 3 months and I'm on a track that will move me up further within a few years which is pretty exciting
OSA taught me early on how to take constructive critique on my work, collaborative skills, built my network of creative people, and gave me lifelong friends. I also built a strong understanding of the elements of art and principles of design along with the foundations on top of which most of my technical and professional skills are built.
Oakland is the epicenter of so much culture in ways that I think most people outside our city don't realize. I'm proud to call someplace with such deep roots in the arts and in activism my home. Our problems are mainly due to the broken systems around us, not the people that make up our communities.
Working together with my friends in The Cove was such a special time for me. We didn't always get a lot done but being able to work right next to some of my best friends and closest collaborators in that setting isn't something to take for granted. I could just turn my laptop around and get some really insightful feedback on my work from 4 other people who I trust to really get the vision and challenge me on aspects of it. I'm pretty sure I spent more time in that tiny, dark room than anywhere else on campus and I wouldn't change a thing.
I can't pick just one. I have to give top credit to Ms. Cregge, Ms. Duffy, Mr. B, Mr. Hemmerich, and Ms. Devlin from Digital Media for creating a space for me to learn and grow both through the curriculum they built and through the projects and opportunities they gave me to foster the skills I was developing. I can't imagine the person I'd be without DM. Ms. Weiss's freshman art history class also deserves recognition for teaching me critical art analysis and giving context to the art world I'd be immersed in. Mr. Travisano is a teacher I'd kind of consider family on a certain level for the way he saw and interacted with me and my sister. I feel like aside from being a passionate and engaging english teacher I really appreciated the opportunities I got to do design work for his shows with the theater department. Ms. Kuzmeski's mock trial class was so good I did it twice and the skills I learned with her around public speaking and building fact-based arguments even for things I didn't agree with are so valuable to me on a weekly basis. I have to mention Mr. Kemper and Ms. Kindblad for just being great teachers and really positive people in my life at the time. I don't use what I learned in their science classes very frequently but I enjoyed my time with both of them. Lastly, Mr. Oz (hi Mr. Oz!) even though I never had a class with him, just the support he gave to me and my friends and his interest in the stuff we were doing was really cool and meant a lot to all of us.
