The Long

My love for design started as a kid, growing up in rural Ohio, creating recycling posters for 4-H or getting on my Apple (the kind with the green screen) and making banners and cards for all occasions. At age 11, my mom’s workplace purchased a digital camera. It took a 3.5 floppy disk and in hindsight—was incredibly SLOW, but it changed my life. I was doing Photoshop before I even knew what that was—taking photos of myself, friends, my dog and adding text to make cards, posters, books, etc. I built a Harry Potter website at age 13 with a sorting hat quiz, didn’t know how to automate it, got so much traffic that I had to shut the site down. I had homework to do!

In high school my art instructor told me, “You should be a graphic designer.”

After that it was just a matter of finding the right design program. I ended up at a small liberal arts school, Flagler College in St. Augustine. Skip forward four years later to me landing my dream job at an Atlanta ad agency.

Within five years I had grown into the role of Digital Art Director, gaining expertise in project management, overseeing a small design team, and providing art direction for print, motion, and web design.

In 2014 my daughter was born and I started a new chapter as a remote designer and small business owner working with ad agencies, in-house brand divisions and various organizations and businesses.

As a freelancer I’ve became adept at project management, timeline creation, and cost estimation as well as the confidence it takes to be bold and hustle!