well, i am sure that sounded exciting...
i grew up in the hippie era, hippie artist beach chick. no selfies back then and little did i know what the future would hold... i was imprinted by an era that i had the fortune to grow up in...
a cultural renaissance, freedom...new horizons...there were no goals other than being an artist...
never even knew what a designer was...well except in relation to clothes...
then, early on, my inspiring art instructor noticed some skills i had no clue i had....
i innately could define color in the smallest increments of change, inside my head was a pantone matching system, yet didn't have a clue...
and then the shapes, i saw things differently...patterns...
seems i had a gift....then she sent me on to another pilot program where they too seemed to think i had a gift....i still didn't get it...
never a good student, yet these people said i was exceptional...huh??
in the midst i developed art shows...worked on civic projects at the request of the state and the city i lived in...band t-shirts and album covers (my initial goal)...and posters...lots of posters... earned some leadership accolades... all before i was 18... still wearing my bell bottoms and midriffs...with a touch of cool platforms and minis...and a hint of professional garb..via a blazer, red of course...
i had been earning a living as a freelancer and didn't even know it...and what was a freelancer anyway??..
here i was this small person...i just wanted to earn money at what i loved to do... the birth of an entrepreneur....all just part of a natural progression...
little did i know what the future would hold... the things i would experience by being in the right place at the right time.... which also taught me to trust my gut...that feeling...
in my hippie days i fell in love with life, that world was all about truth, love, peace...nature...and creative people....a new consciousness...yet in the midst of it all this designer brain had a knack for business...trends and being a visionary...the art was just a seed...and it turns out i had much more fun championing the skills of others....
my biggest claim to fame was being on the team that designed the weather channel brand...here i was this 5 foot 2 inch round face female that looked like she was 12...why on earth did they tap me to do the graphics...i sat in on board meetings watching the brilliance..in a corner..seeing a new enterprise come into being...better than an MBA...one day a few years later i asked the CEO, what the hell was he thinking asking me to be part of the team...he said he recognized talent and passion, but more importantly they had the business acumen....they needed someone who could see into the future...and he felt i was the right person in his gut....i was small, but I had it...
no focus groups back then, at least I never knew of it, I drew, they liked...he was a genius... with a big heart...he never limited his employees sick leave...traumatic illness...your job would be there when you got better....he modeled a leadership/innovator role I admire to this day...and strive to pay it forward...
yup...i am small... i still get it...
