Profile

Overview

Skilled, Experienced, and Versatile

I have been employed in the industry since 1992. I have been self employed since May of 2000 freelancing in the graphic and web industry.

My skills are hard-earned from real world situations where I alone had to develop both technical and creative solutions.

Capable of Working Remotely

I live in North Carolina and have worked with clients locally and from around the country on a remote basis (Florida, Colorado, Alabama, Arizona, and New York).

Learner and Teacher

I love to learn and I have taught myself many of the skills I know including Photoshop (and other applications) as well as all my internet skills (HTML, PHP, MySQL, etc.).

I love to teach others what I have learned. I am empowered by empowering people. I have enjoyed teaching in different situations including two teaching assistant roles while at SUNY-Purchase, a number of Continuing Education courses at AB-Tech in Asheville, NC, and other various situations such as one-day seminars and one-hour classes at CityMac in Asheville.

Team Player

I have played various organized team sports for over two decades combined. From my experience, I appreciate competition and I love working in a team environment.

Background

I have a background in fine arts, earning my degree from SUNY-Purchase in 1997. From that background, I moved into graphics as a means of earning a living.

After a few years of working in the graphic design field, I wanted to transition into web design. It seemed a natural evolution, but I learned it was an entirely different arena.

There were many new things to learn. I taught myself how to use HTML and Javascript. With a few freelance projects I knew that I was in the right world for me. So, I decided to start working for myself in 2000.

Since then, I’ve worked on many projects in graphic design, web design, and web development. I have also provided dedicated hosting service to my clients for over 20 years.

I never imagined I would find my way from fine arts through graphic design and all the way to web development — but that’s what happened. From that, I have found myself sometimes fulfilling several job roles for clients.

Web Technologies

HTML & CSS

I have been using HTML since 1999 and CSS since 2001. I have applied these technologies to web sites and interfaces extensively.

Javascript, jQuery, Ajax, JSON

I have been utilizing the functionality and interactivity of Javascript in websites since 2000. Years later, jQuery, Ajax, and JSON were very easy to pick up building on that experience.

PHP & MySQL

In 2001, I started teaching myself PHP and MySQL. I took on a very ambitious project of developing a content management system (CMS) for a client (which was used later for other clients). It was a huge undertaking covering several years, but I learned the foundation of PHP and MySQL from doing it. It was an extreme approach and very difficult, but the skills I learned were hard earned. I have utilized PHP and MySQL over a broad scope of websites and web applications.

Regular Expressions

When I delved into regular expressions, I didn’t really know how difficult they would be to learn, but the power I can leverage with them was welll worth it. I use them routinely with ease in many places and I can construct complex and usable regular expressions when needed.

Apache, Linux, bash, .htaccess

I have provided web hosting for my clients for 18 years on dedicated servers — all my knowledge of these technologies comes from maintaining my own web server.

Education

• T. C. Roberson High School
  • In addition to the regular curriculum, I studied art and drafting.
  • I Graduated in 1985.
• University of North Carolina at Asheville
  • A humanities focused university where I was enrolled in the fine arts program.
  • I attended 1985-1989 and 1991.
• State University of New York – Purchase
  • A highly regarded art conservatory school where I received my B.F.A.
  • I Graduated in 1997.

Employment

• Everett Studios – White Plains, NY (1997-1998).
  • Photo enhancement and retouching
  • Image preparation for an array of print devices
• Rapid River Literary Magazine – Asheville, NC (1998-1999)
  • Ad and cover design layout
  • Publication layout
  • Notable Contribution: When I began working with Rapid River, the magazine had just started and was very small and struggling. Through my suggestions and experience, the magazine evolved from a “homemade” literary magazine into a viable art publication. I helped to add a stronger visual scope to the magazine which attracted more advertisers. The publisher, Dennis Ray, has commented that I gave the magazine the foothold it needed to grow into a respected local arts, music, and literature magazine – and it is still being published today.
• Mountain Xpress – Asheville, NC (1999-2000)
  • Ad and cover design.
• Self-Employment – Asheville, NC (2000-present)
  • Graphic design
  • Web design
  • Web development and programming
  • Web hosting and web server management