I have worked as a contractor with the Nike Global Brand Imaging group for 3 years, as an image producer. My work specialized in “On Model” photography. The product photography showing models using or wearing apparel.
There are many variables that need to be worked out to correctly shoot each piece of Nike apparel sold on their retail site. Starting with head to toe looks, you need an entire outfit for each “Hero” apparel item: top, bottoms, footwear, socks and accessories. Model coordination was also critical to each “Hero” piece. We specialized in casting models who look authentic for the categories like running, basketball, tennis, training or authentic to the look for the apparel.
The NBA Jersey launch was a project that I worked closely with the category at Nike to execute the “on body” imagery. I coordinated the direction and the needs to the photo studio and image team for each complete look. The NBA team liked the final imagery and could measure direct sales increases with the styles that had “on body” imagery.
In the fall of 2007, I took a position working with the basketball marketing team at the North American headquarters of Adidas. I worked with Creative Director Eric Vellozzi, managing day to day needs for the National Basketball Association and Basketball marketing team. Our team hired 2 designers and 2 junior designers. We also worked with an outside agency, Fiction, to provide campaigns for all areas of basketball marketing, including the partnership with NBA. Our team provided Adidas branding for NBA Allstar Weekend, NBA Playoffs, NBA Semi-Finals, NBA Finals as well as support for athlete specific campaigns.
As a project manager I had to be flexible and accommodating, and not afraid to negotiate for our team and their needs. While working at Adidas I was chosen to be a part of a leadership training program in Germany. The director and I brought back the program and presented it to our US counterparts. Working at Adidas was another dream that I was able to accomplish, working with great people on fun projects was an amazing 2.5 years.
Evosus Software is a local company that has developed software for the Pool & Spa industry: retail point of sale, inventory, employee management, pool service and water testing integration. The position was newly created when I was hired, with the main goal of developing a “User Conference.” A large portion of the software requires training and ongoing coordination with software clients. The conference was developed to help the “in person” training needs and presentation of new updates of the software.
The User Conference was developed to be a 3 day meeting event, that takes place in September. I coordinated event needs with the Vancouver Hilton, developing catering menus, a complete graphic package, event schedules and development of the content for each of the training sessions.
Other areas I helped to manage and coordinate were trade shows, corporate travel for the sales team and campaign development for new products and sales materials.
As the Studio Manager at LaCrosse Footwear, I was able to work with a great team of designers and visionaries. The largest portion of my job was production sourcing and internal coordination between the creative team and the marketing team.
The Creative Director, Haven Anderson, oversaw branding needs for LaCrosse Footwear and Danner. I worked closely with Haven and several designers to produce trade show booths, show materials, ad campaigns for both brands, seasonal catalogs, product photography, packaging updates, and set up an internal website for marketing materials to be archived and shared with our retail partners. Our design team created new corporate branding for Danner, LaCrosse Footwear and LFI (LaCrosse Footwear Inc.).
This position brought great opportunities to meet and work with many great vendors. Creating budgets, schedules for production needs and really digging into the retail atmosphere and customer experience was extremely satisfying. I also had the chance to work with some talented people at LaCrosse. The experience was full of personal and professional growth that I carry with me in my work since then.
In 2013 I had the opportunity to do some consulting work for a building remodel, upgrading the tired 1980’s exterior to a modern Northwest style.
The “before & after” pictures show the improvement that each project had on the overall appearance and more welcoming environment.
I have consulted on the following projects:
- Exterior Remodel (budget of $350,000)
- Bathroom Update/Remodel
- 2nd Floor Lounge Remodel
- Entryway Remodel
I worked with the building owners and contractor to pick materials, colors, and overall character to the building remodel. The building had been built in the early 1980’s and craftsmanship was poor quality. The remodel project main goals were to bring building mechanics up to code and refresh the exterior to a NW Contemporary feeling.
The Bracon Building had an office that was knocked out to incorporate a lounge/sitting area on the second floor.
The main goal of this project was to maintain the contemporary feel of the building exterior to the interior space. The seating is meant for casual use and to be inviting for tenants.
For two years, while living in Los Angeles, I was a product specialist at the ad agency for Nissan North America. The ad agency is TBWA/Chiat/Day. Getting to work with cars every day was a dream come true.
My job was really interesting, and a different scenario everyday.
I worked with Nissan as a client, and the creative teams at the agency to provide the prototype vehicles for TV commercials and studio photography. I coordinated triple bid projects with car prep companies, preparing the cars in different ways: cutting up cars to shoot them with no roof, painting a car in 3 days for a shoot, taking the interior from one vehicle and putting it into another car to represent the needed features for the shoot. We dismantled the prototype cars, tore cars apart, painted engines, imported prototypes from Japan, and I attended all of the shoots to oversee the cars being used in a lawful and safe manor.
One of the responsibilities I had on a TV set was to make sure the headrest was in the right place for the driving talent, the seat belt was shown correctly. I was responsible for the lawful portrayal of all on camera vehicles. The vehicle was never shown being used with its safety features turned off. A shoot happened that I was not able to attend and the director requested they turn off the ABS (anti-lock braking system) while shooting the Titan truck in a skid, with wheel spin. They could not legally show the truck with tire spin and had to pay for additional post production editing to correct the wheel spin.
A question that often came up on projects was if a person could buy the prototypes after they had been replaced with the newer versions? Sadly all of the prototypes are destroyed when they were out of use. A prototype vehicle that had been disassembled many times over a 2 year period becomes a safety liability for anyone using the vehicle, because you could not be sure that all of the safety systems would work properly during a crash. Every prototype vehicle is crushed and destroyed, recycled eventually.
Architecture is one of my passions and this was a project that I have thought about for years, and took about 18 months to complete.
My neighborhood is filled with historic homes that are unique and have a ton of character. The area is Hough Neighborhood, located near downtown Vancouver, WA. We have lived here for many years and love our neighbors and location.
My college background is in architecture and art. After many years of drawing for fun one day I thought I should do a book. So I started taking pictures and drawing houses that were interesting. Vintage Homes of the Northwest was published on Amazon in December 2017.
My husband and I own and run the historic Kiggins Theatre in downtown Vancouver, WA. We have owned the theatre for 6 years and it has been a labor of love, and a great passion for our family.
Kiggins Theatre was opened in April of 1936. Our main offering is first run art house and independent movies, as well as many live events that highlights local talent form our local area. I have worked as the operations manager, running day to day operations and overseeing inquirers about private rentals and events.
It started with the “Recycled Arts” festival in Esther Short Park, nearly 3 years ago. We met a local builder of tiny homes, Derek Huegel from Battleground, WA. He had 300 sq. ft. Model that was open for touring. The 300 sq. ft. afforded you a regular size stove, apt. fridge, stackable washer/dryer, small 3/4 bathroom and a bedroom all on the same level, no ladders. We thought this would be great for our back yard.
Fast Forward to Summer 2017 and we put the down payment on the 300 sq. ft. plan. It took a long 9 months to get through the city & county permitting process. Wolf Industries built our tiny home in about 10 days. There were some simple choices involved; paint colors, laminate colors, black or white appliances, aged bronze or nickel finished hardware, and medium brown colored cabinets or white. There were about 4 choices for the quartz countertop, we went with the “Parchment.”
The house sits on a post & pier foundation, and is hooked up to sewer, power and gas. The unit has a ductless heat pump, gas stove, gas dryer and a gas tankless water heater. We rented the home starting in September and are happy to have a lovely neighbor that is enjoying the space for herself. We plan to have many happy years with this tiny house, and are now old and experienced when it comes to our next construction project!
350 Sq. Ft., 10’ x 35’, on a Pier & Post foundation
