hi, i'm jess.
Teaching myself how to build a website was hard. Not as hard as, say… writing an amusing yet professional bio about yourself, but difficult nonetheless. A few years ago, I was hired to build a 35-page website with nothing more than some cautious optimism and a lot of YouTube tutorials. After a few months of turning chaos into content, the final product earned me a full-time creative project manager position. What started as a professional challenge sparked an undeniable passion for web and graphic design. This site is a nod to everything that’s come since.
A career in design was never part of the plan. I went to school to study my all-time favorite thing: the ocean—maybe you’ve heard of it. I love marine biology and the many exciting opportunities it awarded me: spending a summer researching coral disease in the Caribbean, living in Hawaii studying sharks, even traveling to Antarctica to follow schools of krill. Eventually, my job as a fisheries observer brought me to Boston, MA where I was promptly… laid off.
In a panic to find work, I stumbled upon Education First (“EF”), an international student travel company. Maybe it was my millennial stubbornness coming through but I wasn’t ready to compromise on the idea that if “you do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” (sorry Dad). And I love to travel, so I figured, why not give this a go?
Somehow, five years have come and gone and, funnily enough, that old saying still sort of applies. But it’s design, not travel, that has fulfilled this work-life-balance prophecy. Design is work, don’t get me wrong. It’s mistake after mistake, scrapping an idea after working on it for hours, or sometimes, days. But the end result is almost always worth it. I hope that my passion for design is obvious as you explore this site. And if not, well I guess I can always head back to the ocean.
2022: I’ve since moved into the wild world of fintech marketing — creating content for MainStreet, a startup looking to create jobs and opportunities for fellow startups and small businesses. A fresh addition to my how-many-industries-can-one-person-possibly-work-in bingo card.
Teaching myself how to build a website was hard. Not as hard as, say… writing an amusing yet professional bio about yourself, but difficult nonetheless. A few years ago, I was hired to build a 35-page website with nothing more than some cautious optimism and a lot of YouTube tutorials. After a few months of turning chaos into content, the final product earned me a full-time creative project manager position. What started as a professional challenge sparked an undeniable passion for web and graphic design. This site is a nod to everything that’s come since.
A career in design was never part of the plan. I went to school to study my all-time favorite thing: the ocean—maybe you’ve heard of it. I love marine biology and the many exciting opportunities it awarded me: spending a summer researching coral disease in the Caribbean, living in Hawaii studying sharks, even traveling to Antarctica to follow schools of krill. Eventually, my job as a fisheries observer brought me to Boston, MA where I was promptly… laid off.
In a panic to find work, I stumbled upon Education First, an international student travel company. Maybe it was my millennial stubbornness coming through but I wasn’t ready to compromise on the idea that if “you do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” (sorry Dad). And I love to travel, so I figured, why not give this a go?
Somehow, five years have come and gone and, funnily enough, that old saying still sort of applies. But it’s design, not travel, that has fulfilled this work-life-balance prophecy. Design is work, don’t get me wrong. It’s mistake after mistake, scrapping an idea after working on it for hours, or sometimes, days. But the end result is almost always worth it. I hope that my passion for design is obvious as you explore this site. And if not, well I guess I can always head back to the ocean.
