Designer. Artist. Dreamer. Thinker. Engineer. Environmentalist. Teacher. Harpist. Writer.
What do these have in common?
I've been described as all of them. Here's the story. Read on if you want to know more.
For as long as I can remember, I've played the piano. For a slightly shorter amount of time, I've drawn, painted and built things. In short, I grew up using my brain and hands to keep myself amused. For the first nine years of my life, I didn't have any siblings, and since we didn't have many neighbors under the age of sixty, I had to amuse myself a lot.
When I was nine, my parents enrolled me in art classes. I took art classes at The Baum School of Art in Allentown, PA until I graduated from high school, and even then I would sometimes come back from college and take classes during the summers. I mostly studied drawing and painting, but occasionally I'd wander over to a ceramics or sculpture class.
I spent the first two years of college studying harp performance (I wasn't meant to be a concert pianist.) at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, but finished the last three at the University of Virginia with a degree in mechanical engineering. With all my electives filled from the transfer,—all of those music classes don't really help towards a mechanical engineering degree—I didn't have the luxury of trying out other things that might interest me.
So instead, I did that after I graduated. My first job was for an investment company, and it didn't take me very long to figure out that I wasn't really cut out to sit at a desk all day. So I took some time off, traveled to France, world-premiered a two-harp concerto, played ultimate frisbee, and did those things that one generally does when trying to "find oneself."
[At this point, if you're still with me, you're probably asking yourself, "Why is she telling me all of this stuff? What does it have to do with her being a designer?" And here's my answer: everything. Because all good designers are informed by their life experiences and the world around them. It's what allows them to be effective communicators. So the story of me being a designer and the story of my life are—and should be—one and the same. Still with me? Good.]
I was waiting for that proverbial lightning bolt to strike. You know, the one that bestows upon you the gift of absolute clarity and tells you exactly what it is you were put on this round sphere to do? Here's the bad news: rarely does that lightning bolt strike. But I didn't know that at 23. The good news is that as long as you continue to do things that are meaningful to you (and you don't get paralyzed looking for the thing you're supposed to be doing), eventually that clarity will come. But I didn't know that, either, at 23.
After meandering through the field of engineering consulting and considering a trip to grad school to get my doctorate in renewable energy, I finally stumbled upon the field of design. It was a great combination of left brain and right brain activities, and it afforded me the opportunity to work for myself.
This gave me the flexibility to pursue a bunch of other things I happened to find interesting. Like teaching harp at the University of Pennsylvania. And getting involved with RecycleNOW Philadelphia. And accepting a position on the board of directors for Flashpoint Theatre Company and Making A Progressive Philadelphia. And starting a band with my mom, sister and good friend, Dan. And writing for GRID Magazine. And launching iSpring, a sustainablity consulting firm.
Who knows what's next. Whatever it is, I am convinced that it, too, will contribute to making me a better designer. So call me what you want—you've got a good chance it'll stick.