Teaching is my fourth career. I've learned my way through the first three by watching others and choosing how to adapt and apply their techniques to the specific purpose of my projects.
In high school I was a STEM student before the term existed, but I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College with a major in Drama and a double minor in English and Art.
Starting out on my career path in New York City, I took and taught theater crafts and began to develop prototype design skills while working in live theater, opera, dance, and television/video, and after contributing to Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and The Muppet Movie, relocated to London through the Jim Henson companies to work on feature films such as Dark Crystal, Dreamchild, Labyrinth, and Little Shop of Horrors.
After a time, being at the intersection of a script and its visualization excited me the most and led me to emulate my colleagues who were into concept creation by beginning to research and write story treatments for Labyrinth.
Returning to the States to raise a family, I applied what I'd learned about production to the corporate world. My experience and imagination yoked to a client's vision and purpose allowed me to take on a variety of roles: creative director, writer, producer, graphic designer, and occasional project management.
As in the past, I often worked in the trenches, this time learning the software that supported and enhanced our efforts. But overall, my focus was to communicate, through language and visual representation, how a project could be realized. I knew that the plan might grow and change as it progressed, so had to be mindful that collaboration, communication, and flexibility were key to adapting to change as we moved toward the client's goal.
Although I returned to college and earned a Master's in English and a Certificate in Creative Writing, my progress in the real world still relies on both words and pictures. The more we engage our senses, the deeper will be our ability to convey our intentions to those with whom we live, work, and play.
Therefore, I wish to find out how you learn best so that together we may craft a plan for your progress, whatever your goal. Please share your expectations and concerns. Your goal may seem hazy at the start, but as learning is about observing, trying, and sometimes failing, your vision will come into focus. We can course correct as we move forward together to ensure a resolution, even if the destination changes somewhat. That's life, isn't it?