I have owned computers since the age of seven, played piano since before I can remember, and been writing, drawing, and creating in one form or another for my entire life.
An alumnus of the original High School of Performing Arts in New York City, I played Carnegie Recital Hall when I was twelve, having started formal piano lessons at the age of six. I was the kid who routinely disappointed my parents’ party guests by playing Brahms and Rachmaninoff when they were hoping for Billy Joel and Barry Manilow. Lacking the discipline to compete in a conservatory environment, I opted to grow my hair, play in rock bands and attend Hunter College, majoring in something that came naturally to me, creative writing. I confess to having had fantasies of being the coolest English professor imaginable, sort of like the main character in “Wonder Boys.”
I spent two semesters as a teacher’s assistant for my favorite professor of all time, graduated in 1990, then moved on to tutoring part time at Queensborough Community College Writing Center.
In 1992, I picked up and moved to San Francisco, where I embarked upon my corporate career. This led to a string of positions at organizations ranging from non-profits to global financial institutions. Somehow, I’ve managed to be the go-to guy for everything graphics-related, though I lack any “formal” visual design training. My father, however, was a professional advertising artist. Perhaps there is a correlation.
After a brief ten-year stint in New York as Director of Corporate Communications at a healthcare organization, I returned to the West Coast and, ironically, to the non-profit sector, as Design and Information Technology Manager for BayBio, a biotechnology trade association in South San Francisco.
I get some more of my thrills out as a trainer for AcademyX and part-time faculty at DeAnza College, teaching Adobe software.
My latest project is a Website Up and Running Workshop, a two-day or four-night class designed to provide students with the skills to launch a fully functional website they can maintain easily, using WordPress as a platform. It’s coming to a city near you.