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Dog Project Leader
Benton County 4-H
Foley, MN
Nov 2017 - Present (7 years 1 month)
Dog Project Leader co-ordinating training, demonstrations, seminars, educational experiences, fundraising opportunities, sponsorships, and county dog shows for the local 4-H kids and their dogs.
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Freelance
Steelhorse Studios
Sauk Rapids, MN
Jan 2007 - Present (17 years 11 months)
Creative a variety of art and design for fine arts and product for a variety of clients using illustration, sculpture, painting and digital skills.
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Creative Lead- Special Event Volunteer
St. Cloud, MN
Mar 2011 - Jun 2019 (8 years 3 months)
Creative Lead for one of this YMCA's major fundraising events called the "Promenade". The funds raised support continued programming for more than 9,000 local youth and families. Research, brainstorm and develop large scale (theatrical stage like) decor and props to create a themed experience for our guests at the YMCA’s premier fundraising event “The Promenade”. Secure and manage volunteers, design and oversee project creation involving area schools, non-profits and the young Y members. Illustrate, sculpt, and digital design of all large scale items for recognizing our sponsors at the event. Work with suppliers and vendors to create/design floor-plans and secure additional borrowed products to create a true experience. Coordinate with event management, volunteers, venue and printers. Actively secured donated and re-purposed materials from many local organizations for our large scale decor sets.
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Product Designer
Wild Republic
OH
Jan 2002 - Mar 2006 (4 years 2 months)
Concept, design, illustrate and sculpted prototypes for wide variety of products including plush, apparel, molded and 2d items and toys for worldwide distribution markets. I have a comprehensive knowledge of marketing, design and materials for animal related plush and toy products. Along with a creative mind I also have a passion for research and learning about animals. This knowledge and extensive research has helped me create product with fine details that make the product more realistic and unique. Managed between 500-800 new products a year for a WORLD market. Developed entire product lines and managed those lines with key accounts like The Monterey Bay Aquarium, Shed Aquarium, and the Smithsonian; National Zoological Park. Developed, designed and sculpted award winning product lines like Audubon Birds and Magnamorphs. Worked closely with licensing partners like Audubon and other world bird authorities to create the most realistic plush birds with authentic sound. Managed quality control on all products in production and coordinate with the quality control inspector overseas. Personally met with Key accounts to discuss and develop new product lines and custom items. Traveled overseas to work with our offices, vendors and partners and attend a variety of trade shows. Managed a team to install our North American show rooms.
I also had designs/products showcased at NYC Toy Fair and on National TV as Top Toys of the Season.
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Creative Developer/Animator
AmericanGreetings.com
Cleveland, OH
Jan 1999 - Dec 2001 (2 years 11 months)
Created illustration and designs to generate dynamic multimedia concepts for 25.5 million monthly visitors to global network of websites. Making this content driven network consistently named one of the Top 10 Most-Visited destinations on the Internet. Created unique dynamic illustrations but with controlled compression to reduced download time thus improving user experience without reducing the quality of the product. This resulted in products consistently rated in the monthly top ten for their corresponding categories.