Would you share with me what were some of
your initial experiences with art?
I was always creative as a kid. I had a
wild imagination and my first connection with "art" was
probably disney movies. When I was 8 years old, I told everyone I was gong to be
an animator for disney. It wasn't until I was older that I started to discover
what real art was.
When did you decide to be an artist, and how
did you know?
My path in art was a bit odd. I went to a
private school with a very small budget allotted for the art
department. My art education was very minimal. When I was 13 I decided I wanted
to be a fashion designer and that i had to go to FIT to make that happen. At 17
I worked for Steve Madden and discovered that there was something called Visual
Merchandising. I went to FIT for Display and Exhibition Design and from there I
stumbled into Graphic Design. Because of this, I have no drawing abilities
(which luckily has not hindered me haha). I never took traditional drawing or
painting classes, my passion for art always came from a more product driven
direction.
What was the most important thing you
learned in school?
Honestly school taught me a lot of technical
things but I learned more outside of school. I took two years off between FIT
and Parsons to figure out what I wanted. When I was at FIT I just wanted to get
through my program, I didn't understand what was really important. When I got
to Parsons I knew exactly what I wanted or at least I thought I did. I wanted
to work for a magazine, that was my whole focus during college. I made sure I
took the appropriate internships, and built relationships w/ my professors that
would last after I graduated. The most important part of college is networking.
Do you have mentors or other working artists
who influence you today?
I work with some amazing people. If you take a
look at our site, we recently launched two new projects, our holiday tab and
our home tab. I am really proud of these projects because we all inspired each
other and were able to come together to make something really amazing. When you
work at a startup you often do not have the resources that you would normally
have at a big company and every day i am amazed by what we are able to
accomplish.
I also keep in touch with one of the girls I
interned for at Seventeen magazine, and some of the interns that worked there.
They helped review my resume and portfolio after I had graduated and gave me
great insight into what people look for when I was hunting for a job.
Were there any gatekeepers in the art world
for you, people who either let you
in or barred the way as you were coming
through?
In my last semester of school I went to
something called Advertising Week here in NYC. It's kind've like Fashion Week
but for the advertising world. During one of the panels Robin Domeniconi the
SVP for Elle magazine (her name used to be at the very top of the credits in
Elle) gave a very compelling talk about the future of digital vs. print in
todays world. After the panel I built up as much courage as I could find to go
speak to her. I didn't know what to say but I knew I had to say something. i
introduced my self and Robin was so impressed that I had the guts to come up
and introduce my self, she invited me to come meet with her at Elle. She introduced
me to a lot of people and made me realize that I could be her some day if I
tried really hard. It was a very "magical" moment for me (as cheesy
as that may sound).
Is there any professional organization that
you joined that you found particularly
helpful to your career?
I never joined anything specific but i loved
hunting for jobs on mediabistro.com
and i also utlized ed2012.com
during college.
What are you own criteria for success as an
artist?
Never stop learning. I am always trying to make
my self better and explore new areas in design. When you stop challenging your
self, that is when you will go stale and no longer have forward momentum.
What advice would you give someone who
wanted to be an artist today, as
opposed to when you started?
I only started 2 years ago but my advice is do
not limit your self. I was determined to work at a magazine but that is not
where I found success. Keep your options open, be willing to explore the newest
things in the industry. And never under estimate the age old technique of
networking, the people you meet in the industry can be so valuable to your
future.
[picture of charlie via birchbox]
