I grew up in Tucson, Arizona, Durango, Colorado, and Detroit, Michigan. A lover of the outdoors and avid skier and snowboarder, I was a member of the junior US Olympic Freestyle Ski Team.
Aside from my athletic interests, I developed my freehand sketching ability, taking up pen and ink and airbrush techniques. I love working in Autodesk Sketchbook, ZBrush, and Maya to showcase my imagination. A school counselor first recognized my artistic talent, and passed along some of my drawings to Art Director, Kevin Trainor, working for MTV (Music Television). At age 16, I airbrushed characters for Mt. MTV, a winter special on the cable network filmed in Aspen, Colorado.
Long before working in television production, I was inspired by films like The Last Star Fighter, The Abyss, Terminator, and Jurassic Park. I saw 3D as a medium to express my creativity as well as my technical side. I worked with various aspects of media including sound, video editing, post production, and 3d animation while working at Group Four Teleproductions in Durango, Colorado. I quickly mastered Media 100 Video Editing Suite, Softimage 3d, Adobe After Effects, and various post production programs. In the mid 90s I was an intern for a small media production company in Lyvonia, MI, developing my animation and 3D skills in NewTek's Lightwave.
As a professional programmer, graphic designer, and young professional interested in learning more about 3D tools development, I traveled to St. George Utah where I met with the CEO, CTO, and Engineers of Strata, Inc. to discuss product ideas, API architecture, and bugs in their first Windows release of Strata Studio Pro. Strata was the software used to create the first version of the game "Myst". Michael Bringhurst, CEO of Strata, Inc. (http://www.strata3d.com/), wrote a letter of recognition for my contribution to the Windows version of their product when I was only 15.
Just at the age of 16, while pursuing my 3D interests, I contacted Dynamic Pictures (now http://www.3dlabs.com/), to become a tester for their Oxygen 202, high-end 3D graphics cards, in Softimage 3D, as well as Strata Studio Pro. By being a tester for their card, I felt that I was in the unique position to make their product compatible with my favorite applications and give my input on how they could improve compatibility (I also got a free card, which I never could have afforded on my own). These industries were in their infancy and so full of potential, yet my young age was not a detractor to the company and they welcomed my feedback. These experiences helped to fine tune my professionalism and realize my influence.
I began designing and developing applications for business clients and found that the creative possibilities fueled my artistic passion. I now live in Redwood City, California and find my passion as a solutions architect and software engineer, and take great pride in my creations. I am also a student focusing my studies on Mathematics and Computer Science, while working as a part-time developer for a global health non-profit organization, www.globalhealthedu.org.