In the beginning, I was just a kid with a pencil, drawing my heart out. Much of what I created was nice, and I won a few awards in high school, but my art was never quite what I wanted. In frustration, I put my pencils and pad away and turned to my next love: science.

Skip forward a few years. I was in college on a path to a geology degree. I'm good at it. But then I bought a Macintosh, and somehow all those artistic urges resurfaced. Soon I was creating booklets and brochures and reports. I realized I'm pretty good at this whole design thing, and I enjoyed it, too.

So, I made a quick change in majors. I spent a few years designing and producing student newspapers and

magazines, and landed a few awards. Eventually, I was tapped to be the graphic design intern for the Florida Commission for Community Service (the state agency responsible for AmeriCorps programs). A year later, I was promoted from an intern to a full-time employee.

After another year and a half, I decided that I was tired of Florida and set my sights on Washington, DC. The Corporation for National Service (the national big brother of the commission), having seen my work for years, offered me a contract to design the epicenter Web site. After nine months, I discovered that, while I enjoy Web design, I couldn't do it exclusively.

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