Art School Convert

For 17 years I've worked as a graphic designer. I've worked in just about every environment there is: family business, non profit, freelance, college faculty, small design firms, and now in a mid-sized corporate office. I've worked my way up the ladder from apprentice designer up to my current title of creative director. I've found my career rewarding, challenging, fun and incredibly loathsome at times. Regardless, I've persisted and am very happy to be in a job that supports not only my personal interests and growth, but, more importantly, supports my family.

When I went off to college, I'd spent my freshman year at Humboldt State on the north coast of California. I felt like I needed to get away and on my own and it was the farthest, most remote college campus I could find. My original major was journalism, then changed to English. By the end of my second semester I decided that I wanted to go to art school. Mom was lukewarm at first, but receptive to the idea—she always had a strong interest in both the arts and engineering. Dad was not at all pleased with the idea and said to me, "You want to be an artist? How are you going to make any money doing art?" I tried to explain to him that I was interested in graphic design, a career which offered many opportunities in the workforce. But he wasn't convinced. He couldn't see any viable career coming from an art school education and dismissed himself from the conversation, deferring any decisions on the matter to Mom—he didn't want to be part of it. So Mom and I worked out the details. I went to school year-round and worked full-time at the family business to help offset the cost of tuition and living expenses.

After a few semesters of coursework, Dad approached me while I was pulling a shift at work. He told me about a fellow businessman he'd met at one of his local business association meetings. He was the principal of his own design firm and, as Dad put it, "He's a graphic designer and he makes really good money." Yes, I said, and reminded him that I had told him that were good jobs to be had in my career choice. "I know," he said, "but he has a really successful business. I told him about you—you should really go talk to him." And with that, he began telling me about all the great things I could do with my art school education.

Sometimes it could be downright impossible to convince Dad of anything that he couldn't easily get his head around, ask any of my brothers and sisters...or Mom. It wasn't that he couldn't be convinced eventually, it's just that his personal biases could get in the way of him seeing things differently. But once he saw things in a language he understood (in my case, from a peer who had proven economic successes that he could show as a business model), then he was a believer. Even more so, he would become the evangelist of the cause. Dad would become convinced and then start convincing you, even though you were the one who originally presented the concept to him.

In the years since my graduation, he had closely followed my career growth. Asking about my employers, interested in projects and processes. He'd come visit me when I was living in Seattle and would take my boss out to lunch; talking shop with a fellow businessman. In the last few years, he saw my career support the growth and needs of my family; something that he could relate to very well after years of supporting his own growing family.

Being the entrepreneur that he was, he'd always ask me if I'd be interested in starting my own business again...and if I'd want a business partner.