In the late 1900’s I created works of art in the form of the sandwich at a mall food court in Georgia. In the meantime, my love for the classics, the Corvette, Camaro, and Mustang, drove me to become a Mechanical Engineer.
Before I even graduated college, I was offered a job working for a medical machine design firm. I worked there for several years, but music, another passion of mine, was calling. In 1997, I moved to Nashville and worked for an automotive design firm during the day, but at night, I played bass guitar while my brother played rhythm. As The Hauser Brothers, we took turns singing lead and harmony which is what made us a unique duo. From Tootsie’s to Legends and many other venues, we made our debut. During this time I also oversaw our marketing, which included designing artwork for CD’s, posters and websites. Discovering I had a talent for graphic design, I would soon realize this was my true passion.
In the early 2000’s, I got the chance to perform for the U.S. troops. I traveled to Egypt, England, Norway and a few other countries during my overseas adventure. Personally, this was the highlight of my music career.
Upon returning home, I found a great opportunity as a graphic designer for a startup web design company. Six months later I was promoted to the manager of our 5 person design team. After successfully building the company for 2 years the owners found an investor that bought us out and my team was dissolved.
Luckily, Mr. Braddock, the publisher at a local newspaper offered me a job as a graphic designer. He had seen the website and marketing materials I designed for The Hauser Brothers and wanted me to join their team. I was excited at the opportunity and eager to learn all I could about the newspaper industry.
Soon after starting this new adventure, I met the love of his life, Heather. She worked at a local movie theater, but was also a talented sketch artist. Heather was planning on going to school for Psychology, but I convinced her to pursue a career doing something she loved.
Over the next 5 years we learned graphic design together, she taught me what she learned at MTSU and I showed her what I discovered hands-on, working in the news industry. We also picked up photography as a hobby and have performed many portrait and wedding sessions.
After Heather graduated, I continued working in the news industry, but also landed freelance projects designing websites for many local businesses. These projects, especially working for the Better Than Ezra Foundation made me realize that I missed web design and creating marketing plans. So in 2007, Heather and I decided to venture out and start our own design studio; unfortunately, it was short-lived. Without enough time to build capital, the 2008 recession put a stop to our dream.
I gladly returned to the corporate world, joining a new division of Gannett, tnMedia, an advertising agency housed inside of The Tennessean. The focus was on high-end clients, developing websites, digital advertising, as well as some print collateral. I excelled in this new environment and this opportunity allowed me to utilize more of my creativity.
In 2014, my position within Gannett was on the marketing team for the USA TODAY NETWORK. I focused on marketing the Tennessean and many other media companies along the East Coast and across the country. In 2020, after 20 years of dedicated service to Gannett, I was laid off due to downsizing.
In August 2020 I was given the opportunity to work for Decision Resources Group, at the time being acquired by Clarivate. I designed charts and graphs for medical reports and also worked on PowerPoint presentations. I was only guaranteed work until January 2021, but there was hope that Clarivate would see the need for more design help as it was and still is greatly needed, but unfortunately, the appointment was not extended.
In March of 2021, I was hired by Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee. I am currently the Website Coordinator and Assistant Graphic Designer. Being my first non-profit I have learned a lot and I am fascinated by the good things happening at Goodwill. The amount of work they do to give people career training and the amount of trash they recycle and keep out of landfills are just a few things I never knew about the good they do. I am excited to be working with such a great, caring company. Something I am definitely not used to, but I am grateful for.