Bio Head29
As a Creative Director, I design Strategic Coherence for Brands and Books.

My clients are publishers, editorial directors, managing editors, senior editors, editors, writers, authors, creative directors, art directors, design directors, designers, marketing directors, artists, architects, photographers, craftswomen/craftsmen, chefs, small business owners, entrepreneurs, teachers, professors, founders, managing partners, directors, health care professionals, dentists, massage therapists, physical therapists, naturopathic doctors, chiropractors, and all those who are deeply committed to doing their brand of work with integrity, honor, and respect.

I work with creative professionals, business owners, health care professionals, publishers, and companies that do innovative work and offer quality products and services. I visually represent complex contributions, proprietary work, intricate volumes of work, and innovations with defining, meaningful design development that is structured, purposeful, and solidly rooted in classic truths and a current perspective.

I am an innate designer and an experienced design strategist.

My experienced eye (and love) for the finest detail balances seamlessly with my astute perception of the larger, wider, more beautifully designed multidimensional picture. I’m highly skilled in creating and developing a substantial effective visual and verbal presentation that is also a holistic package that advances a product or service in the marketplace. My specialty is design and strategic development over multiple components. Everything has meaning and beauty, and I can see it. I find it, define it, draw it up and out, then bring it forward and use it as a base to create value, build structure, establish foundations for growth, and increase value in the marketplace. I typically work on brands and books for the long term so that companies and clients stay consistent in value perception over time.

To design and create beauty is my life’s work.

If you don’t know me the person or me the designer you will want to know I have high standards. If you know me the person or me the designer you’ll know I have high standards, for my self, my work, and  – and if you’re my client – on your behalf. My high standards come from my own self-awareness and resoluteness. It’s inherent of my character and my work. I’m steadfast in creating sophisticated, meaningful, quality design that gets noticed, generates results and awareness, and is as gorgeous as it is congruent and consistent.

It has been an evolutionary process over 30 years.

I have worked as an Independent Creative Director for companies such as Heinz North America, Haake Scientific, Pearson Education, and Artemis Woman. My package designs for Artemis Woman have been featured in retail places such as The Sharper Image, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, QVC, and Ulta. I have designed and art directed hundreds of books that have been in independent bookstores, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon since the early 90s. Some of my publishing clients include: Andrews McMeel Publishing, W.W. Norton/The Countryman Press, Stewart Tabori & Chang, Mondo Publishing, DeVorss & Company, Gibbs Smith Publishing, Cider Mill Press/Harper Collins, and Hay House.

I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Communication Design from Kutztown University where I studied classic communication design and typography. My Berol Markers, Prismacolor Colored Pencils, Linotype Books, and trusty Shaedler Ruler are still within arms reach. I do adore ink on paper and traditional offset printing.

Prior to founding my design studio, I worked in publishing as the Art Director for Simon & Schuster’s Trade Book Division — where I worked after graduating from college and for 5 years.

I have received over 100 Design Awards for my interior book design, cover design, packaging, identity design, poster design, and marketing collateral. I certainly appreciate the recognition of a job well done as well as the recognition it offers my clients.

I learned to render and set type by hand.

And I can bind a book with a needle and thread. I am well versed in exquisite craftsmanship, writing and editing, and producing exceptional quality. I am present with these work values in my creative process and in every project.

I am first-generation American, and bilingual.

I spoke Italian and English long before kindergarten. I may express my emotions and opinions at pivotal moments in a Sicilian dialect; just wait until it passes, or by all means, chime in.

I am grounded, thoughtful, and present.

My mind is always engaged, observing, analyzing, or noticing something that applies to ~ everything. My favorite yoga pose is Bhujangasana to power down, and to power up, the Virabhadrasana sequence (the path of the peaceful gentle warrior). I can also be found practicing yoga, on and off the mat, reading exquisitely well-edited non-fiction books, cooking and baking – all organic and gluten free, organizing something and creating more order, sketching with watercolor pencils, meditating, or negotiating an existential dilemma.

I have a deep affection for consistency and congruency.

I’m continuously working on ways to improve and evolve with grace and compassion so I am at my best to give my best as I serve you, your work, and your innovations.