Overview
The common thread to my career has been publishing. I’ve written two books, worked for two different publishing companies, held the title of Assistant Editor, Senior Editor, Editor, Web Site Manager, Web Director, and now owner of a business in my name.
What I learned from my years in publishing informs my design work. I learned about typos and type, deadlines and storytelling. When I started my career 17 years ago, the Web was novel and new—now it is a necessity. When I started, I was coding my own HTML. I now favor WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify and hire programmers to handle coding. With the help of my team, I take on pretty much everything else, though, including wireframing, design, site build, launch, social media, search engine optimization, online marketing, and more.
But it’s been working for myself that has exceeded my expectations. I’ve scored some fantastic clients, including best-selling author Sara Paretsky, Oscar-winning musicians The Swell Season, ASH + AMES, Wildcat Golf Academy, actress Julia Sweeney and dozens more.
Services
Works with
Work experience
Self-employed
I started my own Web design company more than 17 years ago. Over this time, I have served more than 180 clients and launched more than 200 sites. I've worked with everyone from best-selling authors to Oscar-winning artists. (And small mom-and-pop businesses along the way, too.) The platforms I work in are primarily WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify.
Chronicle Books
For eight years, I was Web Director of, a San Francisco-based publisher. In this job, I did everything from manage a database of more than 2,500 books on topics including design, cooking, popular culture, and children’s books.
I managed online sales (which increased more than 700% during my tenure) and developed innovative, detailed marketing plans for individual titles. I have also written two books on user interface design and exemplary Web design. The Web is nothing short of a passion for me.
Projects
All-In Creative
ALL IN CREATIVE is a Los Angeles-based creative agency, producing custom video content for companies like Universal, NBC, HBO, Peacock, and more. This female and minority-owned business was looking for a site that would showcase the breadth of their work, including: red carpet coverage, celebrity interviews, social media promotions and scripted content. We featured more than 60 different video clips in a clean, streamlined design, allowing visitors to focus on the content without distraction.
Los Angeles Children's Chorus
The Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC) is where (OMG!) Billie Eilish got her start and remains an active alumna. The site’s intro video shows a clip from Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles where Billie and the LACC choir performed at the Hollywood Bowl, a show which was later released on Disney+. Just this year, the chorus won a Grammy for best choral performance for its work with the LA Philharmonic. As you’d expect, we pulled out all the stops for this site—animation, video, event management, donations, and more.
Shannon Watts
The Sandy Hook tragedy inspired Shannon Watts to start a grassroots movement via Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Ten years later, and with more than 10 million supporters, this group has made an incredible impact on American gun legislation and public education on gun safety. With endorsements from Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Mike Bloomberg and many others, the site showcases her accomplishments, collects her press mentions, and inspires action.
The Monacelli Press
The Monacelli Press is a Manhattan-based publisher of illustrated books on architecture, fine art, interior design, landscape architecture, photography, fashion and design.
Our task was twofold. First, Monacelli wanted to significantly modernize the site design, allowing the stunning artwork from the books to drive the site’s look and feel. Secondly, they wanted us to connect the book data with Penguin/RandomHouse via API so content would dynamically import into the site daily. Also, we needed to make each book available for purchase from one of five sites.
Michael Golden
You might see Michael Golden talking politics on Chicago’s WGN, read his articles in national publications like The Washington Post, or listen to his interviews on the Golden Mean Podcast.
He’s also behind social initiatives like One Million Degrees and Spark Chicago and an experienced political consultant. In sum, Michael consistently brings talented people together and helps them create magic.
For his site redesign, Michael wanted a unique, color-saturated design that reflected the breadth of his work, showcased career achievements, and made it easy for site visitors to get in touch.
The O'Shea Agency
Coleen O’Shea is a New York-based literary agent with years of experience working with best-selling authors. When she founded her new firm—The O’Shea Agency—she asked me to create the site. I absolutely love the list of authors she represents—huge names in health, wellness, personal development, food and lifestyle titles.
Coleen wanted a simple, clean site that showcased her diverse network of clients and their titles. The result speaks for itself—a vast array of best-selling books in a variety of compelling genres. Check it out here:
Sara Paretsky Site Design
When I started my business 16 years ago (!!!), I was lucky to land best-selling author Sara Paretsky right out of the gate. Sara has published more than two dozen books over her prolific career, and is credited with transforming the mystery genre with her female private eye protagonist, V.I. Warshawski.
I recently launched the fourth redesign of Sara’s site, showing off her impressive body of work. On the homepage, we used portraits of Sara from legendary photographer John Loengard. We complemented these with gritty, sepia-tinted street shots of Chicago, where her characters regularly inhabit.
Her entire catalog of books are available to browse, as is her blog, which addresses everything from politics to personal musings. I’m delighted how the site turned out and even happier to work with the amazing, inspiring Sara over these years.
