How I got started
For me it all started with a love of design. As a kid I sketched dress patterns in a notepad and made my dog pose for portraits. In high school I ran the yearbook staff, and in college I got a job working for the university print shop, actually burning plates for the presses, to learn as much as I could about the design-to-print process.
In 2004 I graduated with a degree in Communications and a minor in Art. A few years later I got certified as a Master Site Designer and started designing websites.
Designing sites was only half of it. I wanted to know how to actually build them too. I took classes, read books and studied coding languages. As time passed my skills improved and I went from doing just designs to hand-coding dynamic sites from scratch.
What's important to me
Above all things I value quality. (Punctuality is a close second.)
To me quality means taking the time to make my designs clean and precise. I also stay abreast of current web standards including popular browser types, w3c markup and accessibility specifications, and basic search engine optimization strategies.
In addition to quality, good communication is vital. Understanding my clients' needs is top priority...you'd be amazed at how many designers miss this.
On a personal note
I grew up in New England, but I currently reside in the South...according to my neighbor I am now "a Yankee with a Mississippi license plate." Though I love New England my life would not be complete without sweet tea, bbq ribs and fried pickles.