i’ll take one parallel universe please
If there really were some way that at least two, maybe three mes could coexist simultaneously, I could be mighty mighty happy. Or if someone brilliant and time-obsessed found a way to expand one day into four and one place into five, that might work too. Until then, I’ll just keep on looking for new and exciting ways to contribute to as many diverse and interesting projects I can fit in a linear lifetime. You know, until I get really tired.
In 2007, riding the inevitable shift toward remote work (telecommuting anyone?), I began self-training in basic HTML/CSS web design to prepare for my ultimate departure from traditional on-site, in-country office work. My friend burned a copy of her Adobe GoLive 9 software to a CD for me (which I still have and, yes, I also just used the phrase “burned a copy to a CD” in 2022). And then I bought a book titled Adobe GoLive Classroom in a Book (which I also still have, in case anyone needs it!) and built my first website as a Christmas present for my cousin’s pizza/bagel spot in Brooklyn and the rest is well, my recent history. It’s still so strange to me that what started as on-the-side, freelancing for Irish bars and restaurants in New York City, quickly set me on a crazy, divergent, ever-changing-yet-always-the-same path I was surprised I wanted to follow. Web development? Open source…huh? PHP? Isn’t that something inner-city kids did in the 80s? And now Jamstack! Headless! Serverless! Oh my.
I have always been able to learn a whole lot in a short time and then just run with it, which I did for a bunch of years as a freelancer, outsourcing anything I couldn’t handle myself. I am back in a full-time office job so I’m not doing much freelance these days. I think the next time I buy a classroom in a book, it’ll be titled “Passive Income for Burnt-out, Self-taught Web Designers“. I really hope it comes bundled with a CD I can ultimately repurpose as a coaster.
a little bit about me
My professional background is primarily in B2B publishing, specifically marketing communications for the plastics and mold manufacturing industries. My formal academic background includes a BA in Classical Studies from CUNY, with a minor in fine arts, photography. I am currently the director of client and digital marketing services for a content development agency in New Jersey, focusing primarily on managing web development and marketing automation projects for industrial technology companies.
However, in my ever-dwindling free linear time, I continue to contract web and multimedia projects for artists, archaeologists, bars and restaurants, musicians, actors, academics, videographers, retail companies. My past freelance web development projects include an e-commerce site for a wholesale manufacturer of women’s knitwear based in Bali, an academic center in the Bronx, a non-profit health and human rights group in Guatemala, a boutique hotel in Spain, an online store for eclectic interior designers based in County Kilkenny, Ireland, an interesting non-profit theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey and a tattoo artist in Puerto Rico. I’m also an experienced photographer with strong video production and editing skills.