Disclaimer: I’m not a perfect writer; it’s just something I want to explore right now!
Hi! Hello!
I've never had a blog before, never actually written anything past those digital diaries, but I wanted to add a more personal aspect to my portfolio. I don't know how to structure these things *yet* so bare with me this one might be longer for the first one.
For starters, I graduated college in 2020 with a degree in Industrial Design and a minor in Textile Science aiming to hit the ground running in the outdoor industry only to be met with the industry on shutdown due to COVID. Graduating during that time not only made it hard to get a job but a lot of us graduates never had the opportunity to walk across the stage and feel that relief of finishing 4 years of hard work. Instead it's felt like limbo for the past 4 years, especially with finding an entry level job for a Product Designer/Developer extremely difficult when the market is so saturated with everyone doing really cool things. I guess that's one thing with being a creative is balancing the constant feeling of competitiveness with joy for others who are pursuing their passions.
I was actually having a conversation the other day with someone about the field of Industrial Design and how it felt incredibly competitive in school and like everyone was just trying to be better than the other students and I would agree. My school, like many others, you had to actually apply to be in the program you wanted after your first year as a "pre-*chosen design major*" after taking all the pre-req's for the major along with an oversized portfolio. I was one, of many, who stayed up for 3 days straight to get my portfolio the way I wanted before submitting it as my official application into the program.
Fast-forward a couple weeks and I received my official acceptance letter into the program, and I cried HARD in the delivery van of the company I worked for at the time. I've never been more excited or worked as hard for something like that and then have it work out in my favor. The next few years were challenging but I learned so so much from my professors and about myself and what I really wanted to do with my degree. I also got a job at the Outdoor Recreation Program (ORP) at my university that solidified what I truly wanted to do with my degree, literally anything that involved having fun with tents, sleeping bags, backpacks/packs, bikes, climbing, etc. You get the point, I was hooked and I still very much am but my life has had some interesting things happen in the past couple years since my time as an Undergrad.
Jumping back to the COVID part of the story, so I had just graduated, was desperate for a design job but all of my connections had dried up, I didn't know where to look for an Outdoor Design job that hired actual entry level designers and I had very little money, like most of us do when we graduate. I ended up moving home with my parents and worked 5 different jobs in the span of a year to save up enough to one day move out of the midwest and follow my dreams out to a state with mountains. Through conversations with co-workers at the time I found out about Basecamp on Facebook and found a Product Coordinator role with Rumpl in Portland, OR and after a few interviews landed the job!
As a Product Coordinator, I was responsible for maintaining seasonal SKU productivity, communication with artists in the artist divison, and help take aim on development for Collab projects. I was stoked to finally have a job that I would be involved in the creative process with for outdoor products, but in reality this job was a lot more than I could handle at that point in my life. I didn't realize it at first but the amount of stress I had placed on myself to not mess up and to do this job right so I could progress up in the company and make more money to live less paycheck-to-paycheck was taking a huge toll on my performance and my personal relationships. After a little over a year and a half, I was laid off.
It's been almost 2 years since I was laid off and I'm definitely not where I want to be in my career but I feel more confident in myself and better understand my abilities now than I did back then. After some time to reflect, I went back into bike mechanic's and used it as a way to take a step back from the constant stress I had put on myself and re-discovered my passion for biking and stepped into the world of bikepacking! Now this isn't a new concept for me but as a personal passion it was a whole new world and I dove headfirst. After about a year at this first spot, I wanted to expand my knowledge as a mechanic and I got a job at another shop in town that focused more on high-end mountain bikes! Don't get me wrong, I am a gravel steel frame girl at heart and don't see that changing anything soon, but learning something new is always exciting and offers new challenges that I was ready for.
I still have that feeling that maybe design isn't for me because I haven't landed another salary design job after getting laid off. But I have had the chance to take a step back and look at what I am excited about and the things that bring me joy! I love biking, I'm getting back into photography, and trying to be a better person and friend to those in my life. No one knows what to do after getting laid off, its demoralizing and quite frankly made me feel like I wasn't good enough to be a designer but I have had the chance to take a step back and look at what I am excited about and the things that bring me joy.
One of my biggest goals, honestly, since college was to have a bike bag company. One of my last projects as a student was a bikepacking collection and I actually taught myself how to use Marvelous Designer to try to render these bags because I wanted my project to stand out a little more than the other students (again, very competitive back then). Looking back I think I could've prioritized color choices more and done a bit more research but I still did it! Even got a little design award for it! It's been 4 years since that last year and I'm still thinking about that bikepacking company and am actively trying to find a way to get it going ontop of all of the other things adults do (have a full-time job, move houses, travel for weddings, get groceries, train for 50ks, get enough sleep) you get the point. Constantly hustling, or at least trying to, I have a lot of things I want to do.
If you made it this far in my rambling, I appreciate you. My story is long with a hit of complication but isn't that different from a lot of people I graduated undergrad with but, as my dad always says, "you're scrappy and will get shit done." Now as far as this blog goes, I don't really have a cadence in mind for posting, I aim to use this feature as more of an insight into who I am outside of the resume and LinkedIn side of things.
Thanks for reading!