Meet Kenzie, our uber talented Project Manger that recently joined our Gaslight team.
The beginning. I was raised on a farm east of Milan, Minnesota. My dad, a crop farmer, and my mom, an artist, raised me, my sister and my brother. I am, and always will be, a farm-girl at heart with a love and passion for the arts (thank you, Mom and Dad!) As a child, I was always doodling – mostly different variations of the alphabet. Typography will always hold a special place in my heart.
Fast forward a few years. At 18, my parents dropped me off in a strange southern Minnesota town, expecting me to cook my own meals and figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life.
I went into college not really knowing what I wanted to be when “I grew up.” I had two ideas in mind: social work or dental hygiene. It wasn’t far into my general courses (intro to sociology, biology, etc.) that I realized two things:
- Although very interesting, social work wasn’t for me. I love stories with happy endings and not every client would have a happy ending in this line of work.
- Science is sooooo not my forte. I’ll stick to cleaning my own pearly whites.
So I was back to square one. I started a work study program in the web office at school right away. Off the bat, they had me updating web content and maintaining and editing pages. I was quickly pulled into learning code (CSS/html) and designing slides and some pages for the school’s website.
That’s when i knew. Design was what i wanted to do. So I enrolled in the graphic design program and loved it! Although I loved design, something was missing. I remember listening to my housemates talk about their homework and marketing projects, intrigued by their strategies. I realized there was such a close relationship between design and marketing. The next semester I enrolled in marketing courses. To this day, I still love and believe in the relationship between the two.
After four years of school, cooking my own meals and making incredible friendships, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in graphic design with concentrations in marketing and fine arts. I love a collaborative and creative atmosphere and working in a fast-paced environment with deadline challenges keeps me motivated and excited!
Things that might (not) interest you:
- In 2015, I was able to cross off two major items on my bucket list:
- My husband and I honeymooned/backpacked England, Scotland and Ireland for two short, blissful weeks.
- My dad and I both consider The Rolling Stones our favorite band and were able to see them perform together.
- So far in 2016: my dream came true when I joined the Gaslight Creative team as their marketing assistant.
- Maybe one of the weirdest things about me: I have a huge obsession with the The Walking Dead and my dream is to one day be a walker on the show.
- I talk to my dog like she is a human. If my husband would let me, I’d probably have 20 dogs right now…seriously.
- I’m a huge music fan. Goal: learn how to play the guitar by the age of 30.
- Home decorating & thrifting/antiquing are two of my favorite hobbies.
- I love to read but have to be very careful when I start a good book: “Okay just one more chapter…maybe just until 1am…fine 3am…well, I guess I’m taking an hour nap