Contact: mari@abazaar.com
GRAPHIC DESIGN
I have been an artists since I was eight years old and discoverd I could draw better than anyone else in art class. I studied art, music, theater and film with no idea what I was doing careerwise, until I discovered graphics and printing. I was immediately hooked. An instructor warned of the shortage of art director positions in the country, but I ignored him. Little did he know, the world would make room for millions of us before the profession died under it's own weight. I road the dot com boom up and bust down in San Francisco, on the edge of the techno-blade at InfoWorld. I watched the desktop publishing world open its arms to Apple after the SFChronicle/Examiner put out a paper on a Mac the day after the Loma Prieta earthquake. Apple was prepared. Desktop publishing was born. I was a witness.WRITING & PR
I learned very early in my design career that most clients did not hire writers and few could write themselves. If you wanted to do a job and get paid you pretty much had to write the copy yourself. So I did. And to my surprise, most clients liked what I wrote. There were minor changes and adjustments, but no one complained about my writing. Writing became a part of the design job and at some point I became a creative director. My career took a turn toward publicity when I started working with rock bands and artists. They wanted more than just a poster or a logo or a cover design. They wanted media attention. The internet made that easy to accomplish and I discovered that I liked interviewing and disseminating information about people. People liked the attention and I was hooked on PR.NEW DIRECTIONS
Since working on politically sensitive films and books, I have become more involved in research and management. My actions are carefully weighed, but once a decision is made, my approach is bold and direct. Work with public organizations and forays into political arenas has heightened my attention to detail and brought a new appreciation for nuance. Knowing what to say, when to say it, and when to be quiet can make the difference between winning and losing.
