Introduction
I learned my first programming language at age ten. By that point I had become quite handy with a box of Crayolas, but it would be almost ten more years before the two skills could be used together.
I have a long history of going above and beyond simply getting the job done. I’ve never been satisfied with ’success’ as defined by the majority, basing my goals instead on my own inspirations and daring imagination. I firmly believe that the only way to keep up with such fast moving industries as marketing and technology… Is to be in the driver’s seat.
Read the rest of this humble bio in a sorta creepy third-person format here.
Arsenal
Websites from scratch. Marketing strategies. Logos & identity design. Web design. Print design. Professional-grade HTML/CSS. JavaScript & jQuery. DHTML & XML. WordPress plugins & themes. My PHP is no joke. Facebook API/FSQL/FBML. YouTube API. Amazon API. Flash, AS2 & AS3. Apache 1/2 & Unix/Linux system administration. SEO. Technical writing. Ad trafficking. MySQL. PostgreSQL. Perl. Basic Python. Drupal. Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools. Event planning, live sound, good playlists. 10,000 hours’ worth of banner ads. Fingers & paint. Command line. Text editor. Power tools, hammer and nails. X-Acto knives & rubber cement.
Experience
(Dot) Squirrels, LLC
Clients: Comcast, Pandora, Saatchi & Saatchi, more…
Campaigns: Pampers / Wal-Mart, Febreze, Lion’s Gate, more…
Role: Manager & Sole Proprietor
When: 2009 -
In April of 2009, I finally started my own contracting business specializing in developing and executing big, innovative ideas. We’re off to a great start. We’ve been doing some really fun stuff- check out my portfolio for the latest.
AtomicOnline
Projects: Corporate materials, AtomicOnline.com, CraveOnline.com, Sherdog.com, ComingSoon.net, Wreztlezone.com, Iconator.com, TheFashionSpot.com, Quizilla.com, many more…
Role: Creative Lead / Technical Lead
When: 2005 – 2009
AtomicOnline owns and operates dozens of websites categorized under different demographic verticals. For a time when the company was particularly close-knit, I was involved in nearly every aspect of CraveOnline.com and Quizilla.com, from website design and programming, to management of sales campaigns, to setting up interviews for CraveOnline and even personally creating editorial content.
The company has since rapidly grown. Over three years of employment, I bounced between leading creative and technical roles, depending on the project.
As Creative Lead, I designed the company’s brand-new logo and stationery, supervised the design and development of the corporate website, as well as the redesign of several website properties including CraveOnline.com, ComingSoon.net, Sherdog.com, and Wrestlezone.com.
As Technical Lead, I recently led a team that converted Sherdog.com, the most popular site dedicated to Mixed Martial Arts, from ASP to PHP. The PHP site launched on schedule under my leadership, and it continues to withstand traffic that had been regularly causing the ASP version to crash during popular fight events.
Antiquiet
Projects: Antiquiet.com, more…
Role: Creator / Producer
When: 2007 – Present
Antiquiet is a completely independent music and culture website I created from the ground up, starting with a basic WordPress installation in August of 2007. It has since grown an organic audience of 100,000 visitors monthly with quality content, and no cheesy pageview gobbling gimmicks. My many roles include site production, design, WordPress theme and plugin development, ad campaign management, SEO, content creation, video production, team management, and business development.
Gorilla Nation
Projects: Corporate materials, Sales campaigns for Nissan, Hyundai, Paramount, Warner Bros., AT&T, many many more…
Role: Creative Lead / Technical Lead
When: 2005 – 2007
Gorilla Nation, an online ad sales representation firm, and AtomicOnline are both owned by Pegasus Media. As the two sibling companies occasionally share resources, I regularly helped Gorilla Nation from 2005 through 2007 by filling a number of roles, including creative lead on sales campaigns and publisher support. I also designed the company’s current logo and stationery.
51 Minds
Project: VH1’s Celebrity Paranormal Project
Role: Systems Administrator Extraordinaire
When: 2005
I worked on a television production team for a very long two weeks in the Summer of 2005, creating the pilot for VH1’s Celebrity Paranormal Project series. Anything that had anything to do with a computer was entirely my responsibility. I set up a LAN spanning over 200 yards in a blistering desert with wired and wireless access points, and set up rented laptops to not only access this LAN but serve a web-based application over it. I had to design and build this web application from scratch, as well as create a series of CD-ROM ‘keys’ that would allow users to access different sections of it. And I had to do all of this in two weeks, in time for an all-night live shoot that had to go off without a single hitch. Despite having to learn several valuable lessons about the effects of dry heat on ethernet cables and networking hardware the hard way, I got the job done.
The series got picked up, but I declined the offer to join the team permanently. I figured I could probably find a career path more in line with my views on snake bites and seventy-two hour work days in foreign countries.
PointRoll
Via: Aquent Agency
Projects: Flash creatives for Honda, British Travel Board, Dick’s Sporting Goods
Role: Flash/ActionScript Developer
When: 2005
In 2005, I completed several contracts for PointRoll, carrying rich media creatives from storyboard to animated, functional SWFs.
Fontana Distribution, New Line Records, Fanscape
Role: Graphic Designer
When: 2005 – 2007
From 2005 through 2007, I completed several freelance projects for music industry contacts I had made at my stint at Universal Music & Video Distribution. The bulk of the work involved creating Flash banners and eCards to help promote artists.
Universal Music & Video Distribution
Role: Graphic Designer
When: 2004 – 2005
I filled several roles In Universal’s online promotions division. As the only artist on staff, I designed all promotional materials created in-house, for both online and offline. I also handled most of the web development required to deploy online campaigns, often programming entirely new tools from the ground up. I also managed several online street teams when staff was short, providing news, tasks, and incentives for volunteer team members.
Oh, and when a Universal release would reach #1 on the Billboard charts, I would add a hand-painted mural dedicated to the artist on the glass conference room wall.
SAP
Via: Aquent Agency
Role: Senior Engineer
When: 2002
In 2002, I accepted a contract to convert all of SAP’s online content from static ASP pages to XML, as part of a team of three Senior Engineers.
Waypoint Group
Via: Aquent Agency
Projects: Fila.com online storefront, Mercedez-Benz online/offline marketing, DuPont online/offline marketing, W.L. Gore online marketing.
Role: Development / Pre-Press
When: 2000
In June of 2000, I was offered a contract to assist with the HTML/CSS and JavaScript development for the front-end of Fila’s new online storefront at Waypoint Group in Wilmington, Delaware. The contract quickly turned into a steady gig when the agency found itself shorthanded on pre-press experts. Through the rest of the year I bounced back and forth between web development and pre-press projects, as an interchangeable asset, to several different teams in charge of campaigns for such prestigious clients as Mercedes-Benz, DuPoint, W.L. Gore, and E.P. Henry.
Victory Printing
Role: Service Bureau Chief
When: 1998 – 2000
At Victory in Southwest Philadelphia, I prepared nearly every document for press as chief of the Service Bureau, working directly under the company owner. These documents ranged from business cards and letterheads to massive catalogs. Victory was founded in 1934, and as it didn’t get its first computer until 1997, work for older accounts occasionally required old-school camera-ready mechanicals. So there I was putting projects together with an X-Acto knife and rubber cement. When’s the last time you interviewed a graphic designer that could get the job done without a computer?
Lorenzo & Sons’ Pizza
Role: Pizza Consiglieri
When: 2001 – 2002
The best pizza in the United States can only be found at Lorenzo & Sons’ Pizza at 3rd & South in Philadelphia. They don’t deliver, they don’t do toppings on slices, and they’re not exactly known for friendly service. But they do what they do better than anyone else and they’re open until 3 or 4 AM every night. From lunchtime to close, there’s a line going out the door.
At Lorenzo’s, one person makes pizza, over 350 per day, each one bigger than any you’ve ever seen. A second person is assigned the task of serving it to (and dealing with) a hell of a lot of hungry (often drunk and belligerent) Philadelphians. For a couple summers, that second person was me. Thanks mainly to this experience, there is very little anyone could do to me that I haven’t been forced to deal with at least once before.
Education
2001 – 2002 Art Institute of Philadelphia (Multimedia / Web Design)
1997 – 1998 Fine Arts Classes, Penn Wood (Acclaim)
1994 – 1998 Diploma, Penn Wood High School, Philadelphia
1995 – 1997 Diploma, Delaware County Technical School (Commercial Art)
