My combination of left brain rational thinking and right brain creative thinking has led me to contribute to numerous companies throughout my career.
My career began in the architecture industry as a young architect at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and HOK Sport + Venue + Event (now Populous). At these firms, I designed and developed proposals for large-scale high profile projects throughout the world including a 6 million square foot mixed-use facility in the Middle East and a 600,000 square foot arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I left the industry in a full-time capacity for six years, but I remained involved in the industry through Lark Architecture, a boutique Chicago-based architecture firm.
In 2009, my graphic design and project management abilities allowed me to start assisting Retro Systems with their marketing needs. I soon found my combination of analytical and artistic thinking caused me to excel at marketing. By 2013, I was running the company's strategic marketing as the Director of Marketing. At Retro Systems I was responsible for building and refining the company's brand and updating the company's marketing methods. By the time I left the company in 2015, Retro Systems could track where leads were coming from and optimize our advertising dollars to maximize our return on investment. This analytical tracking system led to a consistent annual growth of around 15% while reducing the company's annual advertising spend.
In 2015, I decided to leave my position at Retro Systems to focus solely on Lark Architecture and its design and marketing consulting company, Emblem. I continued to work as an architect for Lark Architecture as well as performing marketing and design consulting for numerous different businesses including, architecture firms, manufacturing companies, a healthcare organization, and more through Emblem.
Around that time, Emblem was beginning to consult for a sourcing startup developing a business plan, writing a marketing plan, and producing the company's branding. This new company would become, Nbound, and I continue to oversee many of the company's operations while still focusing on Lark and Emblem.