Background

I was born in Frankfurt, Germany, to American parents who had met in art class. My first five years were spent in Germany and Hue, Vietnam, where my father worked to help local farmers improve their irrigation systems. My mother, an artist, painted watercolors and hosted parties for local dignitaries.

Our family later settled in Southern California, between wetlands and orange groves, where the most important things were books, dance, a menagerie of pets, and drawing. From an early age, I would recite poetry, mostly as odes to dolls and teddy bears, and when I was large enough she could sometimes be seen riding my chestnut quarter horse around town. My childhood studies included music and dance, but my shyness inhibited me from being comfortable in front of most people. Difficulties with enunciating didn’t help matters, and and I spent many hours reading aloud with my mother to rectify the situation.

Years later I was determined to overcome my shyness, as well as capitalize on my writing ability and, to this end, earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Cal State University, Fullerton. After graduation, I wrote articles for the Saddleback Valley News, earning two awards, and later became an education reporter for the Daily Pilot, covering Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. My love of animals eventually led me to become an assistant editor for Dog Fancy magazine, during which time I wrote articles for both Dog Fancy and Wild Bird magazine. In this period I also wrote a children’s instructional book on windsurfing, studied novel writing and became a volunteer reader for Recording for the Blind. I have also tutored English while living in Florence, Italy, and am an occasional volunteer reader for Librivox.

Following a year of  learning about food and wine living and working in Italy, I returned to school to study graphic design, for which my childhood days spent drawing would bear fruit. My years studying dance also played a part in my eventual decision to study movement-based graphic design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. As part of my studies, I experimented with simple animation, interactive games, film titles and broadcast design. I eventually settled on web design.

My clients have ranged from large corporations, such as Kaiser Permanente, to small boutique creative studios. My favorite project was a website for the legendary Shangri-La Recording Studios in Malibu, California. I have also written reviews for AIGA Los Angeles and most recently have been interviewed about web design by Rapaport Magazine and blogging by the San Gabriel Valley News. I currently run a small design studio in Monrovia, California called Wrayco Design. When a project requires it, I will expand from one to two or three people, to accommodate project needs. Specialty sites sometimes require more advanced programming or audio.

My family includes an amazing composer and music producer, two playful standard poodles and a super friendly orange tabby cat.

In my spare time I blog and tend to my vegetable garden.