I begin my story with where I am today. I am a mother of three grown children and have been married (yes, to the same man!) for a long time. I’m a graduate of Mount St Joseph University in Cincinnati Ohio with a BA in Graphic Design. I’ve retired from the Procter & Gamble Company where I was employed for over nineteen years.

(here's the boring part!)

How did I get here? After graduation from high school, I submitted my art portfolio and application to the Art Academy in Cincinnati. I had no idea what I would do with a Fine Arts degree, and I would be the first in my entire family to attend college. Because I was young and unsure of my future, I withdrew my application and instead, began looking for a job. I applied for and was hired by a local bank, where I worked for a number of years. I worked my way up from Teller to Bank Manager, taking classes and raising a family along the way. I painted, sketched and took some art classes, but didn’t really do anything professional with my talents during that time.

family time

Three years after my third child was born, I left the bank and held various part-time jobs for several years. My mom passed away in November of 1997 from complications of lung cancer. She was very young. 

where do i go from here?

In 1999, I mailed twenty resumes seeking a part-time position but heard back from only one company – The Procter & Gamble Company. I was hired in November as a phone representative in the Consumer Relations department. Not my cup of tea, but it was good pay and a great company. After a year on the phones, I was promoted to a Senior Advisor – someone who was responsible for the training of the phone reps as well as developing and maintaining the database of P&G product information. While in this position, I trained new phone representatives, handled elevated consumer complaints and developed a new on-line training module for some of the Food & Beverage Brands P&G owned at the time (Jiff, Crisco, Folgers Coffee, Sunny Delight, Pringles).

on to a "real" full-time position

In 2003, I applied for a different position within P&G – a Marketing Specialist on the Folgers Coffee Brand. I was hired mainly due to my prior banking experience – the Brand Manager needed someone with business and finance background to get the budget back on track. In my four years in that capacity, I was promoted to Senior Marketing Specialist based on my outstanding performance during my first two years. I managed a complex and very large marketing budget, led several initiatives and had multiple opportunities to present new package graphics to the Vice President and the leadership team for alignment. It was during this four years that I learned about the design manager position within the company and decided to enroll in college to study Graphic Design. Under the apprenticeship of one very gifted and sincere Design Manager, I learned the concepts of Brand Identity, priority of communication on pack, application of consumer research/insights and basic design theory. While in my final year on the Brand, I led the complete redesign of the Folgers Coffee packaging.

wow! the design function seems very interesting!

In 2007, a position became available in the Femcare business unit. I applied for the Design Coordinator position and was brought into the group in July. My first manager coached me on design principles and the basics of P&G Design management. We worked closely to bring consumer insights on the Always Brand to life in new packaging design. She led the Brand and design strategy while I led the design execution.  As my experience increased, I was able to lead more important projects.

The Global Tampax Brand Design Manager led a complete global redesign of the Tampax Brand equity. I then led the North American design adaptation for the Brand. This included understanding and translating consumer insights into package design, with relevant claims, visuals and copy. In January of 2011, I led a project where we integrated the global design direction with a new claims strategy. During that initiative, I also led a new communication strategy and visualization of the Tampax multi-pack execution. This involved consumer research and working to bring a clear and logical communication of multiple levels of protection to life on pack. I led a multi-functional team of marketing managers, finance managers, research & development, product development, program managers and regulatory managers and presented the final design direction to the North American General Manager for approval.

I worked in a similar capacity for over five years in Femcare, leading many projects, large and small, local and Global. I would leverage what I was learning in class in my work and bringing my work experience to the classroom to share with fellow students. It was a very enriching time, the younger students taught me about their generation and I think I helped them understand what opportunities were available after graduation.

wedding bells

In 2009, my oldest daughter became engaged and we began to plan a wedding for October 2010. Of course, with my design skills and experience, she asked me to design her invitations. With my project management training and experience, she asked me to be her “wedding planner” so I was soon taking over the planning and execution of all the wedding details. During the planning and preparation, I was enrolled in three courses at three different universities simultaneously. I was taking a drawing class at Xavier University that began on the Saturday morning after the wedding; an on-line Psychology course at the University of Cincinnati and a music course at the Mount.

at least my hair still looked good in the morning after the wedding!

I still managed to achieve a perfect 4.0 that crazy semester, plus I earned my Associates degree in May 2011 – with distinction. It was at that graduation ceremony that I became determined to complete my Bachelor of Arts degree; increasing the number of courses I was taking at a time as well as loading up on summer classes. You learn a lot as you age, but there is so much more to learn. It was a rich experience going to school, meeting new people, and gaining new skills. I think I made an impact on those I met, even though I didn't have a “real life” for eight years! My family and friends were very supportive and proud of me, encouraging me to keep going. I’m done now and I am so glad I decided to continue.

Thanks for reading!