Expertise

Learning the Job – Evolution from Analogue to Digital

The Analogue Days

In 1985, I started in Marine Corps journalism creating photos with 400 ASA black and white film, which I processed myself, often in the field in black bag. Printing my own photos, I excelled at burning and dodging to get the most out of an image and submitted them with paper flats of text created with a glue stick and X-Acto knife. Those analogue days seem like a distant dream now.

I served as a radio news announcer, recording on reel to reel tape and occasionally editing it, also with an X-Acto knife and some tape. It was definitely better to get it right the first time and not have to do any editing.

I did community outreach, media relations and internal information at various Marine Corps installations, particularly loving the recruiting service experience where I got to do all three for a two-state region, including advertising and PSAs on billboards, TV stations, radio stations, newspapers and even a presentation at the Missouri State Fair.

The Beginning of Digital

During my final assignment at Stars and Stripes, we had desktop publishing, including a command driven system that vaguely resembled HTML. I came up through QuarkXpress,  PageMaker and used both PC and Mac for most of my early years, finally finishing out the OS suite by studying Linux during my AAS in computer programming.

Formal Education

While serving as a Marine, I studied at night getting an BA in Sociology from Chapman University with extensive classes in Asian studies and psychology. After the Marine Corps, I went to Egypt for the master’s degree program in Cultural Anthropology at the American University in Cairo. This extensive academic background in SOAN – Sociology/Anthropology is invaluable in analyzing audience segments.

After setting up internal websites on Moveable Type and WordPress, I set up a social media suite at U.S. Embassy in Guyana,  and ran the website there. When I accepted a position as the chief of public web for the U.S. Air Force, I knew my digital literacy was insufficient. I enrolled in an AAS Computer Programming course through Cochise College, Arizona. I completed the AAS four years later, maintain a constant stream of reading on new technology and always feel that my digital literacy could use another upgrade.

Meanwhile, the public affairs/public relations and journalism career field went through a transformation in which formal education became a requirement. I’m on track to complete a masters degree in communication strategy next year.

Natural Talent

It seems the thing I naturally excel at most is business consulting. I love helping people achieve their goals using digital publishing platforms and my unique combination of communications experience and education with technological savvy positions me well for this passion.