26 years old • Fort Collins
Senior graphic designer for the City of Fort Collins, owner and founder of MCCB Design
What’s your occupation? Explain your career, accomplishments and professional highlights.
I am a local artist, graphic designer and illustrator working as the senior graphic designer for the City of Fort Collins and as a freelance creative through MCCB Design. I have spent years working to touch the minds of as many community members, local business owners and fellow creatives as possible. My art relies heavily on balance: real versus abstract, light versus dark, simplicity versus complexity and traditional versus experimental. I aim to speak to the beauty that comes with human existence, living in harmony with nature and understanding science and natural wonder.
Tell us about yourself, your history and how you came to be where you are now.
I’m from Lancaster, Penn., and moved to Colorado in 2015, where I began my career as a creative professional. I studied at both Colorado State University and Front Range Community College, earning degrees in graphic design and interior architecture and design. After my studies, I had the pleasure of teaching core graphic design curriculum to young designers, and since then, I was brought full time into designing for the City of Fort Collins. I fill my free time with passion projects, unique brand clients and traditional studio art practices through my personal business, MCCB.
Tell us something unique about you.
I come from a family of incredible cooks and spent most of my childhood as their extra set of hands, unknowingly learning my way around the kitchen from a very young age. I’m now a proficient chef and would love to pursue cooking if there was time for another career. It’s my second calling to cook gourmet meals for large groups of people with top-tier ingredients.
What do you consider the biggest accomplishment or challenge you’ve overcome, either professionally or personally?
I am proud to have paved a path for myself in an industry that is competitive and sometimes discouraging. Comfortably supporting yourself, finding individual recognition as an artist and building a lifestyle that supports that level of commitment have not come easy. In 2023, I had 14 galleries around Northern Colorado, won a GDUSA Award for my work on NoCo Bloom, was voted third in the Best Local Artist category by readers of NOCO Style and filmed my first commercial with OtterBox. My work is hanging year-round in NOCO, with a full 30-plus-piece gallery, including prints, series and original paintings, appearing at various coffee shops, boutiques, galleries and businesses.
Where do you see yourself in five years? In 10 years?
I like to think I could be anywhere in 10 years, and that alone helps me identify goals for my career as an artist. I live a vibrant and eclectic life filled with love and support, and my hope is that I can find ways through my art to properly honor the people, places and experiences that have given me such a beautiful life. To have a home, family and passion should always be enough.
What piece(s) of advice would you give to your younger self?
Trust your gut and take charge. I’ve always been good at those things, but the stronger those skills become, the more I realize how important they have been to my success thus far. The best thing I can offer this talented community is my uniqueness, and I can’t share that unless I embrace it.
How did you know you wanted to become an artist?
Art and craftsmanship have always been at the forefront of my mind. It took serious time in my younger years to realize that being a working artist (which I thought would be the coolest thing in the world) required that I was passionate about filling that role, and I am. As a young girl, I was constantly making messes with my paints, beads, fibers and whatever else I could get my hands on. I feel at home in a mess of supplies, and I’ve always been particularly tuned in to color, one of the most powerful and tricky tools to master. I think color is what ultimately drew me to art, and to this day, it is the strongest guiding sense I have in my creative process. All in all, it didn’t really matter what I was making as long as I was making something.
Why do you include the community in some of your artwork?
As an artist, it is difficult to always feel like the work I am doing is “important” or “meaningful” in the grand scheme of things. Yes, art is powerful and emotional, but when I’m admiring my best friend’s work in the nursing industry (quite literally saving lives), it’s hard not to wonder if I have something more critical to offer to the world. What I have learned is that art is what I do best, and seeing my community directly engage with the creative process, make art or find their voice through a well-designed brand feels incredibly meaningful. This reminds me of the purpose of what I do and helps me find new inspiration to relate to those around me through beauty and creative expression.
What are some of your favorite community-based projects you’ve done?
My projects include brand design, publication design, illustration, commissioned artwork, mural painting, photography and more. Through my personal business, I look for opportunities to make art free, engaging and useful to people. Examples of this include giveaways that are typically partnered with a local business that aligns with my values. A favorite giveaway of mine was the “Love Letters and Other Sweet Things” series I facilitated in February, where I popped up at local coffee shops for three sessions of free letter sending, including envelopes and postage. People had the chance to select a design from my brand-new illustrated series, write a letter and bring it back to me to be mailed. I was able to send more than 90 letters around the world, making it easier for people to reach out to loved ones. One of my favorite local partners, The Fox Den: No Waste Cafe & Roastery, also asked me to paint the mural on their beautiful outdoor patio. As a thank you for this opportunity, I created the “Colorful Community” project: A culmination of two years of celebrating the business’ patrons during their first and second anniversary. Customers of the shop on those days are represented in a mixed-media tapestry and accompanying database of 112 entries found at mccb.design/colorful-community. I have also started teaching recurring workshops with Petrichor Collective called Moodboard Therapy, where I guide people through a personal branding exercise designed to cover the basics of brand strategy, graphic design and design process.
