When I was five years old I won a collage contest at a local church — and my mother promptly predicted I would be an artist someday. After I won an essay contest in sixth grade, she said I would be a writer someday. Pressed to choose between the two in college, and heavily influenced by an elementary school teacher who harshly told me collages and finger-painting were not really art, I followed the words and studied journalism. Luckily, my degree included classes in video production, broadcast journalism, advertising, marketing and public relations. So there I was creating collages again. They were just a lot more technical in nature.
Eventually, after an enlightening and extremely lean year working and studying in Spain, I finished my degree back in Los Angeles and found my way into marketing and advertising. I wrote, designed, created, photographed and directed projects to my heart's content — or rather, to my clients' content.
I still remember in vivid and glorious color the precise moment I took my first bite out of the Apple — and the tiny little amazing pixels that exploded onto the screen, just waiting to go exploring with me. It was love at first bite. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
In retrospect, I suppose my mother was right about both the writer and the artist thing. However, I've always just thought of myself as a teller of stories. I think they have a name for that now...and a college major. ~Teri Franta
