Aside from being a movie junkie and Lego geek, Kim grew up in Yorktown, Virginia and moved to Richmond to attend Virginia Commonwealth University. Two years after graduating with a BFA in Crafts she returned to receive a second BFA in Communication Design. She is currently the web graphic designer for the University of Richmond where she is also working on a master’s degree in film studies. In between riding her motorcycle (Estella), actively boycotting LOST, and raving about Mad Men, Kim hopes to continue to strengthen the role of design in the central Virginia region.

Tyler earned a degree in Communication Art and Design from VCU in 1995. He has worked at three magazines and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and is currently the art director for Virginia Living magazine and a part-time professor at VCU in the Communication Arts department. Over the years, Tyler’s work has been published in the Art Director’s Club of New York Annual, the Communication Arts Design Annual, Print magazine’s Regional Design annual, and the Society of Publication Design Annuals and SPOTS competition. Recently, he shared a Society of Illustrator’s editorial gold medal honor as art director for a piece with illustrator Sterling Hundley. He spends his free time painting, wakeboarding, and experimenting with an old 11x14 ultra large format camera. He lives in Richmond, with his lovely (and hugely supportive) wife, two daughters and son.

As a child, Madonna dreamed of becoming one thing: a jazz-singing cowgirl. And while she is known to belt out a tune or two on karaoke nights, she never seems to find cause to pull out a lasso at work as Graphic Designer and Assistant Web Master at the Virginia State Bar.

When she is not designing, Madonna can be found creating or assembling objet d’art, dropping a hip in Richmond with the dance troupe Caravan Mystique, or working with her husband, Phil, on their antebellum work-in-progress in historic Petersburg. The two have never met a stray animal they didn’t like, which explains the three dogs and two cats and where those afore mentioned cowgirl-style wrangling skills might come in handy.

Born and raised in Crossville, Tennessee, C.J. received her first degree in Philosophy and Classics from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. After a brief stint in D.C., she blindly moved to Richmond to pursue a second undergrad degree in Graphic Design from VCU and work for the Programming Department of the Community Idea Stations. She’s now a Graphic Designer at Elevation. In her spare time, she makes art with the collective FEAST and thinks of new things to do with her hair.

Born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia, Megan spent her life slowly heading eastward across the state. After receiving her B.A. in studio art from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, she moved to Richmond to become a “grown-up”. She is currently the training coordinator at TECHEAD, a creative IT staffing and Adobe training center in Shockoe Bottom. Outside of the office, she is a cat lady, story-repeater, and fan of 90’s post-grunge rock bands. Hobbies include oil painting and volunteering with her church’s youth group.

Roy is best described as being two parts Lloyd Dobbler (John Cusack's character in “Say Anything,”) one part “Stand By Me,” two parts “The Jerk,” one quarter-part “Snoopy Come Home,” and three parts “The Breakfast Club” (and yes, he knows that’s a lot of parts.) As a kid, Roy and his sister developed a game they dubbed, “Bump Man Boo,” which involved maintaining balance while trying to knock each other off of a brick wall. Fast forward quite a few years, and Roy is applying those skills of survival in the publishing world. He is currently a graphic designer at Virginia Living Magazine, and his art director, Tyler Darden (see above), occasionally makes him carry around his old 11x14 ultra large format camera.

A native-born Texan and VCU graduate in Communication Design, David balances his creativity through design and his analytical attention to detail through project management. David’s calm demeanor and positive attitude make him a trusted colleague and dependable teammate. Unless of course his blood sugar begins to drop. Then (in order), run, hide and pray.

After a lovely childhood in Powhatan, Rebecca attended Wingate University for two years and then transferred to James Madison University (Go Dukes!) to receive a BFA in Graphic Design. When she’s not working as a full-time Marketing Assistant, she drums on her djembe (or on other non-suspecting surfaces), reads PASTE magazine to search for new music, and builds friendships with the youth at her church. She also loves traveling, going to concerts, absolutely adores her nieces and nephews and loves any opportunity to talk about them and show you their pictures, unknowingly collects pens (seriously, drawer-fuls!), photography and meeting new people. Be careful, you could be next!

A genuine “Tennerican,” Rosita received her master’s in Communications from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the early 1990’s. While the name, face and accent often do not compute, there is a logical reason. She always ticks the “prefer not to answer” box in ethnic category questions since she was born into one ethnic group, adopted by a family in another ethnic group and picked up a southern accent from the town where she grew up in Tennessee. Her journey has taken her to Rwanda, Colorado, Maryland (briefly) and to present-day Charlottesville. She has worked as a graphic designer, photographer, art director and educator. She still reminisces about the days of the Compugraphic, hot wax and the origins of non-repro blue. (Time to get over it, eh?)

Currently, she is an adjunct faculty member at Piedmont Virginia Community College where she teaches the capstone course in graphic design. She has recently been focusing her sights on introducing graphic design to area high school students. She also does freelance design through her business, mothermade design, and writes a blog about being an adoptee. In her spare time, she loves cuddling with her four-year-old daughter and constructing intricate origami with her eight-year-old son. She owes much of what she is today to her Liverpool lad hubby.

On days when not repeating “Don’t hit your brother because I SAID SO!” seventeen times, Peyton teaches design and digital media as an associate professor in VCU’s School of Mass Communications. She has been an AIGA member since joining in 1999 during her stint as a graphic design professor at the University of South Carolina. Now back in her hometown, Peyton is ready to rock it out with anything related to design, geeky digital stuff, 80’s music, and beer.

Originally from New Jersey, Carey Jordan is a firm believer in trying new things. A student currently enrolled at John Tyler Community College in the Web Design program, Carey previously attended the Art Institute of Washington D.C. majoring in graphic design.

In addition to her academic studies, Carey was presented the Jonathan Burnley Award for Graphic Design during the 2008 Juried Student Art Show at John Tyler Community College, and also designed and created a logo which won first place in a contest for a new logo celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Virginia Community College Association.

Carey would like to eventually work at a magazine. Her immediate plans include getting a master’s degree and giving back to the community, possibly through teaching.

Bernadine was born in Richmond, VA where she still resides with her wonderfully talented and supportive husband Stanley. They have two pretty awesome children, and four wonderfully entertaining grandchildren.

She says she got into graphic design a little backwards while working as a receptionist at Virginia Housing Development Authority. She was asked to take on designing their employee newsletter, and, after several years of being responsible for more and more of the company’s publications, Bernadine decided it was time to go back to school and learn how to do it right. That’s how she ended up at VCU, where she received her BFA in communication design. She later earned her Masters degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Currently she is a Senior Graphic Designer at VHDA, and an adjunct instructor with the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division.

Holly Rodriguez has a B.S. degree in Mass Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University. For the past ten short years, she has managed a splintered, yet gratifying, writing career, beginning with public relations at her alma mater, then moving on to journalism, then marketing, then back to public relations again. A chica constantly on the move, she balances life as a freelance writer and editor with her daytime gig as Media and Public Relations officer for University of Richmond.

The Virginia Press Association has recognized her work as an investigative journalist, and her writing has been featured in USA Today, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Style Weekly and Virginia Business Magazine. She been quoted in the Miami Herald, Better Homes N’ Gardens magazine and Working Mother magazine. When she isn’t chasing her two year old daughter around or singing the praises of Oprah, she is feeding her addiction to movies and indulging in her hyper-fondness of Johnny Depp.

Will is a Senior Graphic Designer, working as a contractor for Aquent, but most recently working for Capital One. In the past, Will was primarily a print designer. But he has started moving his career into Web design and is even venturing into the dark side of web development.

Following his 1992 graduation from Collins College in Tempe, Arizona, he began his graphic design career working in a small print shop in Ashland, Virginia. Will honed his skills by taking on several temporary entry-level design positions before becoming a full-time Graphic Designer for the Virginia General Assembly’s House of Delegates. During his six years in this position, he worked on various projects for the House, including the creation of the House and Senate’s first Web site.

Prior to launching his career as a Graphic Designer, Will served six years with the U.S. Navy as a Yeoman aboard nuclear-powered submarines. This experience allows him to maintain an interesting perspective about his work: “I know, no matter what goes wrong at work or how bad a design job is going, my desk is never going to implode, sink and drag me to the bottom of the ocean.”