Category: Portfolio

What is the recipe for happiness?

My recipe for happiness has shifted and changed throughout the years. And it will probably continue to evolve. When I was younger, I cared more about materialistic things and approval from others. As I have gotten older, happiness has been more about spending my time and money to share moments with the people I love. Sharing moments with others creates memories, which can lead to change lasting a lifetime. I see each late night hang out, each music festival, and night in watching a movie as a chance to change the course of my life… even to a small degree or two.

My recipe for happiness is to experience something with the people I love. Not all experiences are good or bad, but putting myself in those situations where I can grow and learn about myself and the world is what I seek out as I creep into my fourth decade on this planet.

I have put a lot of effort these past few years seeing the positives/good in all things that have happened to me. This is why I feel the utmost drive and need to travel and experience all the world has to offer with my wife, friends, and family.

I experienced the worst day and the best day of my life this past year. My sister died on August 20, 2019 and I got married on October 12, 2019. I often think to myself about how magnificently different those two days were for me and how close they were when compared to the rest of my life. My memories of my sister are with me each day; I often smile, cry, or both when she crosses my mind. So, are the memories of the entire weekend that Lydia and I got married. I often smile, cry, or laugh at those as well. My recipe for happiness is to experience moments, small or large, on this ever fleeting timeline of life.

Shit Just Got Real

Today was my last day at the Des Moines Social Club. I started in August as an intern during my final semester at Iowa State University. After I finished in December, I was fortunate enough to be hired on as a part-time marketing coordinator. This allowed me to help Lydia put grub on our table and in our kitty cats’ food bowls. Which is something I’ll forever be grateful of.

My experience at DMSC was more than I could have ever imagined. I got to work with some of the best people Des Moines has to offer. And I got to personally meet and work with artists of all kinds of disciplines. From regionally touring comedians to internationally touring musicians to local artists who are making Des Moines (and soon the rest of the country) a better place for everyone. I’m leaving on the best of terms and hope to visit, freelance, and volunteer whenever I can.

I’ll miss getting a call from Pete Bold asking if I can let a vendor into The Basement, then having to bug Mickey for his keys to do so. I’ll miss hearing Matt‘s stories about working with some of my favorite bands in Iowa City. I’ll miss arguing with Kristenabout Electric Forest being the best music festival, NOT Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival! I’ll miss Dani’s always-vibrant and uplifting demeanor, Bryan’s drive-by chit-chats, giving Josipa the “suh dude”, and Capes Kafé‘s amazing coffee. I’ll miss having Dena to vent to and being able to call an afternoon shopping for a Nerf basketball hoop on Amazon work (thanks, Pete De Kock.) I’ll miss chatting with Katie about our mutual love for the 🙃🙃🙃 emoji and Oxford commas. And of course working with my “big sis” Bethany to market Des Moines Social Club’s top-notch programming that Mickey continues to kick ass booking.

Special thanks to Cyndi Pederson for responding to my email inquiring about a possible internship at the Social Club back in early August. Much like Zachary, Amanda, Zoey, and Rusk have already done so, it’s now my time to leave the best artistic venue in the universe.

I’m moving on to…yes, you guessed it, Wells Fargo. Some of you may recall that after I applied to Wells Fargo a month ago, I posted a snarky #TheDreamIsDead Facebook status. Now I’ve accepted a social media position there. Isn’t it funny how life works?

I’m bummed about leaving THE artistic hub in Des Moines, but excited to move on to a company where I can further develop my professional career. The dream is not dead, the dream is just getting started.

Parting gift

DMSC Portfolio: Posters and Journal Entries

Before I was assigned any creative work, I made this BOOGAT poster. I showed my co-workers and they all thought it was pretty neat. So, I started to get assigned posters. You can tell the spacing and typography is a mess, but the photo of BOOGAT and the background worked nicely.

Screen Shot 2015-09-09 at 11.32.25 AM.png

The first poster I got assigned was the Timmy Williams stand-up show.

Timmy Williams POSTER.png

DMSC has a hard time communicating all of their monthly events to patrons, so I made a monthly poster with all of their events.

October Poster draft 2.jpg

The poster I made highlighting the Halloween-themed events we had was probably my favorite poster I made. Spending the day brainstorming with my boss, Bethany Arganbright, about what events we could have and the event series name, “Fright Fest” was one of the best days during my internship.

DMSC FRIGHT FEST 2.jpg

With Copywrite and Coolzey’s permission, I took some of the assets from their tour poster and made one for the show at DMSC.

Copywrite Coolzey Poster Draft 3.png

The Joshua James/MAIDS poster I made was never published because James’ manager ended up getting us a tour poster after all just as I finished it.

Joshua James Draft 1

The last poster I made was for the Benjamin Cartel show. It was simple but I found it the most aesthetically pleasing. Mickey Davis, our program manager, loved it and wants to use it as a template for other singer-songwriter shows.

Benjamin Cartel Poster Draft 2.png

 

Greenlee School of Journalism’s Internship Coordinator Juli Probasco-Sowers made it apparent that keeping a solid journal was very important to catalog your work and see your progression as your internship moved along.

JLMC 499 Journal Entries

 

DMSC Portfolio: Copy, Press Releases, Website Events, Facebook Insights and Events

Copy

When I wasn’t creating events on the Facebook page and website, I was promoting/marketing events on our social media accounts.

First day as an intern (PDF) – I think it’s safe to say that I have come along way since my first day writing copy. I’ll lie to you and say that this post didn’t take me the whole day…

DMSC Copy Week of Monday, October 12th, 2015 (PDF) – This was an average week for the amount of copy I wrote. It still rang in with a respectable 4,000 words!

DMSC Copy Week of Monday, November 23rd, 2015 (PDF) – This was one of my heftier weeks of copy with early 8,000 words typed for events and social media posts.

 

Press Releases

DMSC’s Marketing Director Bethany Arganbright assigned to write our press releases each month. These press releases were sent to our media partners, which includes the Des Moines Register, Juice, Cityview, and more.

September 2015 Press Release (PDF)

October 2015 Press Release (PDF)

November 2015 Press Release (PDF)

December 2015 Press Release (PDF)

January 2016 Press Release (PDF)

Website Events – Building website pages for events was much harder than Facebook. I had to use the little HTML coding knowledge I had in order to make clean but expressive web pages. Here are a few screenshots of the website event pages I am most proud of while I was an intern at DMSC.

Facebook Insights – Here are screenshots of a few of the best weeks we had on our Facebook page while I was an intern at DMSC.

Facebook Events – Here are a few screenshots of the events I am most proud of while interning at DMSC.