After my 2013 graduation from Beloit College with a bachelors degree in studio art. On a whim, I applied for a graphic design internship with a non profit called Ashoka and immediately got a response. I got to work on projects that I could have never imagined were possible for me. I was the oldest intern there and the only one not from a well known school but I didn’t care, it was the opportunity that I needed. After my internship, I was commissioned by Ashoka to create two murals for one of their office spaces. One mural depicted the 2014 2014 Nobel Peace Prize recipients Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi and the other mural depicts three individuals who, thanks to Ashoka, helped change the world through social innovation.

Afterwards, I moved to Tucson where I landed a job in graphic design and even won a graphic design contest. However, I soon realized that graphic design was not the path for me. It is partially because of the lessons of the studio art program, which stresses integrity in the arts, that I found the strength to quit a career path that was going very well for me. I knew that I could no longer suppress my true desire, comedy writing.

The type of discipline that Beloit’s studio art professors taught us to apply to whatever we create never goes away. They challenged me to really look at my art from a critical and conceptual point of view and more than once, I came very close to crying in class from being pushed so hard but I would not have it any other way. When I was pursuing graphic design, I used my free time to practice as much as possible and it paid off. Now that I am pursuing comedy writing, I apply that same level of discipline and after only a few months, I see a career blossoming. I went from getting a lot of graphic design opportunities and job offers to working at a movie theater while I learn a brand new skill set and I have never been happier.