Discover Your Passion

When you were a kid, you probably had some pretty great ideas about what you wanted to be when you grew up. Maybe you wanted to be a doctor, police officer, fire fighter, veterinarian, or maybe you had no idea at all.

For me, I dreamed of becoming a superstar basketball player in the NBA. As I practiced each day, I would imagine myself hitting that last-second three-point shot to win the game or effortlessly gliding through the air above my opponents like Michael Jordan. I would fall asleep at night, tightly embracing my basketball like endearing teddy bear, and dream about making lots of money and being famous. I really loved the game; it was an obsession for me. If ever there was a day that I wasn’t able to play ball—even a menial few bounces on the court—I would be miserable.

Over time, my dream of stardom set sail into the deep oceans of my memory as I got older and entered college. Waves of uncertainty about my future was left in its wake. Gazing upon the horizon and the unlimited opportunities before me, I still felt lost at sea. That’s when I began to deeply ponder what my purpose and passions were, and what it was that I really wanted to do in life.

I’m not sure if I found design or if it found me. It wasn’t something I was even looking for. If you would have told me as a kid that I would someday be a designer, I would’ve laughed because that would have conflicted with my dreams of being a baller. Looking back now, I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else more satisfying or rewarding.

It all started in college. I was working toward my Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Sitting in a computer lab, browsing the world wide web, I stumbled upon a site called GeoCities—a free WYSIWYG website design service provided by Yahoo! that allowed novice, blossoming designers like myself to easily create web pages without needing to know how to code. It sounded really intriguing, so I decided to give it a try. I sat there tinkering, tweaking, positioning and creating for hours. I loved how it felt to create something; to see this blank canvas come to life before my eyes. It was magical. Numerous ideas stirred daily in my head after that, and all I could think about was getting back to that computer lab and try out my ideas. I was hooked. Nowadays, I typically flesh out those ideas in my Moleskine sketchbook and Dribbble.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with some awesome companies, designing for both print and web. These opportunites have been stepping stones that have lead me to work for Cramer Dev as a Product Designer. It’s here that I’m able to put the culmination of my experience thus far to good use. Everything from UX to UI to front-end development, I am blessed to play a small part in crafting some incredible products for amazing clients. The icing on the proverbial cake is the really talented team we have. Not only are they master craftsmen in their respective fields, but they’re also genuinely good people. It’s an honor to work alongside them.

So, what do you want to do? Are you doing what you love? Some of you may already know the answers to those questions. If so, congratulations! For those of you who aren’t sure, I leave you with this profound quote from illustrator and designer Jessica Hische: “The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.”