CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Motor Palace Design
In my design practice, I currently work primarily with historic preservationist, Allan Affeldt on all creative aspects for Affeldt Mion Museum, La Posada Hotel, Plaza Hotel, Legal Tender, and Turquoise Room Restaurant, overseeing creative decision making including branding, design, exhibit planning and design, photography, video, social media, and blogging. I also produce a quarterly newsletter that incorporates all of the properties.
About Me
After a twenty-four year career as a television videojournalist for NBC Los Angeles, I made the tough choice to leave my career because I wanted to put more beauty and joy in the world instead of hate and sorrow. I’ve repurposed my skills and now specialize in creative project management in the world of art exhibition and historic preservation, including filmmaking, photography, writing, exhibit design, and graphic design.
As part of my reinvention, I returned to school. In March of 2025, I graduated University of Arizona summa cum laude with a BA in Design Arts & Practices and a Film minor. During my time at U of A, I served as the ASUA-NY President for the ’23/’24 school year, representing 10,000 online and Near You students. I am honored to be the “poster child” for the University’s Design Thinking program! See the video they produced below!
Continuing Education
I’m a big believer in the philosophy of “never stop learning,” especially in this ever-changing world of technology. If you don’t continue to learn, you will get left behind. Instead of battling against AI, it’s important to understand it and know how to best use it as a tool in my arsenal. So in addition to twenty-four years as a news videographer, a recent Bachelor’s Degree in Design with a minor in Documentary Film, I am currently working on becoming a certified Adobe Graphic Designer and have earned my first certificate in–yes–Design Fundamentals with AI.
News Career
When I was thirteen I got my first camera and have been seeing life through a viewfinder ever since. In 1994, I found my profession as a Television News Photojournalist for NBC, first in San Luis Obispo CA, then in Los Angeles. Over my career, I met so many inspirational people, went around the world, and did things I could never have imagined, like leaning out the back of a Chinook helicopter with the National Guard, or sitting down with a First Lady for a one-on-one interview, or spending a month in Athens and Sydney and Salt Lake City for the Olympic games, or being in St. Peters Square during the Papal Conclave.
Independent Filmmaking
- Cinematographer/Director/Writer/Editor for INSTALLING LUTZICK SNOWDRIFT ARRAYS, a 40-minute film to accompany exhibit
- Cinematographer/Director/Writer/Editor for LIFE MASK, a 30 minute film on artist Paul Ruscha.
- Currently producing “The Big Rug” about what was created as the “world’s largest Navajo Rug” in the 1930s,
- Gasoline Girls promotional video
- Videographer/Editor/Producer for A Brief History of Winslow Arizona for the Winslow Historical Society
- Videographer for Juris Productions, shooting documentaries for legal cases.
- Principal photographer on several episodes of the half-hour weekly show Travel Cafe, shooting in Fiji, Hong Kong, and Kauai, to name a few.
- DP on a documentary featuring nationally renowned artist, Milford Zornes—one of the coolest human beings I’ve ever met. Man. I hope to be like him when I’m 90.
Writing
- I love to write. At heart, I am a Storyteller.
- Blogging for more than twenty years across a variety of sites
- Creator of Winslow Downtown, an e-magazine for the historic district of Winslow Arizona
- Have written for publications – Link to Example
- Podcast writer/narrator – Link to Examples
- Novelist – (Written Seven, published one)
- Newsletters – Link to Latest Example
The Personal Stuff
I live a swellegant vagabond life with my best feller, a whole bunch of misfit motorcycles, and of course, my beloved ’48 Ford Truck, Bondorella–splitting my time between Southern California and Winslow Arizona, where we are rehabilitating a historic saloon as our home. Want to learn more about Bondorella? See the video below from thy Why I Drive series for Hagerty!
To learn more about Winslow and the Motor Palace where we call home, watch the video below from Arizona Highways!