Like a Swiss Army Knife for your company

Web Evangelist.

I'm a founding member of The Creative Space, a co-working-inspired space full of tech creatives, developers, and entrepreneurs.

We used to drive 100 miles to Houston through rush hour traffic each month to attend Refresh Houston. A couple of those trips inspired us to find a cheaper way to attend the event. The cheaper alternative? Hosting our own! The five Creative Space founders hosted the first RefreshBCS and drew about 50 people. We have since hosted speakers ranging from local talent to heavy hitters such as Amazon and Google, which drew 170 attendees.

On January 26th and 27th of this year The Creative Space hosted the second BarCampTexas. Our promotion efforts paid off as 200 people gathered for two days of sharing, networking, and learning. We also received some great press both online and off for our efforts.

Last, but not least, I am the founder of BuildingProcess, a social network & utility that enables efficient communication and connects consumers and home professionals. I've put two years into building the service from scratch, performing usability and market testing, writing and revising the business plan, and working towards funding and revenues. I would be more than happy to tell anyone who will listen more about the site :)

Web Developer.

English is my first language, but PHP, MySQL, and Javascript are my second, third and fourth. I've been laying in bed, dreaming in code, and jumped up and ran to my computer to write the code that solves whatever problem I had left for the next day.

I hand code (standard compliant) XHTML and CSS. I actually cringe a little when I'm at a meetup and someone suggests that I use Dreamweaver for site creation.

I absolutely hate that Internet Explorer 6 & 7 not only render pages differently than all the other browsers, but differently than each other. Is Microsoft doing that just to screw with us? I would think if they were going to go against the grain they would at least keep a straight line. They're just zig-zagging.

Despite cross browser headaches, I build sites that work on all browsers. I hate going to sites that don't work in my browser of choice, I don't want to subject others to the same aggravation.

One of my favorite things to do is to prove people wrong when they say "I don't think that is possible." I like challenges, and that is exactly what that sounds like to me.

Web & Print Designer.

I have actually been a web designer longer than I have been a print designer. I designed my first website in 1997 for my high school's basketball team. The Houston Chronicle featured it in the technology section along side the official NBA and other professional teams' sites as the best basketball websites on the web. I later started designing print pieces for clients I was designing websites for at the time.

I like to think of myself as proficient in Photoshop. I'm pretty good with Illustrator and Flash, but definitely better with Photoshop.

I'm a big fan of Wordpress as a blogging platform and content management system, and I enjoy creating interesting templates and helpful plugins for it.

Even though I think Wordpress is great, sometimes it's not always the best solution (sorry Matt). But it's cool; I've had a beer with Matt and discussed when it hasn't been the right choice for the project and he agreed.

Here is a small sampling of some of my latest designs:

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Lifelong Student.

I don't think people should ever stop learning. I read a massive amount of blogs, magazines, and books. I study people and how they interact – both with each other and with the products and services they use. I study not only marketing theory, trends, and forecasts, but also architecture and interior design. Here are a couple selections off my bloglines feeds:

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Plugged In.

I'm an obsessive business networker. Being an extrovert really comes in handy when I'm promoting an event, networking, or discussing the latest technologies. Come to think of it, being "plugged in" is actually pretty easy for a web evangelist. I've been involved in podcasts discussing technology utilization to promote organizations, companies, and causes. The technology I love helps me stay plugged in.

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Random Stuff.

There has been a blog post going around encouraging people to tell others more about themselves, so if you've read everything and still don't know enough about me, here's some more.

• I would have been an architect had computers and software development not come so naturally to me.
• I love modern architecture, but I can appreciate any style if it's done well.
• I enjoy photography, but I don't have a camera that produces good pictures anymore, so I am forced to live vicariously through others' photographs.
• I enjoy remodeling homes and have also built homes for charity in New Orleans and South Texas.
• I've built furniture and home accessories (professional quality stuff, not cheesy plywood crap).
• I really enjoy traveling. Las Vegas and New York are my favorite destinations.
• I have a twin sister named Lindsay, and an older sister named Andrea who was born seven years earlier to the day.

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Lastly.

You can view my printable resume if you'd like.