Tell us a little bit about yourself and your career.
I’ve been working as a Storyboard Artist for over a decade—I graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2013, and broke in later that year as a board artist on Archer. I’ve jumped around a lot since then, working on everything from preschool to adult comedy. My heart lies in kids content, and someday I hope I can work on or make a magical girl show. I’m currently working on a short film in my free time called Doggozord about a dog-themed mega-robot fighting the moon. Outside of work I’m a gamer; it’s that problem-solving storyboard brain that never wants to rest, I think, so I put it to work unraveling puzzles and adventuring in tabletop games. I also love to bake—my focaccia bread is very popular with my friends and family.
Why did you want to volunteer with the Guild?
The more the world seems like it’s falling apart around me, the more I’m reminded that the most change I can affect as an individual is at the immediate, local level. The animation community is what fills my daily life, so by volunteering with the Guild I can see the effects of my actions ripple out into something helpful right away.
I found a good opportunity to step up when I noticed, during the last negotiation cycle, that there were people talking on Discord about things they wish they’d learned about the Guild when they were in college and gearing up to enter the workforce. I knew it would be pretty straightforward to compile all that information into a package that I could take to colleges and and share with students, so I got to work on doing that and contacted the Guild to get it circulated to anyone asked to present at colleges.
What is the best part about volunteering for you?
Most of my volunteering is in the form of speaking with college students, and I also enjoy being able to share my experience in a way that benefits younger artists. I think a lot about what I wish people had told me when I was a college graduate—I had exactly one professor who brought up the Guild when talking about job seeking; the rest acted like it didn’t exist. Students like to learn about the community that exists out here; it helps them feel less like they’re diving off a cliff. I’ve also volunteered in other small ways with the Guild—I like interacting with other artists facing the same struggles as me and working together with them to find solutions. We’re all in this together.
What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve learned while volunteering?
Students these days are very proactive in ways that aren’t just about advancing their career—they want to build this industry into something more protective of its artists alongside us. I get a lot of questions from students about how they can help and support the Guild before they gain employment.
What have you learned from volunteering that helps you in other areas of your life?
Public speaking is mainly the big one. Between phone banking and running a Q&A, I have to think on my feet quickly to give answers, and I don’t always know the best things to say. I learned in college, working as an orientation assistant, to always answer a question I don’t know with “I can’t answer that, but I can direct you to the best person to ask.” I may not always have an answer, but I know where to go to find it, and I’ve been able to steer a lot of people in the right direction thanks to that training.
How has contributing to the Guild as a volunteer impacted your life?
I’ve become a reliable source of information for my friends working in animation about what is happening in the Guild. I became a Captain mainly because I wanted to have clear and easy access to information about what was happening in negotiations, which meant that I could answer a lot of the questions my friends would be asking in our group chats.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about volunteering?
Don’t stress out over how much time you have to spare—there’s a level of commitment for everyone. Volunteering doesn’t have to mean you’re committing to a role that’s like a second job. Just spare an hour to phone bank or write some postcards. And if you want to give more time, you always can!
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