meet joe

Growing Up

I grew up in north-central Connecticut (far enough away from those stereotypical Connecticut towns that would come to mind if you thought of Connecticut); while we weren’t going cow-tipping on Friday nights, we certainly weren’t cruising around in BMW’s with our collars popped. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I became a volunteer firefighter in my town at the age of 14, which is also when I joined my dad as a crew member for a race team that competed on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

College in Boston

I decided that I needed a change from the small-town life and moved to Boston, Massachusetts to attend Northeastern University in 1999. I graduated in May of 2004 with a BS in Business Administration- Concentration in Marketing, a Minor in Visual Arts, and nearly three years of real-world (paid) work experience through Northeastern’s Cooperative Education (Co-op) program.

Attending Northeastern during that time was a great time to be there, as the university had just entered into the Top-100 Tier-1 colleges in the United States as published in Business Week. It now ranks in the Top-30.

Post-Grad

Right after graduation, I decided to go into business for myself and I ended up starting my own freelance graphic/web design/marketing consulting business. At first, the freelance work was slow, but with considerable effort on my part, it picked up, and I had several steady clients.

I was doing well for myself freelancing, but all the while I was primarily focusing my time on getting hired for design work at an agency in the Metro Boston area.

As the months passed, I ended up picking up some temporary web design work through Boston-based Communications Collaborative. Luckily this lasted a couple of months until, in early 2005, one of my clients in Ft. Lauderdale started flying me down to their offices every few weeks for marketing consultation and design work.

Moving to Florida

I spent a few weeks in Florida creating a web presence for them, and after about six months of freelancing, one of the owners of the company created a full-time position for me. I said “goodbye” to Boston and moved down to South Florida- my tenure as Marketing Director with them lasted for about four years, and I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity right out of college.

In that my position was newly-created, I had to build a marketing and design department from scratch, and in doing so, cut outsourcing costs by over 75%. I ended up with a very rewarding job covering every aspect of design and marketing, and lent my expertise and services to over 20 internal stakeholders across 19 Eastern U.S. cities and five brands.

Unfortunately, the recession came along and the private aviation industry (and my company, in turn) started to fall on hard times toward the end of 2007. After more rounds of layoffs than I care to remember, my position was eliminated in September of 2009 and my duties were split up among several internal and external hands. I had a very successful experience with this company- I had helped it double in size since my hiring and it made me realize that I had made the right choice by pursuing a career in marketing and design.

Looking Forward

The longer I’ve been gone, I see that leaving my previous company was really all for the best. It has given me an opportunity to relocate back to the Northeast- closer to family and friends, while looking for work within a healthy company that respects their employees and offers great potential for personal and professional growth. If you would like to learn more about my professional experience, please take a look at my résumé, my portfolio, or contact me directly!