Photography by Manning Liu
Growing up, I had big dreams for my future career. Horseback rider, actress, comic artist. One high school graduation, and a few years of serving coffee later, I stumbled upon banking. A career path that was entirely uninteresting to me, but paid the bills and allowed me to finally move out of my childhood home. For a while that was enough, I’d go to my boring job for eight hours every day and then go home to the apartment that it afforded me. After three years counting cash and scanning checks, a single conversation changed everything. “wow, you’re an artist? But you’re working at a bank? Does that just eat you up inside?”. Thoroughly baffled by this customer’s words, I could only laugh, but it struck a genuine chord with me. Was I wasting my life? Impulsively, I signed up for a college art class, and as it turns out, graphic design was perfect for me. When I look to the future, I don’t see a stopping point, only more opportunities to learn, grow, and create.