Katherine Gray: Curriculum Vitae

Background & Objectives

The Official Blurb: I am a flexible, creative, and detail-oriented desktop publisher and designer with twelve years of professional experience in a wide variety of positions.  My goal is to find employment in an open-ended position with a dynamic, open-minded company or agency, where my skills in desktop publishing, editing, layout design, digital imaging, creative writing, and/or photography can be utilized to their fullest. I value creativity, flexibility, and the desire to never stop learning, and look for similar qualities in an employment opportunity.

The Fun Blurb: Back in the halcyon days of yore (i.e., high school in the early 1990s), I was part of a crack team of bleeding-edge tech geeks, music nerds, and writers convinced we were the next Tolkien. Of course, “bleeding-edge tech” at that time was Bank Street Writer and writing your own HyperCard games, so take that as you will.

I waffled between these various fields of study until after college, when I stumbled into desktop publishing. Most of my software experience is in the realm of what my husband would refer to as “tree-hugging hippy artistic stuff” – graphic design programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator, layout design, music, WYSIWYG web design, and the like. I’ve always loved books and writing, and I also discovered early on that I liked creating books as much as I liked writing them. Hence my eventual Masters degree in publishing – I love the design aspect of creating layouts, editing the text, adding images, and creating the visual, physical (or virtual) experience of the writing.

In the space between undergrad and grad school, I lucked into a position with the Facilities department of a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, which led to them paying me to write a book about the local historic cemeteries. I spent months combing archives, tracking down articles and information, browsing the historical society, and prowling the cemeteries themselves taking photographs, doing grave rubbings, and mapping out exactly who was buried where, and when, and what their headstones had to say about it. I designed the layout, wrote the text, compiled and edited the photographs, and ended up with a lovely coffee-table style book which is now for sale through the city’s offices and the historical societies.

Ever since then, I’ve been trying to weasel my multiple loves of writing, photography, and layout design into some sort of career. I’ve recently been playing around with WordPress design in my personal blog (http://www.writegray.com/museful/) and am building a portrait and event photography business over at Build Your Wings Photography.

Availability

I am available for part-time or full-time freelance work or contract assignments. Generally, I am looking for virtual/telecommute opportunities, but am open to other options. Please see the Build Your Wings Photography website for rates, packages, availability, and scheduling of photography gigs.

Experience

10/2010 – Present: Freelance Writer, Tecca.com

As a freelance writer, I am responsible for three weekly columns: Local Discovery (wherein I discuss various ways to use technology to connect with your local world and the people in it), Digital Photography 101 (wherein I offer in-depth instruction about various photographic methods and techniques), and Photography Tips (which provides a more basic overview of the ins and outs of digital photography). I also write frequent one-off articles about a wide range of subjects. Each article requires research, writing, editing, and formatting in Tecca’s online Content Management System. My work has been syndicated by Yahoo!News, LifeHacker, MSNBC, Wall Street Run, Shine, Earthtechling, SOTT, and others.

12/2007 – 9/2011: Production Specialist, Catapult Technology, Ltd., Bethesda, MD.

A wide-ranging position, my basic job duties involve performing and overseeing production/desktop publishing, including the physical specification compliance and production of proposals and marketing collateral, for the Proposal Service Center and Marketing/Business Development.

For the Proposal Service Center, responsibilities include:

• Reading and analyzing RFPs and other solicitation documentation for production and compliance issues including FARs
• Performing physical proposal planning and production (covers, spines, index creation, printing, assembly, and distribution)
• Attending proposal kickoff meetings to maintain production milestone awareness, production requirements, and timeline coordination across proposal efforts
• Collecting and storing up-to-date logos, and obtaining approval for use of images as needed
• Building style sheets, templates, and graphics for proposals and data calls; applying styles and templates to proposal volumes for both drafts and final production
• Formatting and combining text, numerical data, photographs, charts, and other visual graphic elements to produce publication-ready material as requested
• Scanning and converting photographs and drawings into digital images, then manipulating those images as directed
• Setting up and maintaining a collection of company-specific images for use in proposals
• Converting files to PDF or HTML format and performing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) as needed
• Performing other duties as requested/required to deliver timely, compliant solicitation responses and contract deliverables

For Marketing/Business Development, responsibilities include:

• Generating, formatting, photocopying, and assembling marketing presentations in accordance with company style guidelines
• Maintaining existing and build new style sheets, templates, clipart, and graphics for marketing presentations
• Setting up and maintaining a marketing presentation library
• Performing other duties as requested/required to deliver timely and compliant marketing/business development materials

Accomplishments:

• Research, design, and development of a company Style Guide, establishing company policies for typesetting, document formatting, color palettes, guidelines for use of language, creation of graphics, physical production, and the publications process
• Completed conversion of approximately 98% of the forms in use by HR and other company departments from printed forms to fillable PDFs
• Assisted in the design and creation of a company Media Kit
• Assisted in the re-establishment of a lapsed bi-monthly company newsletter, and responsible for layout and design of every issue
• Awarded Certificate of Excellence for “outstanding performance of the Proposal Department in 2009,” 12/2009

12/2005 – 12/2007:  Design & Production Principal Coordinator, BAE Systems, McLean, VA.

As part of the Design & Production Department, primary responsibilities included:

• Proposal production and layout design
• Graphic design and image manipulation
• Ensuring adherence to government RFP requirements
• Working within tight deadlines.

Secondary responsibilities included editing, printing, and binding.  Utilized various software including the Microsoft Office Suite, and Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Acrobat.  Awarded Certificate of Appreciation for On Time Mission Service, July 2007.

04/2005 – 12/2005: Desktop Publisher, BOSS Staffing, Bethesda, MD.

IBM, 04/2005-08/2005, BearingPoint, 08/2005-12/2005.
Primary responsibilities included proposal production and layout design, ensuring adherence to government RFP requirements, and working within tight deadlines.  Secondary responsibilities included graphic design, image manipulation, and printing.  Utilized various software including the Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat.

11/2003 – 03/2005: Electronic Publishing Specialist, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Falls Church, VA.

Primary responsibilities included formatting of text and graphics for government proposals.  Secondary responsibilities included graphic design, editing, database creation and upkeep, and research for proposals.  Utilized the Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe PageMaker and PhotoShop, Corel WordPerfect, and others.

05/2003 – 10/2003: Production Specialist, Whereoware, LLC, McLean, VA.

Responsible for creation and upkeep of supplier websites, including creation and editing of digital images, graphic design, database creation and upkeep, and customer relations. Utilized web-based interface, FTP server, custom data transfer programs, Adobe Photoshop, Equilibrium Debabelizer, Microsoft Frontpage, and the Microsoft Office Suite.

06/2001 – 05/2003: Senior Text Processor, Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, OH.

Worked with various clients including the U.S. Department of Energy. Duties included layout creation and design, graphic design, editing, HTML, and text processing of documents. Utilized a wide variety of software including Adobe PageMaker, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft FrontPage, CorelDraw, and the Microsoft Office Suite.

01/2000 – 06/2001: Various Positions, City of Dublin Ohio.

Official job titles included Seasonal Grounds Maintenance Worker and Seasonal Horticulture Worker. In addition to grounds maintenance and horticulture work, compiled cemetery research into a 200-page book, with photographs, personal anecdotes, and historical facts. Responsible for all aspects of book publication, from writing and photography to page layout, graphic design, and editing.

11/1999 – 04/2000: Temp, OfficeTeam, Columbus, OH.

Various duties including word processing, spreadsheets, proofreading, correspondence, filing, and general office duties.

10/1998 – 10/1999: Cemetery Intern, City of Dublin Ohio.

Very independent, self-directed position. Responsible for updating the city’s burial computer system. Involved a great deal of research, both in the cemeteries and in local historical and genealogical societies, as well as basic data entry. Position led to being hired full-time to write a book about the city’s cemeteries (see above).

Education

• Masters of Professional Studies (M.P.S.) in Publishing, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 10/2007
• Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) with Distinction in English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 12/1998.  Major: English with focus in Creative Writing. Completed extensive coursework in language, grammar, and creative writing
• Worthington Kilbourne HS, Linworth Alternative Campus, Worthington, OH, 1994.  Graduated with Honors in English, 06/94. National Honor Society Member. Completed independent study coursework in English, art, history, and publishing.

Memberships

• Washington, D.C. InDesign Users Group, member

Skills

• Comfortable working with little supervision
• Able to juggle multiple projects and deadlines
• Eager to use skills and talents to find creative solutions to problems
• Comfortable working with both PC and Mac operating systems
• Technical Skills
• Page Layout & Design (Adobe PageMaker, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, Quark Xpress)
• Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Publisher)
• Digital Photographic Imaging (Adobe PhotoShop)
• Digital Imaging (Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw)
• HTML/Web Design (Microsoft FrontPage, Adobe GoLive, Dreamweaver, some hard coding, some experience with CSS, some experience with Flash)
• Writing, Editing
• Typing (+70 wpm)

References, design portfolio, hard copies of print projects, and examples of web design available on request.