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Emily Cotler, Creative Director

• Once stood within 50 feet of The Queen (indeed!)
• Slightly addicted to Wikipedia
• Ideal escape from cyberspace: Colorado snowboarding

Favorite cupcake: Cheesecake with blueberry filling.

Read more about Emily's experience.

 

Abi Bowling, VP of Everything Else

• Learned BASIC at age ten on her father’s Osborne 1
• Kissed by Richard Dawson on Family Feud at age four
• Can tell a taxi driver he’s crazy in Thai
• Favorite cupcake: “Cupcake, shmupcake, just give me a vat of cream cheese frosting and a spoon!”

 

Tarrin Petersen, Studio Goddess

• Cupcake connoisseur
• Former college water polo player
• Taller than most
• Favorite cupcake: Lemon gingerbread with white chocolate buttercream

Check out Tarrin's favorite cupcake recipes.

 

Estella Tse, Senior Designer,
Web & Print

• Earned the nickname “Grandma” for her early bedtime
• Boasts an impressive Mario Kart record time of 1:55:590 for the Yoshi's Circuit map
• Favorite TV shows include LOST, The Wire, and Mad Men
• Favorite cupcake: Red Velvet

   

Misono Yokoyama Allen, Designer, Web & Print

• Proud parent of chinchilla, Diesel
• Forever a Virginia Tech Hokie
• (fluent in Japanese)
• Favorite cupcake: Hummingbird cake

   

  
  

Sarah Drasner, Designer, Web & Print

• Can safely lead groups of 20 or more hiking up the tree-covered waterfalls near Kuşadası, Turkey.
• Taught Byzantine icon painting in Santorini, Greece
• Won't eat blue M and Ms.
• Favorite cupcake: Blackbottom

 

Maxamaris Hoppe, Stickers and Shipping and Stuff (Oh, My!)

• Can wiggle her nose
• Enamored with the ampersand
• Prefers show tunes to every other kind of music
• Favorite cupcake: Coconut Cream

   

The Wax team!
Read more about the penguins.

Photography on this page by deborah sherman photography (Check out deborah's blog about art in Oakland!) except for photo of Maxamaris and Sarah, by Estella Tse.

Emily's Experience

Just how does an UCLA History major find herself in a Design independent study program? “I camped outside of Professor Kathleen Bick’s office for two weeks begging for an audience. I wasn’t in the design program, but I was really drawn to design and wanted to do an independent study. She finally relented. I got an A.” Not exactly what one would call a typical start, but telling nonetheless of Emily’s undeniable drive when it comes to something she’s passionate about.

Many more design classes followed and lead to employment and creative partnerships with industry professionals including Kelly Goto and Shelby Tupper. Emily learned every aspect of design from the ground up in her ten years of experience prior to opening Waxcreative Design in 1998. From wedding invitations, medical packaging, and tee shirts to menus, corporate newsletters, and CD packaging, Emily created a wide spectrum of communication design before ever signing on to the internet. But she wouldn’t reroute her road to business ownership for anything, stating, “Schooling only takes you so far in this industry. Experience — including both a honed ability to understand audience as well as the innate ability present in accomplished designers to see design potential in raw content — this is key to success.”

In the late 90s Emily heard the call of the web — or rather, her sister’s nonstop badgering for a workable and attractive website that both showcased her as an author and furthered her career goals. This was new. This was innovative. This was something that Emily couldn’t resist. It fed her creative side while stretching her technical muscles. Armed with her newly-learned HTML skills and a decade’s worth of invaluable experience, Emily set to work on what would become the first version of JuliaQuinn.com.

Other sites followed quickly, including JanePorter.com and SusanKayLaw.com —sites that Emily would redesign years later as careers grew and the web changed. Then in early 2000 Emily partnered with web design powerhouse Goto to write a book that would prove to become a web industry standard. Web ReDesign: Workflow That Works, now in its second edition and translated into 14 languages, continues to be a staple in web design departments and firms across the globe and included in college-level and post-graduate curricula.

Nearly ten years and over 70 highly acclaimed sites later, Emily’s excitement for her craft is as fresh as it was when she sat herself down outside of Professor Bick’s office that fateful fall day.

A regular speaker at industry conferences, Emily is available for speaking engagements as her schedule allows.

WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO NEXT?
Have us design your site.
Find out about our different products.
Browse our print and web portfolio.