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Emily Cotler: Creative/Art Director, Visual/UX Designer, Sits in the Chair Where the Buck Stops

• Once stood within 50 feet of The Queen (indeed!)
• Cares deeply for the word "whom," appropriate apostrophes, and the Oxford comma
• Ideal escape from cyberspace: Colorado snowboarding

Read more about Emily's history...

Abi Bowling: Lead Developer (PHP, MySQL, Wordpress), Server Chick, 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, I'll take a vat of cream cheese frosting and a spoon!”

Amanda Hanlon, Lead Developer (CSS, Responsive)*, Site Updater, Graphic Designer, Maestra of the World's Most Rockin' CMS
* Also speaks PHP, HTML, and SASS... But really, she doesn't like to brag.

• Can hold a headstand for 10 minutes
• Will sit through and enjoy any movie or tv show with a dance sequence (or better yet: a dance-off!)
• Makes a legendary tuna casserole
• Favorite cupcake: Any kind involving raspberries



Maxamaris Hoppe: Project Manager, Site Updater, Social Media Maven, Print Wrangler


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

Amanda Warren: Billing & HR Desk, Photoshop Master, Site Updater, Newsletter Ninja

• Recently became obsessed with canning and fermentation
• Has an 80-lb dog that is terrified of her 12-lb cat
• Enjoys restoring '60s Japanese motorcycles
• Favorite cupcake: Lemon
• 

  Tristan Lopez: Special Projects Coordinator, Site Updater, Black Ops, Server Sidekick

  • Reads the Lord of the Rings trilogy annually
  • Can think of nothing more sublime than a whale
  • Wrestles beasts (i.e., has three cats)
  • Favorite cupcake: Maple bacon (maple and cupcake parts non-essential)



Sabrina Santoyo: Stickers, Shipping, and Stuff (Oh My!)

• Climbed up the Teotihuacan, Sun, and Moon pyramids with her five-year-old son in 2006
• Cub Scout Den Leader '07–'12, even taught archery at camp
• Doesn't do ketchup.
• Favorite cupcake: Red Velvet



And Julie, Stealth Senior Visual Designer, who breezes in on Tuesdays...

• Thinks that Cinco de Mayo is the most romantic of days
• Isn't afraid to dig in the dirt
• Holds significant admiration for the serif
• Favorite cupcake: She's not telling. Says it's a secret. (Tristan will figure it out.)

  

Photography of Emily and Abi by deborah sherman photography (Check out Deborah's blog about art in Oakland!); all other photos taken in-house.

Emily's History

How does an UCLA History major get herself into advanced design class? “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. I persisted... she finally relented. I got an A.” Not exactly what one would call a typical start, but an example of Emily’s undeniable drive when it comes to something she’s passionate about.

Many more design classes followed, leading to employment and creative partnerships with industry professionals including Kelly Goto and Shelby Tupper. In her ten years of experience prior to opening Waxcreative Design in 1998, Emily was immersed in graphic design. From wedding invitations, medical packaging, and silkscreening to menus, corporate newsletters, and CD packaging, Emily created a wide spectrum of communication designs 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 ability that only some accomplished designers have to see design potential in raw content — this is a major key to success.”

That, yes. But also hunger.

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 (redesigned for the fourth time in mid-2012, with major initiatives phasing in three times since then, and more planned.)

Other sites followed quickly. 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 2.0: Workflow That Works, is the second edition that was released almost five years later, just as CSS was replacing tables. Translated into 14 languages, this book continues to be a staple in web design departments and firms across the globe and included in college-level and post-graduate curricula. It's still in print and selling well.

Over 100 highly acclaimed sites after that first incarnation of JuliaQuinn.com, Emily’s excitement for her craft is as fresh as it was when she parked herself outside of Professor Bick’s office that fateful fall day.

And in addition to being Waxcreative's Creative Director, Emily also served as editor-in-chief of FairyRoom, where her I'm-so-proud achievement was a literary analysis she penned on the comparative credibility of Chaucer's Wife of Bath. Well-rounded, indeed.

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