‏"When my friend Shelley Birnbaum prepared to open Baltimore's first all organic, eco-friendly day spa, she asked for my help. I developed early public relations, graphic design and marketing efforts that led to her business receiving "best" awards from Baltimore Magazine and the Baltimore City Paper. I later managed other graphics and multimedia projects during the transitions of her business to an exclusive skin care studio, a full retail location and online sales. The video I produced for her expansion into retail incubator space helped to raise nearly $3,000 through a crowdfunding campaign."

Photo by Brian D. Lyles of ReNew products

"For my first-ever retail job, I worked at this busy card and gift shop located in the city's historic financial district, a few blocks from the Inner Harbor waterfront. Based on a New York store, this shop was a popular place for local business workers to find very unique cards, gifts, stationery, and custom gift wrapping services. After working part-time, I briefly worked there full-time for a period, and later assisted in opening and closing the store on Saturdays. (A few years later, my second retail experience was a part-time job at Kitchen Bazaar in Harborplace)... Great Impressions was later sold and eventually closed. Today the building, constructed in 1904, has returned to its original function as a tavern."

‏Photo from Maryland Historic Trust building survey