[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by PrettyBoy

In my family, I was somewhat of the oddball, I guess. I have an older brother (also a Nupe ) who majored in biology (Central State University) and went on to study dentistry at Meharry. He's now a dentist. I have an older sister who was a math major (University of Chicago) and now works in Human Resources. My mom (education major, Prairie View A&M) retired as an adult education teacher. My dad was a business major, same college as my mom (retired business owner and director).

Me? I majored in art (the oddball of the family).

Long story short. I went to CSU as an art major. From there, I received my degree in art. After leaving CSU, I applied and submitted my portfolio to CCS in Detroit. I competed for Trans (Transportation Design) my second year, now Auto Design. At the time, only second year students could compete for Trans (You have to compete, because too many ID students want auto). After my review, I was one of 17 students who made it into Trans. After my second year there, I took a summer contract job at Chrysler. During that time, I just kept adding to my portfolio and building on it.

When I returned to school for my 3rd year, AIAS sponsored the student show that semester. A designer from the company I currently work for came out to look at the student work, and he liked my ideations and clay model. He gave me his card, and told me to give him a call. After that semester ended, I sent them my resume with my portfolio, and they soon offered me a permanent position as an auto designer. I accepted, and never went back to CCS (as a student) since I already had a bachelors. I didn't need a second one. However, two days out of the week I do teach Viscom, design theory, mini-trans, auto, and senior auto there, depending on the year.

I didn't have a Plan B. I majored in art, because I was either going to be an auto designer or be an unhappy man. I've been with the same company since 2008, and I enjoy every bit of what I do for a living.

That's really interesting. Any specific cars you've worked on?

On a different note, I just went to my first LA alum meeting. It was interesting meeting sisters in this market and the variety of career choices that they made. I love to explore how people arrived at their major/career decisions since my parents (well really mom) was very adamant that we have a practical major, ie. nursing, medicine, teaching, law. That's it, and the whole time I was in school my mom bugged me to go to nursing school to have something to "fall back on" if med school didn't work out. I was amazed in college that others had viable majors not on the "approved" list and they turned out just fine. The LA career scene was even more innovative and interesting. My mom's head would have exploded.