From a young age I was painting, creating and designing. My mother was a painter and loved making crafts with me as a child. She encouraged and inspired my love for the arts. In college, while pursuing my degree I took a computer class and with each project designed creative covers for my papers. My professor declared – “You are a Graphic Designer trapped in the body of a teacher!” From that moment I was hooked on digital design, though mostly as a hobby.
In 2001 I moved to St Croix and in 2002 opened my wedding planning business SunCelebrations. Needing a website for the business, initially we hired someone to help out. However, having a designer’s passion, I was never quite satisfied. So, I taught myself how to build my first html site. I also began to develop skills in Digital Marketing to advertise to Destination Wedding brides.
In 2007, I went home to Massachusetts for a year and worked as an in-house freelance designer for CGI Interactive. There I designed highly animated, graphic digital sales presentations for corporate clients like Tele Atlas, Tom Tom, Fidelity, CA, and more. Working directly with their incredibly talented art department allowed me to further develop my art and digital skills, gain deeper insights into marketing and increased my love for digital media.
In 2008, I was drawn back to the sun and sea, returning to St Croix and SunCelebrations. I continued to do freelance work for CGI and took on a few local clients, as well, for web design and print projects. Additionally, I started designing illustrations for t-shirts, invitations, etc and uploading them for sale in my online Store as a creative outlet.
By 2011, having spent years recommending excursions, dining experiences, events and more to destination wedding clients and their guests – I decided it was time to create a St Croix Travel Guide that didn’t just highlight paid advertisers, but truly highlighted all the incredible things to do and food to eat on our gorgeous island. Thus, My-StCroix.com – An Insider’s Travel Guide was developed. There’s nothing better than sharing great experience and beautiful scenery! I also get to play with fun design work in my online My-StCroix shop!
Highlights & Skills
- Experienced with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver & InDesign
- Fully customized WordPress themes utilizing Genesis Framework
- Search Engine Optimization
- Social Media & Digital Marketing
- Logo & Print Design
- Digital Photography – CindyLeighPhoto.com
- Producer & Director My-StCroix promo video
- Associate Producer Travel Channel’s REAL St Croix