Waila Skinner's Resume

Waila Skinner
23 N. Gore Suite 208 St. Louis, Missouri 63119 USA	314-435-7830 http://www.waila.com

Summary

I bring creative solutions not only to large agencies and clients alike, but also to startups and companies looking to change their positioning. Whatever the project type, print graphics, web design, social media, I strive to go the extra mile to make sure the end product exceeds clients expectations.

My Experience includes:

working independently and with small teams

directing teams of designers, developers and other media talent.

Interfacing directly with clients

marketing and business coaching

planning and project management

designing for print and web

working directly with HTML, CSS, Sharepoint, SAP, WordPress, PHP, .NET, Flash, and other technologies.

Skills
website design, search engine optimization, logo design, and consultancy for social media and marketing. Adobe Creative Suite, Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, Quark, Adobe: Indesign, Illustrator, Acrobat Pro, Photography, iMovie, WEB 2.0, SaS, HTML/CSS, Javascript, Ajax, Actionscript, SharePoint Designer, Asp.Net, PHP

Work Experience

Independent Designer and Consultant	Saint Louis Mo
W Creative	Sept 2009 - Present

works independently with clients and other firms on various print and web projects, providing services such as website design, search engine optimization,logo design, html/css, wordpress, and consultancy for social media and marketing.

Creative Director	Saint Louis MO
Loyal TV	Feb 2009 - Aug 2009

Marketing, design, and consulting for a software as service startup.

Visual Front-End Web Designer	Saint Louis Mo
Monsanto	Feb 2006 - Jan 2009

Resolved the gap between the visual design team and the back-end implementation

by creating hassle-free design CSS/HTML templates for easy use in SharePoint

Designed clickable prototypes for tradeshow Kiosks, usability labs, and converted prototypes into to working HTML/CSS website based on results

Designed and presented user standards for design to clients

Increased productivity spearheading the use and development of xml based slideshow flash modules

Enhanced Monsanto brand by the recommending the use of social networking sites to all Monsanto brands

Successfully marketed the joint venture of Monsanto and the Weather Channel brands through creative direction of the banner advertising to receive the most response.

At a critical time in the evolution of the company's intranet, I was able to improved the way that thousands of employees communicate online every day.

Overhauled branded Monsanto websites to increase usability and give faster access to product specific data

Created brand system to communicate complex scientific instructional data into easy to understand steps, reducing processing errors by 45%

Improved usability by establishing modal window standards, by eliminating pop window problems

Earned Brand Marketing Excellence award by Monsanto Corporation for the design and development of DetlaPine Cotton website

User Centric Web Designer	St. Louis MO
EU Concepts	Aug 2004 - Aug 2006

Spearheaded project to redesign and relaunch EU Concepts website

Led project overhauling and rebranding all marketing efforts for EU Concepts

Reduced internal errors by introducing easy to use project management software

Dramatically improved customer satisfaction by offering new design options

Lowered overhead costs by 50% by streamlining email marketing distribution and metrics reporting processes

Firm expert at search engine optimization, usability, css layout and design.

Awarded "The Best of the Web, 2007: Outstanding Design", Sixth Annual Outstanding REALTOR® Association Web Design Contest

Improved search rankings for web sites using semantic XHTML standards in optimization.

Creative Director	St. Louis Mo
Vividsites	May 20002 - Jan 2004

Wrote proposals, functional specifications, and cost estimates

Led design direction maintained client relationships and managed all projects.

Managed creative team of 4 designers and developers

Wrote and designed presentation on the benefits of brand development to secure

additional work from the clients

Awarded 2nd Place: "The Best Non-Profit web site for 2003",

The St. Louis Web Developers Organization

Front End Web Designer	St. Louis Mo
CDM Fantasy Sports	Sept 1999 - Feb 2002

Provided out of the box design for online web game interfaces

Created brand strategy for individual games, with logos and marketing collateral

Strengthened client relationships with providing excellent customer service

Invited to design the Cover of PC Journal

Reduced online errors by creating unified sitemaps for company sites

Education

Interdisciplinary Studies: Web Design	1994 - 2000
University Of Missouri, Columbia Multi-media design: Advertising, Graphic Design, Marketing

Life Coach Certification	October 08 - October 09
Cynde Meyer/Spirit Seeker, Saint Louis Breathwork, body synergy, life coaching A Grade Point Average

Interests
Mid-Century Furniture Design,Photography, Color Theory, Homeopathy, Aroma Therapy, Energy Work, Matrix Energetics Practitioner, Law of Attraction coaching, Life Coach, Tarot

References
Available upon request