Are you self-employed?

Yes

What is your background? What types of degrees, skills, experiences are necessary for this field?

I come from "decades" of theatre background. Designing lights and sets and constructing lights and even was on stage a couple of times. As I reached my forties, it was time to change careers. I went to a two year school to learn some of the basics, I already had a design background. Received a certificate for Graphic Design, Computer Graphics and Multimedia.

I think tenacity is an important trait. Aside from being creative and believing in your designs, you must also be flexible and remember, the client is the one that needs to be happy, not you.

How did you get started in this field?

I just did.... I found some non profits that would let me design for them as I was almost finished with school, and I just put myself out there and kept pushing until my client base grew.

What college (if any) courses have been most helpful for your career?

To be honest, most of the courses I took could have been done outside of an educational institution, but having instructors to guide you and support you and the discipline of the daily lessons was a help to complete.

What are your specific responsibilities?

That depends on the clients needs. Mostly I am an overall project manager with input as to content of the websites as well as overall design and implementation of that design. I speak only about webwork because that is 99% of my client base. I not only help design the look and architecture of the sites, as well as coding them, but usually I am involved in the actual domain registration as well and the overall maintenance and updating once the site is launched. Lucille Design is a one stop shop, if I don't do it, I got resources I can contact out to that will.

Describe a typical workday and workweek. What do you do during a typical day?

Having a home office, that starts with waking up... getting coffee, checking and responding to emails and laying out the needs of the day based on requests. I usually have at least one large project that I am working on in a site development or update and this means a couple of hours a day on that one client. This can be reworking rough designs, creating the completed graphics, coding content, or whatever, depending on the progress of the job. It always involves uploading files for the client to proof or comment on.

Then I usually have three or four other requests from my 30+ client base, with some minor modifications, additions or questions about their sites. I can work anywhere from six to twelve hours a day depending on my workload... it is impossible to tell one day to the next. The other thing that I do EVERY DAY, is check craig's list and the sfwow digests to see if I can find more work, or be a help to someone in the community.

Name 5-7 job skills that are needed for your job.

• Creative flair
• Meticulous eye for detail
• Flexibility in the process
• and of course the real basics... HTML coding, Graphic Program expert proficiency (PhotoShop, ImageReady, Flash, Illustrator)

No and yes.. I am not on any team but I also create a team with my clients.

Do you have flextime? Vacation time? Work at home? Telecommute?

Work at home

How many hours per week are expected or warranted for peak performance?

Depends on the week... could be short, could be excruciatingly long.

Are many evenings or weekends required for your job?

Whatever is needed... depends... sometimes lots.. .sometimes not necessary. usually I do some work every weekend, but try to give myself at least one day off, and try to finish by 7pm at night.

How much travel is involved with a job in your field?

Next to none.

Could you give me examples of projects that you are working on?

Developing a website for the following...

1. An online homeopathic pharmacy and information portal
2. A philanthropy group with a focus on funding women identified lesbian projects.
3. an informational portal that has visions of growing beyond that scope with a focus on Attention Deficit Disorder.
4. a business focusing on marketing strategies.
5. a women's health practice located in the bay area.

Aside from these new sites that are currently in development, I also maintain over 20 other sites that are continually updating and growing.

Could you describe your work settings? Offices, machinery, resources etc.

Skylite, glass doors out to my backyard... Two computers, both mac. one for me, one for my intern. scanner, multiple external drives and zips and jazz drives, DSL, fax, copier, printers....

What personal qualities do you think are necessary for someone to be successful in this occupation?

Like I said before, tenacious, flexible and self confident.

What is the major challenge you face at work?

Never doing the same thing twice.

What aspects of your job do you find most rewarding (pros) ? Least rewarding? (cons)

pros....

• Most rewarding is knowing that the moment I upload something on the web, it becomes planetary and folks all over the world can now access it. And many of my sites are international.. I love watching the stats on those.
• I love being in a field that is ever evolving and my focus is in the non profit and philanthropy sector, so enabling them to get hooked into this medium is a thrill.

• It is a boyz world and I am a middle aged dyke.. sometimes, it is hard to get beyond first impressions...
• Working with limited budgets is my choice to some extent but... it would be nice if all this was not so expensive.
• Trying to explain the limits of the web over and over and over to folks that are not that web saavy... sometimes folks think that cross browser and cross platform should all look the same and we should be able to control it like print. Dream on.
• Not being able to control it like print.

Are you kidding? It has probably changed since I started writing this email.

Describe the changes taking place in your field. Project future trends?

The incredible speeds available, and video and such... I think a lot more folks are going to be getting into DVD now as well... So I am prepping for that.

Do you think women avoid technical careers? What do you think can be done to encourage girls to get more involved in the technology field?

Sure... they are male dominated... and it is labeling to be a geek in todays world... more women need to out themselves and mentor. and the society as a whole has to change it beliefs and its advertising schemes... but this is true in so many aspects... I don't see it happening.. what I do see, is more folks trying to affect the small community they involved themselves in.

Do you believe that women will be in more technical jobs in the future?

Sure, but not enough.

Do you have any advice for women and girls that are interested in going into the field?

Just do it.. if you like it, stay with it.. and get in a group that is supportive.