Full Plates

When I was in the sixth grade, I entered my first national design competition, a birthday card to Sprout (Green Giant's side-kick), and won. It was like that scene in Christmas Story when the giant box shows up long after the dad had entered the contest. My box was not marked “Frajeelay,” but rather “This End Up”-I know this because my parents still have the box. My giant box was as tall as I was and came loaded with green stuff-notably a footprint-shaped shag rug, birthday party supplies for 20, a pocket watch and a check for $75.00 (a lot of money for a 12-year old in 1978.)

This life-altering experience sent me on a competition-entering binge. Notably, by year's end, I had won a Mickey Mouse watch and a season's pass to Six Flags Over Mid-America. I have gone on to win other major contests and sometimes I am filled with the same excitement that I had when my giant box showed up, though to date $75.00 remains the largest monetary award. What I didn't know at the time was that I was getting my first big payoff for working hard and taking a chance. Yes, I was busy with friends and sports and family and math class and life, but so what; I fit it in.

“Never miss a lunch.”

I moved to California when I was 20 to attend Art Center College of Design-an incredible place in so many ways. In spite of the intense program of full-day classes five days a week, I had to work to help pay for school. By the end of my second term I was juggling Art Center, a weekly deadline of hand-lettered signs for Jurgensen's markets and a paid internship at Morava and Oliver Design Office. The latter changed my life. My semester-long internship turned into seven semesters, which turned into a full-time job, which turned into a partnership that would leave me back in St. Louis with my own business.

I never said I was too busy for the smallest assignment or the largest. I spent many evenings pouring through swatchbooks, paper promotions, and printed samples that the Great Evie Kelsey, “Queen of Paper,” would drop off. I loved press checks then, and I do now. One day back in the early '90s, upon hearing one of the firm's partners inviting me to lunch, a wise friend whispered, “Never miss a lunch.” He wasn't talking about food, he was talking about opportunity. Getting to go to lunch with clients, vendors and employers is a gift. I always accepted, and then worked late.

I worked late a lot, mostly because I wanted to. There is no substitute for mileage-and dues are mileage. I was incredibly fortunate to work hard in a kind place. Doug Oliver, Emmett Morava and Jim Berte changed my life-especially Doug. I am profoundly grateful to him for the education and the opportunities. Of course dues paying never ends-it's an evolutionary thing that leads to life's revolutions. When I was asked to write this essay, I could have said “no” but what the heck; I fit it in and enjoyed a thoughtful couple of hours with myself while paying some dues toward experience sharing. It's 1:45 a.m. and I am off to feed our hungry eight-month old. Fortunately our three-year-old superhero likes to sleep in.

Deanna Kuhlmann-Leavitt
Principal, Kuhlmann Leavitt, Inc. St. Louis