Experienced Leaders Panel

Are you planning for how your career in design might change in the next 5 years? 10 years? How about 20?

Join Lorenzo Wilkins, Laura Latham, Maria Claudia de Valdenebro and Cheryl Miller for a panel discussion moderated by 2018 AIGA DC Fellow Dan Banks on becoming experienced leaders.

These giants of the DC design community will share how they have successfully navigated their careers and touch on topics such as:

• Extending your creative career and fighting “burnout”
• Balancing your own design practice while nurturing others
• Setting career goals and planning for retirement
• Evolving with technology by acquiring new skills past your education
• Reinventing and refocusing your career path

This event is geared towards anyone who envisions having a long and fruitful creative career, whether you’re just out of college or already a seasoned professional.

The panel discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A.

Dan Banks (moderator)

Dan Banks has been designing and art directing in the DC area for over 25 years, starting at George Washington University, then area boutique studios, and finally founding Project Design Company, which has been providing design solutions for the past 15 years. As a graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design, Dan is a broad-based designer and is committed to building and maintaining great client relationships, overseeing the creation of successful design solutions, and avidly pushing technology barriers. He was an original partner of Flux Forward, a user experience firm. Dan Banks served on the board of the AIGA DC chapter as sponsorship director, vice president, president, and advisory board member. He’s been a long-serving Adjunct Professor at American University and has spoken on branding and web design. Dan’s creativity spills into interior design and color consulting; most notably, he was a featured designer on HGTV’s Curb Appeal for two seasons.

Most recently, Dan was awarded the 2018 AIGA DC Fellow Award.

Lorenzo Wilkins

Lorenzo Wilkins, a Howard University graduate, is a creative/art director of graphic design who has worked extensively in his field for some 35+ years.

Mr. Wilkins heads a graphic design business that specializes in providing graphic communication solutions for a wide variety of clients in print, TV and film.
Mr. Wilkins has received recognition and awards from the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, several APEX Awards for Publication Design, Communicator Awards for Print, University & College Designers Association Award, and an Ozzie Award.

The art of photography has always been a passion of his, along with his love of design. Recently he has embarked on producing a YouTube video series titled “ArtLife/LifeArt: An Insight into Creativity” which explores the creative process as told by the artists themselves.

Laura Latham

Laura Latham is currently the Design Director at the Gensler Research Institute. She is dedicated to connecting and communicating research from across the firm to inform design of all aspects of life—how we live, work, play and care. Laura not only provides design direction for all Research publications, but also leads Gensler’s research focused on longevity and intergenerational community models. Connecting physical and social architecture to create sustainable solutions for our rapidly changing demographics has become her passion. In Laura’s previous role as a Design Director in Gensler’s brand and graphic design practice, her work spanned many industries including hospitality, finance, travel, corporate and residential real estate, designing places, spaces, print and digital communications that create rich user experiences.

Maria Claudia De Valdenebro

Ms De Valdenebro brings over 20 years of experience managing strategic communication, marketing and social marketing campaigns as well as product placement and promotion. Ms De Valdenebro has worked internationally (Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia), assisting countries with design of family planning product packaging, including holding focus group discussions to ensure successful product design and use, and building capacity of local staff and counterparts to create their own information materials and campaigns, including use of GPS and other software. Ms De Valdenebro has designed and produced corporate and project branding and information materials for technical and non-technical audiences, and delivered training on multiple aspects of such. Ms De Valdenebro has created corporate and project identities, and managed products from concept and design through layout and printing in a way that ensures cost-effective production. From the US, Ms De Valdenebro provides technical assistance to field staff in the aforementioned activities, and produces printer-ready materials for local printing. Products produced include: corporate and project identities (logos, templates, other branded materials); Point-of-Purchase materials (packaging, posters, brochures, displays); and information in various media (toolkits, reports, briefs, web sites, slide shows).

Cheryl Miller

Cheryl D. Miller is a Corporate Communications Designer best known for her groundbreaking industry article in Print Magazine 1987, “Black Designers Missing In Action,” developed from her acclaimed Pratt Institute graduate thesis, “Transcending The Problems Of The Black Designer To Success In The Marketplace.” Her thesis and article inspired she and her peers to launch the 1991 landmark premiere NY AIGA Diversity and Inclusion conference, “Why Is Graphic Design 93% White?” Currently, The Cheryl D. Miller Collection at Stanford University houses her 50 year legacy design scholarship and portfolio archives of graphic design work and writings. She travels to lecture about her story. A native of Washington D.C., she began her career as a broadcast designer for WTOP TV, WRC TV WHMM TV, before establishing her design career and practice in New York City.

Solid State Books

Solid State Books is DC’s newest independent bookstore and cafe, located in the bustling and historic H Street Corridor. Solid State carries a wide range of books and gifts for adults and children, plus coffee, beer, wine, and snacks in our cafe. We host author talks, book groups, story times for children, and other goings-on nearly every day of the week.