Don’t Judge a Designer by Their Cover

Over the past several weeks, I hope you’ve had as great of a time meeting my Catalyst Communications Network (CCN) teammates as I have!

I recently joined CCN as its new digital production designer, and in my short time here thus far, I have really enjoyed making sure my coworkers’ personalities shine throughout our magazines.

I know that, on the outside, I may appear vastly different from our typical contributors and columnists. I am a non-binary goth who happens to be married to a woman. We live in Chicago with our 3 cats — Sherman, Toblerone and Sylas — despite both growing up in small cities that were mere minutes from rural America.

Now, I don’t know about you, but growing up, my grandma always said, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

And she’s right, I really am not that different once you get to know me.

I was born in Illinois where I grew up among corn fields. I spent most of my childhood in Peoria, the home of Caterpillar (don’t worry John Deere lovers, I spent some time in the Quad Cities too). My journalism career started in college at Southern Illinois University’s student newspaper, The Daily Egyptian. Since then, I have worked at numerous organizations, such as The Peoria Journal Star, The Dispatch-Argus, American Institutes for Research, The News-Enterprise, Paxton Media Group and Gateway Journalism Review.

When Brian Ethridge, CCN’s head of content, reached out to me about the digital production designer position, I jumped at the opportunity to be part of the CCN team. Catalyst stands for change, and as someone who loves learning, it was an exciting prospect that I couldn’t pass up.

In my free time, I love to learn. I enjoy collecting and reading books. Away from work, you can also find me contemplating potential recipes to try out, lurking in the aisles of my favorite local produce store.

I love to bake and cook meals, whether that be for myself or my family and friends. This past week, I baked a strawberry rhubarb pie and brownies — but a frequent request is always for me to bake focaccia.

Since joining the crew at CCN, I have been working in the shadows to continue the standard of excellence of my fellow peers and those before me. I aim to continue to ensure CCN’s publications are beautiful, readable and engaging. Recently, I have even been contributing photos to some of the stories within our magazines.

With my new role at CCN, I hope to continue to further the company’s goals toward sustainability, inclusivity and progress—and most of all, stories that connect us.

Abbey La Tour (Digital Production Designer)