Image Alumni ’13 Education BFA in Illustration Website www.meganleitschuh.com Social Media Tumblr Current Career Product Designer at Animal Adventure Location St. Paul, Minnesota In a couple sentences, describe what you do for work and how you feel about it. For the past three years I've been a product designer that designs stuffed animals and dog toys all day! Product design combines my love of illustration and technical details. Plus, getting to create toys for everyone and every dog to enjoy is really fun too! How did you get your job? I discovered my job via MCAD's career development website (an invaluable resource—even for alumni!). What made me stand out was that I showcased a wide variety of projects in my portfolio on top of examples of my product design work. Also, completing a mock project relevant to the job allowed me to really show them what I could do! What was your major and how did you choose it? Was it the right choice? Illustration was an easy choice when I quickly realized how many things were under its umbrella: product design, children's books, editorial illustration, and so on. Being someone that's always had an interest in all sorts of different things, illustration was a perfect fit for me. I'm always learning bits about so many different things while doing research for whatever project I'm working on. Who was your favorite teacher and why? Tom Garrett. Whether I needed help as a student or now as an alum, Tom always has a helpful answer. His words of encouragement and random anecdotes before each class stick with me to this day! Tell us about your internship. I interned at an Anthropologie retail store as a visual display assistant. While it wasn't super illustration-specific, I do like to be hands-on, and it was a nice change of pace to work on a large scale. We would receive visual objectives from corporate for store displays and decor and execute them. Projects ranged from sculpture to painting and even displays with live plants. What inspires you/your work? Nature has been, and still is, a big source of inspiration for me. Whether I'm out in nature to relax and have fun or come across a beautiful palette of rocks, water, and leaves, it never ceases to fuel new ideas for projects. How do you network yourself and your art? Tumblr and Facebook are my main forms of promotion. I post in-progress images, finished art, and also photos of my product designs in stores! In the coming year, I hope to expand into selling art and other handmade goods via Etsy and local art/craft fairs. Current obsession? Succulent gardening! What advice do you have for current MCAD students? Make use of all the resources available! This includes facilities like the service bureau, of course, but also includes your friends! Learn from one another and help each other out. It's a small school, but I've been able to make so many personal and professional connections from my time at MCAD. Name your one biggest takeaway from MCAD? How MCAD opened my eyes to all the different ways I can use my creative skills. I learned so many new things that I came to love and still love doing.