Who

Thea is a professional Multimedia Designer and aspiring artist who lives in a tiny, one-stoplight town in Colorado. If she were not connected to the Internet via laptop, desktop, and mobile devices 24 hours a day, she might feel isolated. As it is, she feels quite connected to her friends, family and colleagues via Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, Skype, Messenger, and more.

Thea has been inspired and influenced by computers since she first started learning how to read from educational games like “Reader Rabbit” on her family’s Apple II. In 2003, she graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Multimedia from The University of the Arts. She promptly paid her entry-level, post-graduate dues at some of the worst jobs in the industry…but luckily, she realized that even the worst experiences have something to teach, so she ended up learning a lot.

In her full time job, Thea educates her colleagues about Web 2.0 technologies by introducing such technology as Twitter, Second Life, and Yammer. She visualized, designed, and re-created the company’s intranet portal with new collaborative technologies, such as a wiki that encourages employees to update and modify a centralized information resource. She has edited videos, animations, and media-rich presentations for internal and client use. She has built collaboration websites, created virtual proposals, facilitated webinar education sessions, and stirred up interest in the future of technology-enabled learning.

In her free time Thea blogs, tweets, dabbles in photography and 3D artwork, and tries to help inspire other artists. She loves listening to public radio and watching videos of amazing people online. She broke up with MySpace after it became a shoddy mess, but she’s warming up to Facebook. She can also be found online at LinkedIn, or in Second Life as “Asrai Theas.”

Her aspirations are to one day see the Great Barrier Reef; be interviewed on NPR regarding something she is passionate about; go to a TED conference; create something that profoundly changes our daily lives; become a recognized expert in a field that likely hasn’t been invented yet; and take a flight into outer space.

Some might consider Thea to be a digital native, and she borders on the millennial generation depending on who you ask. But she still remembers learning how to use rotary phones…though it seems like ages ago.