Kaila Pettis

I was born and raised as an only child in Chicago, Illinois. To give you an idea, my mom and I were the only two in my family to graduate from college, so I never really had a passion to be anything like a doctor or lawyer.

I was the only girl who lived on my block, so naturally hanging with the boys became an everyday thing. All of my friends were heavily into sports, and after my mom got over the fact that I was a "girl," she allowed me to play. I ended up being the first female to play baseball for Jackie Robinson West in Chicago. I went on to play sports throughout my entire life, which is what drives my passion for primarily working in athletics now. An ACL injury in college put a halt to my career and caused me to focus more on my education.

Growing up, my mom had to give me a pen and paper to keep me quiet in church. I still have a lot of those drawings. They're terrible, but then again I was, like, 4 or 5 years old. From then on, I filled sketchbooks with drawings up until high school.

I was always a math whiz, so everyone rooted for me to be an engineer, not an artist. Still undecided, I went to college undeclared and took classes in engineering, architecture, and life drawing as an elective. I came across a study called "Industrial Design," which basically was a cross between design and engineering.

I've done work in a variety of fields. I actually started as a videographer shooting music videos for local artists in Chicago. That's initially how I began to build my following. A few of them went on to be big names in the industry today—I think Chance The Rapper being the biggest.  

As far as design work, I started as an industrial designer in the point-of-purchase industry. If you go to Best Buy and walk around, you'll notice most products have a display that you interact with (pressing buttons, lifting, etc.). Those displays are some of the things I had the opportunity to design. After leaving industrial design, I took a job at Washington University Athletics as a Graphic Designer. One year later, I am now at Rutgers.

The biggest struggle for me has definitely been the business side of things. Being a freelancer was a totally different ball game for me—keeping track of jobs and reaching out to prospective clients.

It has honestly given me a different perspective on things. I have always been the only female AND person of color in my classroom and office, so I'm now comfortable in any situation.

My biggest motivator is seeing how my designs impact others. Creating something that is just bigger than myself and watching the impact it has is so rewarding.

Creating in the sports industry does not feel like work to me. I love design. I love sports. I love what I do.

I would love to see people's perspective change about design. I want them to understand the value and how it can benefit them, and to realize that everything they touch was designed by someone.

Make connections. Push your work out on social media and get as many eyes on it as you can. Take criticism and learn to grow from it. Word of mouth is very powerful; don't underestimate it.