Long before I ever worked with Pentagram, I was a design student at Parsons with my sights set on the famed studio.
In 1992, we didn't have email or social media. If you wanted to apply somewhere, you mailed a letter or made a cold call. After two terms interning at Pushpin for Seymour Chwast, Roxanne Slimak, and Greg Simpson, I was eager to gain experience elsewhere. Roxanne encouraged me to reach out to Pentagram.
So I designed a set of three 6x6 square cards—each one focused on a “P” in my path: Parsons, Pushpin, and (hopefully) Pentagram. I spec’d the type at school, mounted and trimmed the boards by hand, and mailed them off.
I didn’t get the Pentagram internship—but I did end up interning for Emily Oberman at M&Co that same year. Emily had been my teacher at Parsons, and soon became my boss, mentor, friend, and inspiration. That connection eventually led to several collaborations with Pentagram, beginning when Emily became a partner there in 2012. When she was named a 2022 AIGA Medalist—in recognition of her exceptional contributions to the field—I was proud to see a few of the projects we worked on together featured in her tribute video:
Recently, while going through an old box, I found a copy of the original mailing. I scanned it in and am sharing it here—partly for posterity, partly as a reminder: my path hasn’t always been straight, but it’s brought me here—and I’m grateful for that.