I strive to live each day with purpose rather than perfection.
To do better, to find joy in the little things, learn from others, embrace obstacles and always challenge the status quo.
Hometown
Farmington, Maine
Current City
Ferrisburgh, Vermont
micromastery pursuits
Aviation
Mindfulness
Mandolin
Paramedicine
Mountain biking
Italian
Hello there, my name is Caitlin. I’m originally from a small town in the foothills of western Maine where I learned to ski and fell in love with the wilderness. At an early age, I learned to garden and play the cello from a local tomato farmer who passed along pointed wisdom, unique worldly tunes, and tried and true canning recipes. I grew up with many other Caitlins which earned me the nickname Dougie early on.
In the mid-2000s, music took me all over the east coast US and later northeast Canada while touring with my high school fiddle group. Beyond new tunes, we discovered a deep interconnectedness within musicians of the deep south, and an incredible support network for people supporting others’ passions, all-embracing their unique circumstances.
A curriculum dedicated to the arts led me to Champlain College in Burlington, VT where I learned both the power and finesse of Graphic Design in communications. Through Champlain’s ‘upside-down curriculum,’ I dove into internships with letterpress designers and national print and digital companies in my early years gaining first-hand experience working with clients and in-house marketing and business professions.
I spent my third year exploring Dubrovnik, Croatia, and Europe at large while studying International Business and Diplomacy. Croatia sparked what would become a lifelong passion for learning about and experiencing different cultures, and their histories and intricacies. Upon my return, I opted to graduate early in the winter of 2014 and move to Italy where I volunteered in remote farming towns as a ‘madrelingua’ helping students in primary and secondary schools.
In 2015 after returning to the US I began working as a graphic designer for Dealer.com, a national automotive company based in Burlington, Vermont which managed all aspects of car dealership websites from creative content, to SEO, site construction, and more. I concurrently gained my Master of Executive Leadership and worked to deploy the skills I acquired to help improve process efficiencies and client satisfaction at work. Through persistent research and a desire to continually advance, we were able to reduce build time by 75% (2 hours reduced to 30 minutes) and increase first-round client approvals by 30%.
With a continued desire to learn and immerse, I found myself weaving international service opportunities into my leftover PTO time, working with and later traveling to Maher Ashram in Pune, India to help with graphic design and communications promoting their humanitarian efforts. To give back on a more local scale, in 2017 I pursued my Emergency Medical Technician license and later Advanced, and Paramedic licenses for the state of Vermont.
In the summer of 2019, I left the automotive industry, taking a brief hiatus to explore Vermont behind the handlebars of my mountain bike. I then dove into medicine working as a clinical simulation technician—starting my paramedic certification shortly thereafter. In the fall of 2021, I completed my 16-month paramedic certification, and simultaneously, enlisted as a crew chief maintainer in the VTANG. After nine months of training, I am back in Vermont working as a crew chief maintainer, volunteering weekly as a paramedic provider.
Life Mantra & Work Summary
I strive to: live with motivation and dedication for self-advancement, with the intent to use my creative problem-solving to help people from all walks of life find, and express their potential, and further their goals. To embrace experiences, empathize with people and circumstances, approach situations with an open mind, live with honesty and own my mistakes. To have the bravery and a willingness to take risks, continually improve as a leader, and never stop learning.
Recent Job Timeline:
09.2021 - present
12.2017 - present
06.2020 - 10.2021
10.2019 - 10-2021
Crew Chief Maintainer
VTANG, BURLINGTON, Vermont
Volunteer Paramedic
Essex Rescue, Essex, Vermont
Paramedic Certification
NEEMSI, New Hampshire
Simulation Technician
Clinical Simulation Laboratory,UVM
06.2015 - 08.2019
Project Manager
Dealer.com, Vermont
Graphic Designer
Dealer.com, Vermont
MS in Executive Leadership
Champlain College, Vermont
Graphic Design Specialist
Dealer.com, Vermont
2014 - 2015
English Teacher, Italy
World education programs
Design Intern
Driven Studios, Vermont
Letterpress Design Intern
Zoe Ink, Vermont
2011 - 2014
BFA in Graphic Design & Digital Media
Champlain College, Vermont
Graphic Designer
Career services, housing Departments
Life’s weird.
And, I like it that way.
Thanks for stopping by, hope to connect with you soon!
