Her Story
About Johnna
I've always been an artist at heart, but my professional journey has taken many turns before I found my way to where I am today. I started my career as a sound editor in the motion picture industry, working on feature films for about 10 years at major studios like Warner Brothers, Skywalker, Disney, and Paramount. I came from a small town in Nevada to Los Angeles not knowing a single person, and I made it in that massive town just by my work ethic alone. When medical issues forced me to pivot, I moved back home to Reno and worked for a small adventure film production company, where I learned both the production and post-production sides of filmmaking. I then spent about 6 years working for the county in Child Protective Services and code enforcement while raising my children, but honestly, that's not where my heart was. I knew it was time to lean into the things I've always absolutely loved, so I decided to go back to school to put some credentials where my heart always was. Even though I already had a bachelor's degree in music, I set out to get a second bachelor's degree in graphic design. I've been officially working as a graphic designer for about 4 years now, doing freelance work on my own, and I'm finding that I get enough work coming in as a freelancer to meet all of the things that I have to juggle in life. I've also written two children's books, self-publishing and teaching myself the self-publishing world on my own. One of my books is about learning how to read and write for kids, and I'm passionate about getting physical books into the hands of underprivileged kids who may not have books just lying around. Over the next 5 years, I see myself diving more into the children's book side and really pushing that, while filling in the blank spaces with my web design and graphic design work and pursuing my passion projects full force.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Johnna
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think it would honestly be the support of my family and friends. It's hard to tell people you're changing careers and switching again, but when I really started talking more to them, I found that I had a lot more support than I realized. People were like, oh, finally, someone that we know who can do this! And so then they immediately started talking to friends and got me a lot more business connections. I was just pleasantly surprised about the support that I would get from everybody.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say my biggest advice would be to find your voice of what you really like to do, and as far as your artistic direction or what really makes you sing, and keep doing that and keep getting better at those skills, no matter what people tell you. Because art is so amazing that it doesn't appeal to just one type of person, it appeals to many different types of people, and there will be a company out there or a business that needs your particular type of skills. I love how art speaks to different people in different ways, and there's no one way to tell the story. Continue to do what you do and keep trying to get more skills, but stay true to your design aesthetic. If you need to pivot and change, then do that, but just be true to yourself. Don't try to emulate someone else's work, and it's okay for you to have your own little quirky way.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
My biggest challenge right now is my age. Ageism is rampant, and I think with graphic design, companies are worried that you're maybe not on top of it because they don't see necessarily that you've been doing this for your entire life, they only see what your education is. That's a massive deterrent for companies and people when they see you.
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