To the XBOX-addicted art student or the casual freelancer, juggling a multifaceted team of artists and designers while establishing a corporate brand from the inside out might seem overwhelming – but doing all of that while raising a two year-old? That’s the kind of pressure that could cause some artists to choose between the pen tool and the pacifier, but it’s precisely that kind of multitasking that helps Rhonda Pratt Perko (’89 VC) maintain her focus.  

As the Senior Art Director and manager of the internal design department at Micron Technology, Inc., Perko has saved the company nearly a million dollars over the past four years by keeping the design duties in-house while simultaneously expanding Micron’s brand recognition. It might be tempting to consider her career a success based solely on the bottom line, but it’s clear from her thoughtful answers to any question that Perko is more concerned with the big picture.  

“Creative work can sometimes be more of a challenge than everyone thinks,” says Perko. “Working in a creative environment can be the ‘spark of light which will send a creative [person] over the edge to a sheer genius, award winning piece of work.’ That is not always reality.”  

Instead of solving problems with the help of coffee cups or cloning, Perko prefers the one-two punch of Organization and Persistence. She maps out the Who, What, Why and How of each new assignment before she even begins sketching up concepts, making sure to always stay “on-brand.” She scours her environment for ideas and inspiration, borrowing from books, music and fashion in order to tackle the challenges of design. And she has become highly skilled at Dealing With People, offering a shortlist of friendly reminders for those times when personality conflicts become part of the process (“The client is always right”, “Know when to pick your battles”, and the universally useful “Don’t pout and whine”). It’s that kind of short, simple approach that helps her stay in control.  

“This is not a glamorous industry,” Perko insists. “Long hours and late nights.” She should be used to it. As one of the principals behind the international pop culture magazine Fright X, Perko spent much of the ‘90s juggling her advertising clients by day and pushing the print media envelope by night. By comparison, balancing the boardroom and the baby’s room may not seem like such a stretch after all.