Summary
Hi there! My name is Bella Christopher, I am a freshman at the University of Georgia, where I am pursuing my Bachelor of Arts in Advertising and a minor in Communications studies. I have a firm belief that advertising and graphic design require more than just technical skills; it requires passion. A passion that keeps growing within me. Advertising impacts everyone’s lives more than they realize. The industry allows for all communication between brands and customers. In addition to my major and minor, I am also completing the New Media Certificate and pursuing the Sports Media Certificate. Taking New Media classes has allowed me to gain more hands-on experience with design platforms such as Adobe Creative Suite, taught me about utilizing new technology within my future career, and has given me extensive knowledge in website development. I am certified in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign along with Figma and Google Analytics. I have thoroughly studied HTML/CSS, Bootstrap, and WordPress. I have had the wonderful opportunity to be the social media lead for Jefferson High School’s Dance Team. A job in which I handled social media content, merchandise designs, and graphic designs. I am currently employed at Jennings Mill Country Club for both the food and beverage department and lifeguarding department. I have a great aptitude for anything design related. I love being creative and working with people to produce something that can be used for years to come.
Interests
Dance
Dance is my sport. I started dancing when I was in the 3rd grade. To be honest, I really only started dancing because I wanted to be a singer and actress (like most little girls), so I signed up for classes offered at my local dance studio. Long story short I ended up loving dance a lot more than singing and acting, so I went with it instead. I had the honor of making my high school’s first ever dance team for my freshman year. It was a struggle being a new team and having to make a name for ourselves, but I would never trade that experience for anything. I credit most of my character to the things I went through on that team. I became captain during my junior year and held that position until graduation. I absolutely love dance, it is my stress reliever, my distraction, and my passion. It has given me strength, resilience, and determination. I am forever grateful for who it has made me become.
Fashion
I have about a billion different styles. Growing up I was the girlest girly girl you could ever imagine. Everything was pink, glitter, and high heels. My mom honestly did not know what to do with me (she grew up a serious tomboy). I used to sketch out designs for any piece of clothing imaginable. Although, I do still adore dressing up and doing my hair and makeup, but I will say I have definitely made some progress with expanding my taste. I often say I wish I could just own every piece of clothing ever made, so I could dress in any style on any given day. Sadly, that is not possible. Even sadder, I own so many different aesthetics I am never able to quite create a cohesive style. I love watching people’s hauls, get ready with me’s, and anything related to fashion. I wish I could pull it all off, maybe one day I will get the chance to pick a different style for each day and do it correctly.
Design
Design seems like a pretty broad term, but I promise that is the only one to use. I have always been pretty creative and artistic. I had every art medium under the sun. I was always drawing, painting, or coloring. I vividly remember watching a Youtube channel that gave step by step tutorials on how to draw just about anything. I had probably hundreds of papers filled with those drawings. As I grew up and matured, so did my taste for design. I still loved art but I expanded my horizons to interior and exterior design by religiously watching HGTV with my mother. Fashion design was another strong continder fighting for my attention, mainly because of the show “Say Yes to the Dress”. Overall, the one that has stuck with me all the way until now is graphic design. It is a pretty wide variety of design in of itself; however, it encapsulated everything I could ever want: art, creativity, digital and physical illustration, etc. My love for graphic design was a big factor when choosing Advertising as my major.
Reading
Even though I did sound a little nerdy as a kid with all of my interests in art and design, I was never a huge reader. I remember reading the Secret Garden with my mother when I was in elementary school, but I was just never bitten by the reading bug. Except for maybe Nancy Drew books. I hated all the books they made us read for school. They seemed boring, not relatable, and very confusing most of the time. Do not get me started on annotating either, any slim chance there was that I would like one of the books assigned to us immediately vanished once I found out we had to annotate it. After a few years in high school I realized, like most people, school was the issue. Books were actually sick. Books that I chose to read, that is. Genres like fantasy and romance had my attention pretty fast, and they still do. A Court of Thorns and Roses is one of my favorite series along with Fourth Wing and Throne of Glass. Of course single books like In Five Years also hold a special place in my heart, as well. It makes me sad that I do not have as much time to read while being in college, but I always look forward to chipping away at my “To Be Read” list during breaks.
Sports
Oh, sports. I think this one is probably on 99% of people’s interests lists, but I will tell you about mine anyways! Before dancing I did gymnastics and cheerleading. I begged my parents to let me play softball or basketball, but that was a no go. However, I got my fill of basketball while in high school because the dance team performed at every game. My brother on the other hand played soccer his entire life. I have been to countless soccer games between all the different club and school teams. I grew up loving Messi and arguing with people about how Ranaldo was definitely not the best, just like my brother. I was watching the 2022 World Cup when Messi brought Argentina a long awaited victory. Due to my brother my love for soccer still thrives. Now my father on the other hand always loved football. He went to UGA as well and when they started winning National Championships recently I remember him telling me about how this was like reliving college for him. When he went to school they were constantly being beaten, by Alabama specifically. He never got to experience the team he loved so much winning. It really hit me hard when he said that. It helped me to form my own connection with the team. To think that I am lucky enough to go to a school with such pride and spirit that my father, who had to witness them at their worst, felt like he had a redo at his college times just warms my heart. Overall, I have love for many different sports but soccer, football, and dance will always be special to me.