CO:member Spotlight: Ricky Santos And Finding Creativity In Community

“Before the quarantine, my office space at home never had a door, but since working from home, we had to put a door up because my two-year-old son would come in and shoot me with a Nerf gun or throw a ball at my head while I'm working,” Ricky Santos, graphic designer at Adelsberger Marketing and this week’s CO:Member Spotlight, says with a smile on his face. “I love it, though, because it's not something I was expecting to have to deal with, and I'm honestly going to miss those little family interactions.” 

For Santos, though he has found much joy in being with his family during this time, he and his coworkers at Adelsberger Marketing, a company dedicated to helping small businesses conquer digital marketing, have been challenged to think outside the box for many of their clients. He says though elements of his graphic designs have not changed throughout his time working from home (other than learning how to stay focused in his new environment, he says), Adelsberger Marketing have had to find creative ways to keep their clients safe and satisfied.  

“We've had to do some videos remotely, which was really interesting, but we were super happy that it came out as well as it did,” Santos says. 

Though he says he will miss spending as much time at home with his family, Santos has found theCO to be a meaningful space where he can be surrounded by creative individuals with various interests, talents and experiences, and he is excited to be able to return. 

Santos began his time at theCO as a Dev Catalyst and Makerspace intern while being a student at Union University. Starting off as an engineering major at Union, he was passionate about using his hands to creatively solve problems, but he quickly learned that engineering was not the route he wanted to take.

“I took one semester and found out that math is hard,” Santos says with a laugh. “Math plus science is really hard.”

After much research, he realized his desire to creatively solve problems for others was perfectly embodied in art and graphic design, which led to his change in disciplines and, eventually, to his career at Adelsberger Marketing. 

During Santos’s internship at theCO, he found a space of people with many different passions and projects, but he says they were always willing to help others. He says there is always someone at theCO to gain advice, and that is one thing he truly admired about the space. 

“It's a very diverse group of people with very diverse passions and interests and skills, which is not something you often see in Jackson, in one little space,” says Santos. 

When asked to give advice to young professionals, he answers that it is vital to never let your other passions become a hindrance to your career and to always surround yourself with people who have different interests and talents than you.  

“If I was just focused on getting an internship in graphic design or videography, I would have missed this big opportunity to work for theCO and missed out on a whole bunch of opportunities that came out of it,” Santos concludes. “Keep doing the things you already love doing, and don't put those things aside just to find a career.”