012: Victor Davila of AIGA Orlando

She was the one that called me up to the majors. When I first started on the board, I was paired up with Dionne Akins, we were the coeducation coeducation chairs. And she's the one that started the mentorship, or at least the way we know it today, she started the mentorship program. So I was happy to be able to learn from her. And then I went from that to membership and to vice president and to co president and to the president with Devin Hornschmeier.

So that took me all the way through 2020, '20 '20 '1 or so. And then after that, in the twenty nineteen leadership retreat is when Francis Yllana from Dallas Fort Worth chapter suggested that when it's when I roll off being president that I should apply to get the IPCC, which I did. And I got it, which led me to PCC, which led me to the national board. And in between there, I'm also still, as of this recording, I'm on the design educators steering committee. So I like to serve, and I like the community, and I learned a lot.

And I think it's a little bit selfish because I think it's a big part has been a big part of my growth. So say you know, people always say, like, we serve, but at the same time, I've been learning a lot. And I've been kind of, like, learning a lot about academia from the DEC and a lot about leadership and things like that. So it's been a really great journey so far. And I don't feel like I'm quite done yet.

So and then Jen after that. So it's it was a great if we ever been to the I feel like it kinda got I was always disappointed that it didn't quite work out for me, but the PCCs, the one were the ones that hosted the leadership routines. So I was always kinda, like, stoked when I was becomes like, oh, yeah. I could do it, and we can host it. It'd be really, really fun.

I don't know if you remember, like, when Gage did it, Gage Mitchell did it and things like that. It was he was always, like, very dynamic. And I was like, oh, I that'd be fun to do that. And then COVID happened. We lost the leadership retreats, and I I never got my my time on that stage, unfortunately.

Was like, yeah. And that's how I met him. And it's just like it's kinda telling. That's the kind of relationships you start at these leadership retreats. Suddenly, you find you each other on the streets, and then you kind of like swept away, and then we became friends after that. It was great.

Was it Denver? Yeah, so I went to Grand Rapids, I think that's where I met you, Erik. At least that's where we saw each other for the last time. And Raleigh was really great, Atlanta was fantastic. And I feel like I'm missing one in between Grand Rapids oh, boss Baltimore. Baltimore was really, really great too.

So he spoke with this British accent to get past his nerves. And it's just like because if you switch your mindset, but if you're kind of focusing on yourself, then you're totally nervous when you kind of get and that's where I find the cool things. It's like one of the things I brought out, one of the leadership qualities that I think I could identify myself is that if I figured out that I'm helping Eric, I'm helping Rachel, as opposed to doing something for me, then it kind of made me feel a little bit more comfortable because it was like one separation away. And that's one of the things I learned from my time at AIGA.

And they take it from there. I was happy. Like our local Orlando chapter has a couple of my former students involved in it. One, two, three. So I'm hoping that is they see and that's paid forward. So hopefully they saw I'm hoping that they saw it in me and they were kind of like, Oh boy, they can do it. If that knucklehead could do it, I could do it. So that's what I'm hoping would happen. But it's cool to see the next generation taking over and leading.

And I felt the same way with the DEC. The DEC is an amazing I had no idea what to expect when I joined the DEC. And I'm not very academic minded, even though I've worked at the university for years. I struggle with the academic mind and thinking like an academic, I guess. And I've really learned a lot from them, but they're you know, they're teachers, so they're very patient with us.

They're very patient with me. So I've been really lucky to have really good leaders and teammates in that group. And just like any other board, you have a common goal and they'll support you and they'll support my silly ideas or they'll rein me in when I need to be. In the same way with UCF, I have really good partners. My colleague, Ashley Taylor, over there.

And I also tend to drag people with me. So Ashley serves with me both in Creative Mornings Orlando. Now she's the VP of AIGA Orlando. And when I restarted Creative Mornings Orlando after the pandemic, the people I recruited were a lot of my old AIGA Orlando board. Like Devon's on it. Devon Hornsmeyer's on it with me. So I like to kind of like travel in a circle of people that I really kind of I can speak with and we speak the same language and we kind of get each other, support each other.

And we talk each other off like the ledges sometimes because sometimes there's a lot of overwhelmingness. And we would joke that we spend more time sometimes doing AIGA stuff than we do in our own jobs, but we really like it. We really love it. We really love talking and hanging out with people and serving this community. So we have this relationship where we'd be talking each other off the ledge sometimes.

That's something you need. Again, we just need someone that's in our corner sometimes that will support our ideas. And I think that's what we're finding with a lot of the national board as well. Rachel and I serving on the national board, we have these ideas that we want to do. So we're always kind of like, we should do this?

It's like, yeah, let's do it, that kind of thing. So I think it's very fluid in how we communicate with each other. I think that goes with a lot of the folks that have served on chapters or still serve on chapters. We kind of know how it feels. So it's that language that we speak.

It's kind of inspiring and teaching. It all feels like all part of the same job. So I don't feel like I'm moonlighting or something anywhere else. Think it's just this is what we do and this is an extension of what we do.

How do we serve our community and how do we make things better for our community? And as an extension, part of the thing that I always explain is that one of the things that we try to do with everything we do is try to shine a light, in my case, on the Orlando community so that the Orlando creative communities is showcased and people are noticing what we do here and our amazing creative community and all the creatives and designers and artists that we have here. So everything kind of focuses back on that, whether it's teaching or creative mornings or AIG or Landauer or even Creative South or even Limbitless Solutions. So everything's kind of like that. You know?

So I thought I remember meeting people. That's when I really I met Lenny Terenzi for the first time face to face at Grand Rapids. And we had been communicating through online and sketchbooking and stuff like that. So it was fun to actually meet him in person. So we hung out with Raleigh.

And I think that was around the time that the Raleigh chapter became our mentor chapter Because we were kind of changing a lot of things. And Lenny, I think, was the incoming president. And Matt I don't know if you remember Matt. He was also on the national board, but he was the Raleigh President before that. But he took us we started doing the community things, the community meetings like Raleigh.

But it was great. We hung out with the Raleigh chapter and that was like a really, a seminal moment for at least me as a leader because I think I was incoming president as well, or co president. So connecting with a lot of the leaders there and meeting a lot of these people face to face that I was communicating with I thought really did wonders for the progression that we had as a chapter. So I think we went around and there was like, we're acting fools, acting kind of like because we were in a safe space. And I don't think I would behave in the same way in Orlando because there's too many students around us that I do.

But we danced and we kind of messed around and we we had a lot of fun. We got on those pyramids that were probably a little bit too too tall, you know, and, you know, people would call security on us. And it was really, really fun. And I just remember in in in Grand Rapids meeting a lot of really, really cool people like you, Erik. And I remember that was the first time that I noticed that the national board was accessible because Christine Taylor would hang out after the fact.

And she was this kind of like she looked like a superhero. She still looks like a superhero last time I saw her. And she was just so cool. And she looks so she's just so put together. And I was in awe of her.

And then when we started talking, she was just so friendly. And I thought that was the first time it was just like, all right, these people are people. And I already told you earlier that everybody is so friendly. When we meet Debbie Millman or Michael Beirut, everybody's so approachable. But I don't know if I ever had that from the people that I knew from the National Board until that retreat.

And I just met a lot of really cool people that one. And it just felt a little bit doable that we're all kind of like in this together type of thing as opposed to like they're over there and we're over here. So that one was was really good. And then the other one was Raleigh. Raleigh was fun, but it was also kind of tough in some ways because the so Raleigh was again, Lenny was there, and we had a really, really good time.

But the reason that one stands out to me is because that Sunday that we left, it was the Sunday. So I remember sitting in the hotel room not in the hotel room, the lobby waiting for Lenny who was going to take us to the airport. And that's when we found out about the Pulse shooting in Orlando. So we were in Raleigh, and then we were listening to news about Orlando. So it was really tough and seeing the news and recognizing the things that were being shown in the news.

Then one of our board members of the time, Tibby Starks, who has since moved away from Florida. But I just remember in that airplane ride on the way back to Orlando is we were sitting across the aisle from each other. I kept kind of glancing over. And by the time we landed, she already had this event called Love by Design that we put on just a couple weeks later, already figured it out. And she put it all together.

So I just remember thinking that that was you know this really really terrible thing that we had happened to our community. And even though it has nothing to do with design, think the power of our design community which is very empathic and very creative in a lot of ways, was able to do something about it. Not only I think we might have raised some money to the One Pulse Foundation, but also bringing people together and letting them have an opportunity to mourn together. Even though I didn't know anybody that was directly affected or or you know, like that that was hurt or or or killed in that in that shooting. But it felt like it it really hit the community really hard as as those things, you know, obviously would.

But I felt like this it's beyond the creative community. It's beyond the design community. It's something we as an organization can support. So those are the two really big things that stand out in how we could we grew as a chapter and grew as a community here in Orlando.

And one thing that was born from that one is it was the last day and we were all kind of in that room, the big meetings, general sessions or whatever they call it. And Anthony Welborn Antonio, where is he from? He's from San Antonio or Houston, One of the Texas chapters. I can't remember off the top of my head. But he kind of stood up and he spoke in Spanish and spoke to the Spanish speaking members of the AIGA board community, leadership community.

And Reyna Castellanos was in Orlando with me. We were part of that. And we were already kind of chatting about there should be kind of like an AIGA Espanol or something like that. And obviously, few months after that is when the lockdown hit. But from that conversation is where AIGA Unidos came from.

And I don't think AIGA Unidos maybe would have happened in some other ways, but I don't think it would happen the way it did without the connections that we met when I met Jimena and I met Antonio and Dio from Atlanta. We were all kind of talking about, we should do this. We should get together. We should do something for the Spanish speaking community and things like that. That's what Unidos started off as.

So all those things were born from leadership retreats. And that's why I miss them so much because I think there's a certain energy you come back from. And that energy that you bring back from a leadership retreat kind of infects your board when you come back. Whether they went or not, they kind of feel that they were there because you come back with all these new ideas. And we also had these things called change makers that we did in Orlando and that came from Avery Smith who was on the board at the time in Orlando.

Met someone I want to say it's from Seattle. It started in Seattle or Dallas right? I can't remember who he met but he brought whatever it is because that's where you're at right Erik? You're in Seattle?

So all those examples were direct correlations from a leadership retreat. And they were fantastic. And they were fun. And they were great.

One of the groups rebranded them. We had another group do some branding for this bifida, is that how you pronounce it, an organization that supports that community, and they did branding for them. So it's pretty much using design to change the trajectory of some of these nonprofits. And it was a great event. It was fantastic. I think we did it two years. But I think it was from Seattle. Seattle or, again, one of those chapters up there?

So you would get briefed, and then you would work in teams, And then twenty four hours later, like, you would be sleeping in the same room. Right? It was a typical, like, college all nighter type of thing or, you know, start up all nighter, depending. And, yeah, you would just have something ready by the end and you would deliver in twenty five hours, and it was great. Put all your focus towards that.

It was like the more you hang out. And then of course, we would connect them to social media and then we kind of like chat. But it was always kind of like, you you represent your city. It's like, I remember there was someone that went from one chapter to the other. They went from LA to somewhere else and I was like I don't know what to call you anymore.

It was Amanda Hovest. Remember Amanda Hovest? Yes. She was like you can call me Amanda. Was like yeah I know. So yeah. So it's like that that trajectory of of friendships until you, you know, you get to your names. It's always fun. I I just remember when we started doing something else outside of Adobe, and I saw your name, Rachel. And I was like, surely two people can be called Rachel Elnar.

And I texted you. I was like, is this you? Are we on the same meeting for UCF and Adobe? You're like, yep, that's me. So it's like you start seeing all these other people doing amazing things beyond AIGA as well. So it's always kind of like the community of ours is just kind of like all over the place.

But we were thinking we had at that point we had six chapters in Florida so we were trying to do like some sort of mega AIGA of Florida kind of event with all six chapters. Now we're down to three, I believe, because we lost a few three and a half, think. Maybe four. But it's still kind of like we're so close to each other, and we can do really, really cool things. How do we do that?

How do we support each other? How do we support Miami? How does Miami support Orlando and Jacksonville and Gainesville and Tampa and Tallahassee, all these other organizations. Because they might be a couple hours away, but we still have the same kind of it's a lot of the same similarities. So it almost feels like we also take pride and ownership of the chapters regardless of where they're at because we represent them and they represent us.

And I went to one or two Tampa Bay chapter events. So we did try to do that kind of thing. Of course, Jen from Gainesville, Jen Ford, that's how I met her. I met her before Gainesville was a chapter and she would come to the Orlando events. So we did try to support each other in that sense. And maybe there's still an opportunity as we keep growing to kind of rebuild that, but we just have a fewer chapters in our state now.

Or I'm going to totally forget it, forget the little details. But I do think there is an energy that those leadership retreats brought in. And there's a lot of institutional knowledge all around the country in different chapters that the newer chapters or the chapters that are rebuilding can benefit from. I think one of the things that's missing right now is that connection. Connecting with where was Doug Stuckey from?

He wasn't from Kansas City, was he?

Shanley. So you have all these things that I think that's we have a lot of chapters in like feeling a lot of burnout and I think that's what we're missing. I think we're missing a little bit of the camaraderie that we used to have. So the chapters don't feel like they're so isolated so that they feel like there's other people going through the same thing and I don't know if only leadership calls can do that. Think the leadership calls go a long way but I think there needs to be other connections and maybe we start back up with these virtual retreats until we can do something else.

But I do feel like there needs to be more mentorship within chapters and things like that to kind of like help each other through them.

But they're really active. So Orlando has a lot of really great active professional organizations that speak to their community. So we're lucky in that sense. So my students have something called the Graphic Design Student Association, which is an AIGA for students. I think they tried years ago to try to make it an AIGA chapter, but we found some sort of student government rule or something.

There was some sort of hiccup. But we still do that. So even the events that they put on, there's a lot of they do workshops and speakers, the same thing we kind of do at the chapter level. A lot of the students, other students react very positively to that. And I always tell them, I would encourage you guys to find your group.

But if you can't find your group, if you don't find a group that's really kind of like checking off the boxes that you want, then make your own group. It doesn't have to be. I'm not to be hurt if I have AIG over here or GDSA and you don't come to these. You start your own groups. Start communities.

Start whatever speaks to you specifically. That's why I started Giant Illustrators even before I was in AIGA because I felt like I needed to be around other illustrators that were doing the same thing. I mean, ultimately, we just sit around and kind of draw and talk geekery, which is cool, which is great, the kind of stuff we do. But at least you're kind of like in the like minded thing. And we can, and that's led to other things too and we can support each other that way.

So I think being a part of something bigger than yourselves, I think is really important for you, for the growth of a student, just a student's career, but also a student's leadership.

And it's kind of tough trying to immerse yourself in the cool kids. But then I realized that the cool kids thought the other group was the cool kids. And everybody's thinking of each other as the cool kids and not talking. But I know. I don't think I would.

I think I would be still a little bit more isolated and introverted. I think I would still be kind of like a person to attend it but I don't know if I would be like the community leader or at least what people think I am right now. So no, and I don't think so. I don't think I would be.

I want to do that. So I think in that sense and once I did it a little bit with the chapter and I learned from other people, from my co board members and being able to see how they do it, I realized, all right, this is doable. I can do this. And one thing led to another. It's like, oh, I want this person.

I'd love to meet this person. I want to meet Tad Carpenter. Was like, let's bring Kelly Anderson in and let's see because I love their work. And then being able to connect with those people and really having those good conversations. So no, I don't think I think I grew a lot as leadership, and mostly because it has showed me the possibilities of what I was able to do.

Before that, I was like, oh, that's something only somebody else is able to do or capable of doing. But now, after I got into this, I was like, oh, no, that's something I can do. And I can actually teach other people to do it as well. But it's weird. I was thinking about it earlier today when we were talking about we were having a conversation with Rick Griffith's name came up.

And when he came down and I picked him up at the airport, and he's just a fantastic guy. He was very warm. And he's kind of like I just remember thinking after he left that some of my favorite conversations with Rick had nothing to do with the design. We were talking about the Smiths or just music in general or whatever it was. And I had the opportunity to have dinner with him just one on one.

He gave me some kind of family advice, which I thought was really insightful that kind of helped me pointed me in a good direction. So it's those connections where it just felt like I was within people that kind of like thought very similar to me and could understand what my ideas were or what I was trying to do or what I was going through. And being a part of the chapter on the board level, it just gave me license to be able to say, yeah, I can do this. I can work with other people and hopefully I can teach other people how to do this. And hopefully when I'm ready to roll off, I've laid, I've helped, because I never do it myself, I've helped lay a foundation that others can build on.

Because one thing that I think, if anything, that I've learned is that none of these things that I've been a part of doing, none of these achievements that we've done, they've never been like, I did this. This has always been like a team effort, whether it's Creative Mornings or AIG8, Devin and Tibby and all these people that I've had the honor to work with. It's been this group effort, this collaborative effort. And that goes to what I learned about leadership too, which is not a solo thing. It's a team thing.