Best Gardening Centre Chicago Near You

John Wasiewicz

Skills

• Position: Master Gardener
• Current company: Chicago Botanic Garden

Designers are chefs, gardeners, architects, engineers....... the evolution of the polymathic Renaissance man. They are innovators and producers from inception to completion.

Pam Karlson

Skills

• Advertising
• Marketing
• Packaging
• Graphic Design
• Corporate Identity
• Art Direction
• Photoshop
• Creative Direction
• Graphics
• Concept Development
• Layout
• Illustration
• Art
• InDesign
• Image Manipulation
• Social Media
• Posters
• Brand Development
• Logo Design
• Creative Strategy

• Position: Self Employed/Freelance: Co-owner/Designer/Illustrator/Gardener
• Current company: Waxwing Studio, inc.

• Freelance: Artist, Certified Professional Gardener/Garden Designer

• Public Speaker/Educator: Promoting bird/pollinator garden habitat & eco-friendly landscape practices.

Speaking/Education Engagements Include: The Chicago Botanic Garden, ILCA/Impact Conference, Wild Things Conference, Wild Ones Conferences/Meetings, Indiana Historical Society, Norwood Park Historical Society, The Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee (WPPC), Friends of the Greenbay Trail, Chicago Ornithological Society, DuPage Birding Club, Landscaped Design Association, Lurvey's Garden Center, various garden clubs

Current Green Industry Experience: Seasonal Containers, Perennial Garden Maintenance, Garden Design

Past Commercial Art/Graphic Design/Illustration Experience: Promotional consumer/trade event drawings, design of campaign support materials. Strong background in branding/promotion, including experiential events, in store POS, packaging, marketing/sales support materials, etc. Brainstorm/concept through digital execution.

Brands include: Absolut, Malibu, Kahlúa, Jameson, Chivas, Beefeater, Plymouth, Corona, Modello, Pacifico, Kellogg's, Keebler, Sara Lee, Alpha Baking, Dannon, Tic Tac, Green & Black's Chocolate, World's Finest Chocolate, Keurig, Disney, Avon, L'Oreal, Elizabeth Arden, Juicy Couture, SC Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, PetSmart, WWE, Nascar, Navistar, Harley-Davidson, Cabela's, Sears, Ace Hardware, K-Mart, Abbot, Aon, GE, LG, TracFone, USG, etc.

Clients include: Legacy Marketing Partners, Jack Morton Worldwide, CSSI Marketing & Culinary, etc.

Specialties: Photoshop, including photo retouching, event drawings.
Fine Art: Landscape Watercolor Painting

Brian Shea

Skills

• Position: President
• Current company: Voltaire's Gardener Landscape Design Build

Barb F.

Skills

• Key Account Management
• Consumer Products
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Sales Management
• Forecasting
• Account Management
• Private Label
• Income Statement
• Strategic Planning
• Sales
• Budgeting
• Marketing Strategy
• Key Account Development
• Business Development
• P&L Management
• Pricing Strategy
• Data Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Retail
• Online Research

• Position: Master Gardener
• Current company: Chicago Botanic Garden

Experienced Key Account, Broker Manager, National Sales Manager for GM/Housewares/Hardware/ Fragrance Products to all trade Classes through headquarter sales. Sales include: Grocery,( Fred Meyer, Winn Dixie, H.E. B, Winco, Albertson's, Kroger, Roundy's Publix, Ingle's, Meijer's, etc.), Grocery Distributor's (SuperValu, CNS, MDI, Western Family, Nash Finch, KeHE), Drug, Mass, Military, Hardware, Craft and Fabric Chains: JoAnn Stores. Retail background in department store sales. Manage National Broker Groups and Independent Manufacturer's Representatives ( up to 26 at a time)

Specialties: Strength in grocery headquarters key account sales through use of strategic planning and developing a motivated and customer focused Broker/Independent Representative organization. Syndicated data use in managing sales and developing category increases. Developing and delivering Key Account sales presentations. Direct account responsibility. Private Label product sales.

Product Development: Working with packaging vendors, fragrance vendors, and introducing Pantone, fragrance, and style trends for custom lines of home fragrance/home decor products.

Carmine Fantasia

Skills

• Content Development
• Publishing
• Books
• Art Direction
• Photo Research
• Editorial
• Academic Publishing
• Adobe Acrobat
• Art
• Editing
• QuarkXPress
• Copy Editing
• Ebooks
• Publications
• Mac
• Magazines
• Content Management
• Online Publishing
• Multimedia
• Content Strategy

• Position: Master Gardener
• Current company: Chicago Botanic Garden

Master Gardener with expertise in plant propagation, vegetable production, and plant identification. Passionate about sustainable agriculture and local food production. Expertise in horticultural imagery, photography, educational publishing, art acquisition, photo and media research. Inventive problem-solver, thoughtful, people-oriented individual, with strong integrity and commitment to community service.

• Gardening Practices • Community Engagement
• Content Research • Plant Recommendations
• Creative Vision • Program Management

Abigail Gardener

Skills

• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Google Drive
• Leadership
• Volunteer Recruiting
• Volunteering
• Volunteer Management
• Copy Editing
• Public Speaking
• Journalism
• InDesign
• Social Media
• Event Planning
• Editing
• Teamwork
• Writing
• Copywriting
• Web Content Writing
• WordPress

• Position: Marketing Coordinator
• Current company: Yakkety Yak
• Languages: Spanish

​​As a lifelong book lover, I have turned my passion for reading stories into a career that revolves around telling them.

After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Anthropology, I stepped into a role as a Content Marketing Specialist, in which I coordinate my firm's SEO efforts and manage all social media accounts, among other responsibilities. I actively pursue opportunities to grow as a professional; currently, I have expanded beyond SEO and taken courses in other branches of marketing that interest me, including Email Marketing and Social Media Marketing.

When I’m not working, you can find me writing detailed to-do lists, cooking large meals for my friends, and snuggling with my cat, Lola.