Diane McGirr

“When I was in high school, I created my first webpage with my friend, dedicated to our favorite teen boy-band NSYNC. The basic webpage editor features were pretty limiting, so my friend encouraged me to switch to the ‘advanced mode’ using HTML. I was hooked from that moment on. Marquees, blinking text, web counters, cursor changes – I did it all from my childhood bedroom beamed to other NSYNC lovers around the world.”

What is your role at Waltz?

I was one of Waltz Creative’s first employees back in 2005 and I’ve been with the company ever since. I’m the team’s web unicorn, which means I can develop websites from start to finish – from wireframing and designing to coding and publishing.

Tell us about your history and experience.

My college degree from CSU Monterey Bay was called Telecommunications, Multimedia & Applied Computing. I think they’ve changed the name of the major because it was too long!

This major had a ‘what you wanted to make of it’ vibe from a very progressive new school (circa 2005). I took a few graphic design classes, but they weren’t a focus of the major. The most fun I had was learning Flash (throwback!), and creating my own ‘games’ and interactive modules using ActionScript.

What are you passionate about outside of work?

For fun, I teach fitness classes like kickboxing and hip-hop dance. On quieter evenings, I focus on my needle felting obsession by creating little custom critters for my family and friends. My style is ‘cute’ and definitely not realistic.

What do you like about working at Waltz Creative?

As the longest standing member of the Waltz crew, I’ve seen a lot of change here over the years, starting as a small new design agency with three full-time employees plus Kathy, to what we are today. We care for each other like family. Everyone has their role, and without one of our team members, we wouldn’t function as efficiently. Teamwork dreamwork.