OUR COMPANY.
Based in Virginia Beach, VA, Red Chalk Studios, Inc. (RCS) is an award-winning graphic design firm producing branding, advertising, print and website campaigns for regional and national clients in industries that include energy efficiency, retail, healthcare, technology, economic development, the arts, non-profit and more.
Originally, RCS started life as Koehler Studios, Inc., under the ownership of John Koehler. 1n 1999, Kim Nelson joined Koehler Studios as an art director, eventually becoming creative director and partner in 2007, when the name changed to Koeher Nelson Studios (KNS). In 2010, John decided it was time to pursue other interests and Kim became owner of KNS, and subsequently changed the name.
Kim Nelson, President & Sr. Creative Director
Kim graduated from University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) magna cum laude, in 1997, with a B.S. in graphic design. She cut her teeth as a professional in Springfield, VA, as a designer, then manager of the marketing department for Nomadic Display, supervising the design, printing and distribution of multinational marketing materials.
Kim moved to Virginia Beach in 1999 to escape becoming another road-rage statistic and found life at the beach much more suitable. After a 10-year stint as Art Director then Partner with Koehler Studios, she bought the company, changed the name and proceeded to do her part stimulating the economy by bringing on very talented team members and substantially growing the business.
An award-winning designer, Kim manages projects from concept development through execution, producing, directing, and working closely with other team members on regional and national brands. She enjoys fostering long-standing client relations (several clients have been with the company for over 10 years) and building more than your average graphic design studio.
Kim is also owner of Kimberly Jae, designer of lampwork (glass) beads, jewelry and hand-crafted findings, as well as co-owner of Loverly (a fabulous little shop in Historic Hilton Village).
Zeinoun Kawwas, Creative Director
Zeinoun graduated from the American University of Beirut in 2005 with a Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design. She immediately relocated to Dubai and started her career as a graphic designer at Grey Worldwide, where she was part of the creative team developing campaigns for local clients and international brands such as Nokia, Canon and Visa. In 2008, she joined JWT as an Art Director. She handled the Nestlé confectionery account and worked on a variety of campaigns for brands ranging from Audi, to HSBC, to Wendy's and Arby's.
Zeinoun's work was recognized by a number of international and regional award shows including the Dubai Lynx Awards and the MENA Cristal Awards. Her work was also featured in local and international publications including the renowned Lürzers Archive.
In 2010, Zeinoun moved to Virginia Beach and joined Red Chalk Studios, capitalizing on her international experience and elevating the traditional role of Art Director. Since her arrival, she has successfully developed new brands and grown existing ones; established and maintained thriving client relationships; and contributed to the growth of the studio by managing up-and-coming trends and technologies in the communication field, empowering clients to succeed.
Gretchen Blatt, Graphic Designer
Gretchen Blatt graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York with a B.S. in Electronic Media, Arts and Communication in 2011. Originally from Ohio, Gretchen studied fine arts at The Ohio State University and fell in love with graphic design while spending a summer at Ringling College of Art and Design.
She arrived at Red Chalk only 48 hours after graduation, having traveled 10 hours alone in her little hybrid, excited and eager to join the Red Chalk team. She has experience working for Smith & Jones in New York, various freelance projects for Midwestern entrepreneurs and nonprofit organization, and spent a summer working at one of the largest printing companies in Columbus to better understand the complexities of the printing industry.
Gretchen loves color, pattern and anything that glitters.
Dan Cicconi, Web Designer / Front-End Developer
After living in a cardboard box for five years, Dan graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a B.F.A. in New Media and a B.Des in Interdisciplinary Digital Studio. He continued to live in a cardboard box after graduation.
In the months that followed post-collegiate shock, Dan decided to fight the threat of loan payments by using his degrees for truth and justice. He joins the Red Chalk team after working with Sycamore Tech developing websites for various companies in southeastern Pennsylvania.
He proudly displays the only beard in the office.
Scarlett Skiba, Web Developer
Scarlett is a former support engineer from Microsoft® and LAN/Networking Specialist now working as our resident Big Brain for all things Web. Her development languages and skillsets include PHP, PERL, AJAX, ASP, VB/ASP.NET, SQL, ColdFusion, jQuery and JavaScript. In addition to HTML / DHTML / CSS, she is also an expert in WordPress and Joomla platforms.
Scarlett has expertise in building and managing ecommerce storefronts and application development, which she has done for clients such as UGL-Equis/ Arcadis for the U.S. Census Bureau, WIX Corporation, to name a few. In addition, she's developed a custom e-commerce storefront application, MagicOSC, enhancing the open-source software OSCommerce, giving websites more bang, less fizzle.
Other Team Members
We stay mean and lean and assemble the team as the job requires. We work with a number of exceptionally talented copy writers, photographers, videographers, illustrators, media buyers and marketing professionals. We deliver like an agency... without the agency costs.