Leah – Operator the Most, Principal
I am Leah Creates. Nope — that’s not my real name. (I get asked that all the time.) My real name is Leah-Dawn Shaver. You can call me Leah (it’s lee-uh, not lay-uh — but you can call me Lee if I like you). I kindly (but firmly) request that you not put “Princess” in front of my name.
I am a web designer/developer, graphic designer, photographer, and mixed-media artist. Additionally, I sometimes play the role of part-time college student, but I’m forever changing my mind about “what I want to be when I grow up”.
I’ve been designing and building websites since 1999. I worked for a New Hampshire web development agency for two years, and took the leap to freelancing in 2009. I’m a lover of WordPress and Shopify, among other content management systems. I’m also pretty great at web strategy and personal branding.
I take photos with a Canon 40D, Canon 350D, or my iPhone4. I’ve been taking photos passionately since high school, but only started shooting on a professional level a couple of years back. I’m a digital photographer and absolutely do not know my way around a dark room. I love portraiture and boudoir photography. I do not love wedding photography. (Talk to Melissa.)
My art can best be categorized as messy.
I grew up in the Midwest and moved to New England just before turning 18, back when I knew everything about everything. Yes, I talk like I’m from the Midwest. I no longer say “pop”, however. I also don’t say the word “aunt” because I don’t like the East Coast way (I’d get made fun of at home), and I know the Midwest way isn’t right. (An ant is a bug – I get it!)
I’ve lived on the New Hampshire seacoast since 2005. I currently reside in a tiny magic cottage in Dover with a big, fluffy rescue dog (Elijah), a goofy little cavy (Ramona Quimby), a PhD student from Guatemala (Susana), and an environmental research assistant from Spain (Virginia).
etc.
I really like yoga, red wine, green smoothies, hoop dancing, rock climbing, instrumental music, photo adventures, spoken word poetry, and living compassionately. I’m the most outgoing INFJ you’ll ever meet.
I really dislike the phrase “happy as a clam”, winter, baby corn, and sleeping later than 8am. (True story.)
R.T. – VP of Smooth Operations, LBRC
I’m R.T. That old axiom about good girls liking bad guys must be true because Leah is the nicest girl on the planet and I can be a bit… difficult.
I’ve studied creative writing to the extent that an institution saw fit to give me a degree in it. I’ve also spent time behind the fiction editor’s desk at a mid-level literary magazine, seeking genius amid stacks of papers.
For the last two years, I have been involved in community organizing and musician wrangling for The Wire’s RPM Challenge. For the last three years, Microsoft Excel and I have engaged in a battle of wits in the pursuit of analysis of PR data for Fortune 500 companies. Web creation and strategy is the latest challenge and a natural fit for the skills I’ve picked up along the way.
I take photos with a Nikon D3000. If you ever get the sense that I am as classy as Leah, please compare our cameras again.
My art can best be categorized as surrealist. I was hugely influenced by Andre Breton and his friends’ insane ramblings while in college, and the model of objective chance and the intellectual challenge of non sequitur has seeped into my own work. My music is heavily based upon what is possible in that very moment, regardless of the demands of musical theory.
I have never lived outside of New Hampshire. The farthest I’ve ever lived from the Seacoast was Rochester, and that was hardly my fault. I think I was 2.
I live in Stratham now. In a barebones apartment with two college buddies. Also living with me: a medium ebony chinchilla named Specter, a snowshoe cat named Circa, and an anomalous elderly gerbil named Dime, who straight does not care that a cat sits on top of his cage for most of the day. (Don’t worry, it’s securely closed.)
Etc.
I love food, short stories, my 1985 Japanese-built Fender Contemporary Stratocaster (“Vegas”), Scotch and craft beer, and causing trouble. I’m a podcaster, but for the sake of both of us, just pretend I didn’t tell you that.
I cannot stand beers made with adjunct grains, ‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears, and sleeping later than 8am. (What?)
