Although Vanessa Vichayakul grew up in Montgomery County, she lived in Thailand for six years. She speaks Thai and French, and her two favorite cities in the world (so far), are Paris and Istanbul. Vanessa loves to travel and see how other people live their lives. And, when she has time, she enjoys reading, writing, cooking, and yoga.

Vanessa is tuned into the local design community and says the opportunities to meet people are great. Even though she’s currently employed full-time as a Public Relations Coordinator with TEKsystems, she’s met a bunch of people she’s been able to learn from. Her networking skills are put to great use through her position as Visibility Director on the board.

Outside of her 9-to-5, Vanessa also freelances as a marketing and brand strategist, with some copywriting and graphic design projects thrown in there, too. She picked up graphic design while getting her M.A. in Design Management and fostered a love for organizing a conceptual message into a visual format. “Design is problem solving,” she says, “So you work within constraints and for a purpose.”

When asked about her thoughts about the AIGA Baltimore board, she says, “They’re such a fabulous group of people, and, even though some of us are new, we really work together as a great team.”

We asked her to name her favorite “must see” spot in Baltimore. “Though it’s in plenty of guidebooks, I’ve grown fond of Fort McHenry. It’s so peaceful.” And her drink of choice?

“Before 5pm, it’s a whole milk cappuccino,” she says, “But after 5pm, it’s a good Malbec.”