what i know now
illustrator
age: 29
hometown: Montgomery, AL
career: I’m the owner of Precision Medical Media, a company
that creates medical visuals to explain complex topics in healthcare.
My clients are doctors, educators, and healthcare workers of all
kinds. If they’re faced with the challenge of describing a medical
topic, and words alone aren’t doing the job, I develop visuals to aid
understanding. The rare days when I get to scrub in and illustrate
surgeries from life in the OR are really fun!
education: When I enrolled at The University of Georgia, I was
on the pre-vet track. It wasn’t until late in my freshman year that I
decided to switch my major to scientific illustration. Because scientific
illustration wasn’t offered at any state schools in Alabama, I was
eligible for in-state tuition my junior and senior years through the
Academic Common Market.
Read more about the Academic Common
Market on page 10!
state of the art
ellen davis
secret to success: I approach most every situation or
obstacle with the assumption that I can figure it out. There are a
million skills I don’t have, but someone in my network probably does.
If you go through life assuming that others want to collaborate or help
you out, life is a lot easier (and a lot more fun)!
parental impact: Both of my parents (Mark and Catherine
Davis) attended the University of Alabama. My dad went on to earn
a law degree, and then enlisted as a JAG officer in the Army. He now
works in a private practice in Montgomery. My mother owns a real
estate abstracting business, Providence Exchange Services. While I
didn’t want to follow their career paths, I did learn a great deal from
my parents about the value of hard work. Most importantly though,
they placed a tremendous value on my education.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTOPHER BURKE HERRON
can’t live
without:
advice for teens: As I’ve settled into my career, really cool
opportunities have come my way that I wouldn’t have been qualified
for if I’d let my other passions die out. My advice would be to stay
focused on your goals and have a plan, but don’t discard your
passions. Your particular talents may come together in ways you can’t
foresee right now.
1. Nala (my chocolate lab)
2. Oil Paint
3. My Camera
looking back: When I started my illustration business, I was
downtime:
When I’m not illustrating anatomy, I am usually
illustrating children’s books or recipe testing for
my food blog, Fridge to Fork.
8 |
Winter 2018
surprised by a lot of the commentary I received about how “brave”
it was to go out on my own. And that’s when I realized how much I
owed my parents for raising me in an environment where I believed I
could do anything (or at least try). You don’t have to know it all, you
just have to take the first steps.
www.potentialmagazine.com