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Chris DiStefano
The past is almost always the worst thing happening to the present.
Chris DiStefano is currently a fabricator at High Order Studio, a role he has held since November 2022. He has a background in fabrication and has been involved in various projects, including collaborations with notable brands like Laika for the 15th anniversary of "Coraline" .12 His work at High Order Studio focuses on creating high-quality fabrication and design solutions, which reflects his skills and experience in the field.
Before joining High Order Studio, DiStefano had a diverse career path, including previous roles that enriched his expertise in fabrication and project management. His professional journey highlights a significant pivot in 2022, indicating a strategic move towards more specialized work in the fabrication industry .1
Highlights
My previous post about my career pivot was a hit and what better way to share that excitement than to pass it along to those on the way up in the world.
Friends of Noise is a Portland-based non-profit organization providing youth-focused programs primarily around music events and access to music as a profession. For their first-ever Find Your Future Fest career fair they expanded attending representatives to include exhibitors representing careers in design, human services, construction, healthcare, photography, architecture, and more. I was thrilled to be there representing High Order Studio with my colleagues Amanda Sundvor and Sean Light.
At the top of each hour small breakout groups of attendees chose a presenter and sat down with representatives to talk about career insights. Students were excited to hear about how dynamic our work is ranging from murals, signs, retail store build outs and physical environments to screen printing and exhibit design.
We met a lot of bright students and even found ourselves a dynamic, motivated summer intern for the shop. Can’t wait to go back next year. Thanks to FLI Social for photos.
In 2022 I pivoted. Maybe I was prescient about the state of marketing communications to come or maybe it was just my feeling of personal expiration with the concept of it. I wanted the physical act of marketing and making. So I left a cool job to figure out how to make my idea of making things a reality. I found my way to High Order Studio where I’ve been working as a fabricator since November of ‘22.
High Order is a fabrication studio, paint mural & sign shop based in Portland, Oregon. Started over a decade ago by Sean Light who saw the need for unique, high quality, craft-made installations, the studio does a range of work for brands, restaurants, museums, and public & private spaces. Our tagline is “Makes All Kinds” because we do everything from Design & Fabrication, Signs, Murals, Installs, Wayfinding, Events, and Screen Printing. This is a fun place to be and we get to work for and with some very interesting clients.
I come from a creative family and raised one of my own while never allowing myself into that artistic and craft space. PR & Comms was fun during my career, no doubt about it, but I’ve really enjoyed the process of “making marketing” here quite a lot more. Let’s face it, every job is a communications job, and I believe we excel at the practice and process of communication with our work at High Order.
Some of what I, (ok, we), have done: a 150’x30’ wheat paste wall for the largest Foot Locker in North America, painted a gradient graphic for Nike’s Portland store that everyone thinks is vinyl, built a large format custom screen print system for a skate shoe launch, hand-painted signs on college baseball team dugouts, signs for retail stores inside and out, and installed FFE for retail stores, museums, architecture firms and events.
I’ve kept a low(ish) profile as I sort through things and develop my skills; but I want to do more and I want to do it for my friends. Maybe you or the brand you work for is one of them? Come visit us, let’s make something.
Check us out here: https://lnkd.in/ew2sB_WC
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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