Debra Elwood
President, Elwood Studio

Bio

“Love learning and value other people.” That’s Debra Elwood’s formula for communicating success online. From her clients’ backstories, she learns what they do, how they’re challenged, and what she can bring to their online marketing to help meet customer goals.

Take, for example, the website solution she devised for a New Jersey agritourism business. An online ticketing system for the company’s public events was proving a challenge, with no existing model to be found. “Figuring it out and getting it to work was fascinating!” said Debra.

Debra’s creative design skills combined with her eager embrace of the latest technology is what clients trust her to bring to their online marketing. “I keep them attuned to the pace of change,” she says.

Debra joined Elwood Studio in 1998, after an early career in graphic design. She worked freelance and full-time jobs in companies like Lockheed Electronics and Bell Labs, then landed a position with G.S. Imaging/Wace USA Inc., a national printing, pre-press and imaging solution company. There she worked on projects like Time-Life magazine covers and ads for Nabisco, L’Oreal and other major brands.

For fun in those days, she made an off-hours study of the revolutionary Macintosh personal computer, and when G.S. switched from mainframes to Macs, it was Debra who trained the rest of the staff.

That kind of energy and willingness to work hard may be Debra’s greatest strength, but she’s also learned not to get obsessed by a problem. “Walk away and come back later. Often you’ll find the resolution was staring you in the face all along.”

Debra holds a degree in marketing art and design and studied visual arts at Kutztown University and Rutgers University. She and her husband/business partner Paul have one son, and they stay in touch with a young man whom they fostered as a baby.

Debra enjoys hiking, oil painting and gardening, and talks passionately about an annual girls only camping trip. Makes sense; the trips are all about personal storytelling, bonding and long-lasting relationships.