The
Communicator
17
“There’s strategy … and then there is creativity, and it’s doing it in a way that is going to make somebody stop for a second,” Lee said.
Both credit their experiences in the IMC program for preparing them for this endeavor, and have a great deal of gratitude for Jones-Kelley, program director Br. Basil Valente, O.F.M., and faculty member Shelley Jack for all they have done.
Lee said of Br. Basil: “He’s making contacts for us, he’s having conversations with people, he’s giving our cards out left and right. He’s taking care of us without us even asking him for it.
“By the time I finished school — no, not even that — by the time I finished the first year of this program, I couldn’t sit still at work anymore,” Lee said. “I knew enough to know I needed to be somewhere else. I knew that my life was not destined to be in a cubical anymore.”
While Lee will always love Truck-Lite, he said he hasn’t once regretted his decision to join Lingle to create The Quilted Squirrel.
“This is just so good,” he said. “And I go home so happy every day. I love the hour ride, thinking about the things we get to do every day.”
Lee, who won the Deb Henretta Award for Excellence in IMC, said leaving his IMC project behind with Truck-Lite left him at peace with his decision to leave.
Fall '13