This month’s Alumnus of the Month spotlight belongs to

Laura (Beard) Hankins, Class of 2003.

 

Laura, daughter of Dan (‘72) and Connie Beard of Jacksonville, is a designer and artist who currently lives in Edmond, OK, with her husband, James (‘03), and their daughters, Caroline, aged 5 ½ , and Ellie, aged 2½. Laura has worked with Minted, a design marketplace, for 10 years. “Minted runs design challenges to source artwork from independent designers for their stationery and home decor products. Winning designs are then sold through their marketplace and designers earn commission on each sale”, says Laura. Minted is incredibly flexible for artists, handling the fulfillment and marketing side of things, and such flexibility has allowed Laura to work from home. The flexibility “was super helpful in the beginning of our marriage when we moved frequently during my husband’s time in the Army.” Laura has had her designs sold in Target and Pottery Barn Kids stores, as well as featured on the Today Show.

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Along with greeting cards, Laura also has experience with custom wedding invitations, product design, and some logo and branding work. These days Laura finds herself spending most of her time focused on “licensing my work to Minted and another stationery company called MPix…I’ve been able to dabble in fabric design and art prints as well.”

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When asked about her time at Routt Catholic, Laura says, “Routt helped build my confidence with its small but close-knit community; my friends and family from Routt have always been my biggest supporters. I was also offered some really interesting design opportunities while at Routt, like designing graphics for the school website and illustrating a promotional coloring book.” When asked about her favorite memory, Laura said that there were many great ones but “at the top of the list is senior year when I started dating James.”

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Laura’s Minted shop is laurahankins.minted.com, but fans can also find her new work on Instagram, @laurahankinsdesign.

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If you know of a Routt graduate who you would like to nominate as a future Alumnus of the Month, please email cdoyle@routtcatholic.com.