Who is Gwendolen?

Gwendolen currently lives near Charleston, South Carolina. She is currently a contractor at the United States Coast Guard’s Maritime Law Enforcement Academy where she is their Training Technical Writer and in house SME in MSWord, PowerPoint, and Adobe InDesign.

Gwendolen initially studied Graphic Communications in High School through Oakley Vocational Center under the instruction of Mr. Gil Lipscomb. She then went to Charleston Cosmetology Institute where she studied hair design. After completing school she began working in the industry as a hair dresser. In 1996, she was promoted to salon manager. In 1997, she was diagnosed with an allergy to aerosol hairspray which caused her to have to leave the salon environment and seek other work.

She enrolled in Trident Technical College in 1998, at first taking classes part time while she worked as an administrative assistant for the SC Department of Mental Health. Realizing the difficulties of being a full time worker, a part time student, and a single mother, she decided to drop out of the workforce and focus on her education fulltime.

In 2000, she decided to marry a military man and moved around as a military family, she focused on her family and her spouse while doing volunteer work for different organizations. In 2007, she decided to return to school, enrolling in Thomas Edison State University. She attended TESU (and LSU online) until completing her Bachelor’s with a double major in English and Psychology in 2010. In 2011, she matriculated to Lakeland University where she attended completing her Master’s in 2013.

In 2016, she completed a certificate in Web Design through Trident Technical College’s career training. In 2018, She completed a Graduate Certificate in Instructional Design and Technology through University of Maryland’s Global College online.

In 2021, she enrolled in Trident Technical College fulltime, while working with an IT company, to learn more about IT. Tuition was free, so she decided to also refresh her design skills and started taking design courses to eventually complete her Associates’ in Computer Technology and Multimedia Design.

Gwendolen is the mother of 3, has one grandchild, and lives with her 2 dogs and 2 cats. She travels often and is known to launch into a home renovation project at any given time using her knowledge of construction and home repair along with her creativeness in design. She is looking to start freelancing and writing after taking some much deserved down time.