ali felski

I am a graphic designer who lives and works in the Washington DC area. I graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design (having the unfortunate mascot, Art the Bee) in 2004.

As Jack will attest I am a huge neat freak. I am always yelling at him to pick up his clothes that are in a perpetual pile on the bedroom by his closet door. I also have two dogs (which doesn't help my OCD cleaning tendencies) that I found on the streets of Savannah, literally. I found Maggie, my spunky little Australian Shephard underneath my porch and then Big (who sadly just passed away), my 120 lbs Weinerimer/Lab mix, on a street corner next to the park I frequented. Both where in bad condition when I came across them and these two aren't the only dogs I took in or kept just the two I currently have living with me but those stories will have to be for another day.

I used to work for the government... and now I work for the Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit whose mission to is promote transparency in the government.

I was born in a tiny little town in Northern Michigan called Cheboygan (if I was telling you this story in person I would be pointing to my hand right now, because Michigan resembles a mitten. I know it is silly, it's a Michigan thing). We are called trolls because we live below the bridge (the Mackinaw (MACK-in-awe) bridge, which is amazing) and the people who live in the Upper Pennisula (yes that is also part of the United States, not lower Canada) are called Yoopers (U.P.urs). But I digress... Although Cheboygan is in the middle no where I loved growing up there. My favorite memories are hiking and seeing Indian pictographs, having a bonfire every night in the summer, being able to see (what seemed like) every star in the milky way, having fishing contests with my dad and brother near the old wooden ship wreaks (that are everywhere in the Great Lakes, and yes we always threw the fish back), swimming every chance we could get (even when there were ice chucks in the water) and just the peace and quiet of being out in nature (although the dark and only hearing the noise of crickets freaks me out when I go back now). Then there are the experiences I will never forget like having our house almost buried in snow by a passing blizzard, playing ice hockey in -20 degrees (on an outdoor rink) and I must say that by the time I left Michigan when I was 20 I was an expert at getting cars unstuck from snow banks.

I love cycling. I discovered this passion when I first moved to DC. I would occasionally take rides here and there checking out some of the local trails but I really got into it when I joined Team in Training (part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, where you raise money for cancer and they train you for an endurance event). My event was a 100 mile century ride in Lake Tahoe, NV. To keep this short I will just say that I met so many amazing people (some currently fighting cancer) during my months of training and my final 100 mile race will be something I will never forget (especially because the week before I got into a bike accident. Some silly person in a Land Rover had to open their car door in the middle of Georgetown and I had to do my race with a cast on my wrist). This year, I am a team captain so please donate to me... please. I am sure there will be more stories to come.

Finally, I love to make pies. I love baking in general but I think my speciality is in making pies. I have fond memories of baking with my mother growing up and this is just one of the things that has stuck with me over the years. My mother and I always joke about one day opening a pie shop because we can never seem to find a quality bakery. Maybe one day....