Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Wozniak.
Hi Lindsay, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always loved being creative, especially through design, photography, and storytelling. I studied Advertising Design and photography at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale, where I discovered just how much I enjoyed bringing ideas to life.
Over the years, my work has been fortunate enough to receive more than 200 industry awards, including Webbys (the Oscars of the Internet), Tellys, photography honors, and a place in the Art Institute’s Hall of Fame. I’m grateful for each of those experiences and the opportunities they’ve brought my way.
In 2005, I founded Red Fish Studios, LLC, and have enjoyed working on a wide variety of creative projects ever since. I’ve had the opportunity to create designs, photographs, a short film, an original song, and creative work for non-profit organizations.
I’m also a published author. My children’s book, Ziva the Zebra, was a fun project that allowed me to combine my love of creativity and storytelling. Ziva is an innovative, interactive book that kids can play along with, and they are encouraged to come up with their own ideas. It is based on a story that my two son’s and I made up when they were young. We would add to it each night.
In 2024, I opened Red Fish Gallery in Irvington, Virginia, with two goals in mind: to give local artists a place to share their work and to give back to the community I love. All profits from the gallery go to charity and are reinvested in the community. The gallery has become a wonderful way for me to share my love of art while connecting with talented artists and the people who make our community so special.
Red Fish Gallery is fun, funky and fabulous—and I love that it gives people a place to discover new local art, meet the artists, and simply enjoy being surrounded by creativity.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I feel incredibly lucky to have found a career that I truly love. During my senior year of high school, I was looking at colleges to study marine biology or music. Then, as fate would have it, I found myself in an art class with an incredibly inspirational instructor. He believed in me and encouraged me to see art not just as something I loved, but as something I could build a life around. He encouraged me to take a chance and pursue a career in art—and it changed the course of my life. Thank you Mr. Range!
Mid-career, I started to feel a little restless with the advertising and marketing world. I was ready for a change and beginning to wonder what might come next when, almost perfectly timed, the internet came along. I embraced the technology and suddenly found a whole new sense of excitement and creativity in my career.
Looking back, I feel incredibly fortunate. Whenever I reached a point where I was ready for something different, a new opportunity seemed to come along and open another door. There were challenges, of course, but I’ve been lucky enough to have each new chapter bring something unexpected that kept me moving forward and excited about what was ahead.
I don’t know a lot of people who loved getting up and going to work everyday but I did. I retired in February of this year so I am fully focused on Red Fish Gallery now. I guess you could say I went from analog to digital and back to analog.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I went to the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale, which was a two-year commercial art school. But the “two-year” part was a little deceiving! We were in school five days a week, eight hours a day, taking nine different classes. On top of that, each instructor would assign another two to three hours of homework each week. So, it was quite an intense experience!
The school was unique because many well-known advertising professionals would take sabbaticals from their careers to teach. It was a terrific education, and I learned so much from people who were actually working in the industry.
After graduating, I headed into the working world and moved to New York City, where I worked for ABC Television and did freelance work for various advertising agencies as a designer. I eventually moved to Washington, D.C., where I progressed from art director to creative director and ultimately managed the Washington, D.C., After that I managed the digital consulting group across the U.S.
In the late ’90s, I was fortunate enough to receive stock in the advertising agency I worked for and eventually became a major investor as well. We went on to acquire several other agencies, and we embraced digital early on. That put us in a great position to ride the .com/digital boom of the 2000s, which was an exciting time to be in the industry.
Any big plans?
I am truly thrilled with the move I made in 2019 to the Northern Neck. I completely embraced small-town living, and I honestly can’t imagine living anywhere else or doing much differently in the future. The connection I’ve found with the artists and people in this community has been incredibly fulfilling. And I absolutely adore the little town of Irvington—it has truly become home.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.redfishgallery.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/red_fish_gallery_nnk/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedFishGalleryLLC/
