Ginger Shulick Porcella does not use paint or pastels to create art. She will not be seen with a brush in hand or charcoal beneath her fingernails. Instead, this 2003 DePaul alumna’s masterpiece is her ability to sculpt her own opportunities.

As of March 3rd, Porcella will use her grant writing, networking and non-profit skills to be the new executive director of the San Diego Art Institute.

In a phone call stretching 800 miles away from Chicago, Porcella described the excitement she feels about the 2,900 mile journey to move from her East Coast home in Brooklyn, NY to her new career in San Diego.

“I don’t think I want to be anywhere forever,” Porcella said. “I’m ready for a change.”

While most people leave one career for the next, Porcella not only plans to keep her business, Big Deal Arts Advisory, which helps artists with portfolio development, branding and grant writing, but she also intends to expand her company with an office in both New York and San Diego.

“She knows herself,” DePaul art history professor Mark Pollard said.

Porcella took every class Pollard offered during her time as an undergraduate. He recalled her sitting in the front row with her homemade flashcards, on time for class and having an air of professionalism, even at 18.

“What’s strange about Ginger – she had so many tattoos and lots of piercings. She looked pretty radical. But there was a promptness – she was always ready for exams,” Pollard said. “Whenever I needed to borrow a pen, she was my go-to person.”

DePaul art history professor Joanna Gardner-Huggett, who taught Porcella in her contemporary art class said, “Ginger is self-motivated. She doesn’t stop at a closed door.”

The 32 year-old, St. Charles, Ill. native applied to the San Diego position herself, and she is looking forward to revamping the SDAI’s website and increasing fundraising for the primarily volunteer-based museum. She also hopes to create an artist residency program where artists receive a studio and housing to create their works.

According to Pollard and Gardner-Huggett, Porcella’s career path since getting her bachelors is unique. Many postgraduate art history students attend law school or enter a master of business administration or MBA program.

However, in Porcella’s case, she has received her master of arts in socio-cultural anthropology from Columbia University and spent the last decade working as a nonprofit program manager, curator and business owner which is why she has become a unique example for DePaul art history majors on career day.

In the next couple of months, Porcella will say goodbye to her New York life and a temporary bon voyage to her husband, artist, Don Porcella, who will begin a three month art residency in Shanghai, China.

With so many new changes, how does she plan on accomplishing so much in just six weeks’ time?

Porcella answered, “Well, you know what they say, when you want something done, ask a busy person.”