Get the Scoop on Megh, Our Newest Designer
Say hey to Meghan Silbernagel! The newest member of our design crew brings wide-ranging creative experience and a well-honed work ethic to the studio. Plus, she sports Crocs like nobody’s business. Here’s what else you gotta know about Megh!
Take It Back Now, Y’all
This role marks Megh’s first full-time design gig, but she’s no stranger to the world of creative pursuits.
Let’s take it back to the early years. Megh’s a Madison native who’s always had art in her atmosphere. Extracurricular art classes were a thing for her as early as elementary school. That included weekends, too — dedication! This passion carried through to high school, where Megh always took as many extra curricular art classes as possible. Come high school, Megh developed a close connection with her drawing instructor, which got her thinking about turning creativity into a career.
School of Life
Megh’s academic journey took her to Waverly, Iowa, where she earned a BA in Biology from Wartburg College. There she developed a particular fondness for biochemistry and anatomy & physiology.
As we all know, however, life takes us on many different paths. For Megh, post-college life found her serving in AmeriCorps as a garden educator. One of these terms was spent in San Francisco at Lawton Elementary School, where she taught more than a dozen K–5 classes each week. While it was a challenging experience, it was also incredibly rewarding and played a significant role in shaping her career path. Teaching was great, she felt, but she knew it wasn’t quite the right direction for her.
After some time spent working in the food industry around Madison — included stints as a server at Pasture and Plenty, Graft, Reunion and Homecoming in Spring Green — Megh made her way to Madison College, where she pursued an Associate of Applied Arts in Graphic Design and Illustration. It was here that Megh found her spark, particularly in illustration and print classes.
The print lab at Madison College quickly became Megh’s creative haven — she loves the challenge presented by the technical and physical nature of screen printing. In her day-to-day role at CDW, Megh demonstrates the planning, precision and quick problem-solving skills she cultivated in the print lab.
After Hours
Outside of design, Megh is an avid runner and biker, passions that have been with her since childhood. She even competed in cross country and track & field at Wartburg College. And there’s more. Her love for the outdoors extends beyond sports — Megh is also deeply involved in gardening and farming. She got her hands dirty in her role at Crossroads Community Farm, an organic CSA farm, and has been active in various community gardens over the years. She also tends to her own home garden, where she continues to nurture her green thumb.
Q&A
We’re incredibly excited to have Megh on board and can’t wait to see the creative contributions she’ll bring to CDW. Want to learn more about Megh? Look no further than a few of her answers to the Proust Questionnaire.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
I think I’d come back as a bulb of garlic. HA! I mean, to be mashed into a pesto or diced and sauteed or thrown in whole with a roast. C’mon. What an honor; to help make a meal so delicious. Imagine your life without garlic, it’s sad! And, from my bulb a clove could be saved and replanted so I could come back year after year. The gift that keeps on giving, ya feel?
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery
Being sick or injured. Having something wrong with your body that you don’t really understand. Not being able to live life “normally” because of an ailment… It really is the worst and makes me feel sooooo thankful to have the health and functionality that I do. Seriously, whenever I’m sick, I always think “just let me be healthy, I’ll never ever take it for granted”. And I don’t.
Where would you most like to live?
I’d love to live in Ireland. I have some Irish in me and visited a few years ago with my mom. It’s truly beautiful and the people are lovely. I think moving to Ireland would be a relatively easy transition from the US as they speak English, and some Irish people *jokingly* consider Ireland to be the 51st state (lol) — i.e., they don’t despise Americans, which is a bonus.
