NEW YORK, NY, September 9, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Nancy W. Stevenson, Director of Character Design for Sesame Workshop, has been named Cambridge Who's Who Professional of the Year for her contributions to creative graphics for educational development. While inclusion in the Cambridge Who's Who Registry is an honor, only two male and two female members in each discipline are named the Cambridge Who's Who Professional of the Year. The Cambridge Who's Who selection committee chooses these special honorees based on their professional accomplishments, academic achievements, and leadership abilities.

A veteran children's media professional with over 25 years of experience, Nancy W. Stevenson is recognized by her peers as an expert in character and product development and design. She is highly skilled in overseeing a creative staff of artists and numerous freelance artists that develop, create, and maintain quality control of domestic and international character images and usage with licensing, publishing, outreach, marketing, and web services. This work includes 2D digital/traditional art, 3D, and photography for Sesame Workshop properties including Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Pinky Dinky Doo, Dragon Tales, and Sagwa The Chinese Siamese Cat. Her association with The Muppets and Sesame Street began in the late 1970s when she art directed The Sesame Street Book Club at Golden Books. To date, Nancy has illustrated over 40 children's books.

From 1998 to 2000, Nancy worked as a Jim Henson Company Assistant Art Director for the Sesame Street Muppet brand and created art, blue-lines, and oversaw art development for the Sesame Street Kmart apparel line.

From 1983 to 1998, Nancy was the sole proprietor of First Arts, a full service design studio that provided concepts, design and illustration for children's books, magazines, games, toys and apparel. First Arts specialized in creating and developing licensed characters, related materials and products for clients such as Walt Disney Co., Muppets Inc., Henson Associates, Sesame Workshop, Scholastic, Golden Books, Random House, The Reader's Digest Association, Creative Classroom, Fisher Price, Mattel, Hasbro, Tyco Playtime, Advertising Age, R.H. Macy's & Co., and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. In 2000, when the opportunity arose for Nancy to join the Sesame Workshop staff, she was excited. "I admired the unique vision and mission of the company, which combined many of my personal interests: art, puppets, children and education," she explains.

Nancy holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in Illustration from Syracuse University. She is completing a certificate program in computer graphics at Pratt Institute. She is affiliated with the Graphic Artists Guild, and the Amphibian Alumni Association at The Jim Henson Legacy and InterArts Fellowship NYC. In 2008, she was a keynote speaker at The Vector Conference in Miami for Mogo Media and she has been honored with a Communication Arts Award of Excellence and the Harriet T. Leavenworth Art Award of Excellence. In connection with her interest in creative educational development, Nancy founded RAPP (Reading Achievement Phonics Program), a phonics based reading program for inner city children and their families.

When asked about her plans for the future, Nancy says her life mission statement is "to use my time, talent, and treasure in such a way as to encourage others to become all they have been created to be so that mankind will benefit."

About Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that changed television forever with the legendary Sesame Street. As the single largest informal educator of young children, local Sesame Street programs produced in countries as diverse as South Africa, Bangladesh and India are making a difference in over 140 nations. Using proprietary research to create engaging and enriching content, Sesame Workshop produces programs such as Dragon Tales and Pinky Dinky Doo. In addition, multimedia needs-driven initiatives provide families tools for addressing such issues as children's health, military deployment and emergency preparedness. As a nonprofit, product proceeds and philanthropic donations support Sesame Workshop's educational research and creative content for children around the world. Learn more at www.sesameworkshop.org.

About Cambridge Who's Who
Cambridge Who's Who is an exclusive membership organization that recognizes and empowers executives, professionals and entrepreneurs throughout the world. From healthcare to law, engineering to finance, manufacturing to education, every major industry is represented by its 400,000 active members.

Cambridge Who's Who membership provides individuals with a valuable third party endorsement of their accomplishments and gives them the tools needed to brand themselves and their businesses effectively. In addition to publishing biographies in print and electronic form, Cambridge Who's Who offers an online networking platform where members can establish new business relationships and achieve career advancement within their company, industry or profession.

For more information, please visit our site: Cambridge Who's Who.

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