< Back to Main Page of Portfolio Petek Kent is a 37 year old divorced New Yorker who lives with her adorable eleven year old chocolate Labrador, Brandywine (a/k/a Brandy, Bran and Boo.) Petek is a detail-oriented Senior Web Producer and Project Manager, who has a decade of experience dealing with web sites. She is strongly motivated by the need for closure and is driven to meet deadlines. Petek is a survivor of the infamous Internet bust, when she served as the Director of Internet Development of a start-up. Having ridden the crest of the wave of the dotcom boom in the late 1990's, when opportunity was so rich that she had to turn down some fantastic offers, she has managed to retain a healthy portion of the huge ego that those hyper-optimistic times fostered. Thankfully, life interceded in unexpected ways, knocking that ego down to a more serviceable size, to the point where Petek is now quite pleasant to be around. Her style is enthusiastic, energetic, creative, positive, warm, quick-witted, direct and honest. In her free time, Petek has been working on two personal art photography projects, which she hopes to complete in 2007. One will be a CD of artistic self-portraits, the other a multimedia documentary about her ex-husband's recovery from a life-altering accident. Petek is passionate about her avocation and received great support from her teachers when she took a dozen art courses in the early 2000's. She earned a 3.8 GPA, while learning how to make photographs, at the School of Visual Arts. She is fascinated by visual communications and psychology (and the interplay between the two) and is considering pursuing an advanced degree in a related area. Early on, Petek was drawn to all forms of visual expression. She created many collages, scissors always in hand - no book or magazine was safe, not even the expensive Encyclopaedia Britannica, much to her cash-strapped parents' chagrin. In elementary school, in the then-appropriately-named Hell's Kitchen, Petek was one of a select group of children who were chosen to paint a mural for The Electric Company magazine, an offshoot of the well-known PBS show. Petek painted her hero, Wonder Woman. When Petek was born in Istanbul, Turkey (she is 3/4 Turkish and 1/4 Russian), perhaps her parents chose a name that means "honeycomb" because she was such a sweet baby. The family relocated to New York City when Petek was four. Soon, that sweet baby was replaced by an energetic "tomboy", who one day ran wildly through the lobby of an upscale building across the street from Carnegie Hall and crashed into an elderly couple. They requested that the superintendent, Petek's father, be called immediately, and they informed him that they had no grandchildren and would be thrilled to have Petek running around in their penthouse apartment. They both happened to be concert pianists (who had often played at Carnegie Hall) and they generously offered Petek free piano lessons. Although she did her best to impress, her fingers couldn't keep up with the ominous ticking of the metronome. Later, she tried her hand at clarinet and flute, with mixed results. Athleticism is in Petek's blood (two of her relatives, one male and one female, were both professional soccer players in Turkey). Petek enjoys vigorous activities such as racquet sports (in high school she was the top female paddleball player and often played competitively with the boys). She is adventurous and outdoorsy. Her musical taste tends toward 80's alternative, but she also enjoys some current rock and pop as well as classical works such as J.S. Bach's chamber music. Petek attended Edward R. Murrow High School, where she was accepted into the Biology Research Program and subsequently into the prestigious Murrow Med Program. She passed advanced placement exams in subjects ranging from literature to computers. She was a co-editor for the literary magazine. Petek also played in the band, participated in dance showcases, decorated art cases and tried her hand at fashion design. She graduated with honors. Petek was grade-conscious to an almost annoying degree. She attended Baruch College on a full scholarship and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1992 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Information Systems. Half of the degree was liberal arts and her minor consisted of psychology courses. She was accepted into first-tier law schools, but chose not to pursue that route, preferring to jump headfirst into the workforce (and wanting to move out of her mom's apartment as soon as possible!) Petek's ex-husband David has doggy visitation rights. They were married for ten years and they didn't have any children. David, a talented guitarist, songwriter and singer, graduated from Columbia University, where he majored in history. Petek's brother, who was an engineering student there, introduced them. So, ultimately, he is the one to blame. Petek's father was a working actor in Turkey. In America, he continued to indulge artistic pursuits (photography, painting, illustration) as well as technical interests (building computers, taking classes in physics and engineering). Much to the delight of Petek and her brother, he built such marvels as a full-sized wooden soccer table complete with tiny hand-carved players (it pains Petek that it must have been thrown out when her parents divorced in the early 80's). She lost contact with her father when he left the U.S. in the early 90's. Petek's beautiful mother made her living as a theater actress in Turkey, and was nearly finished with fashion design school when her husband decided to move the family to America to provide the children with greater opportunities. She supported her children by working as a maintenance worker and she made clothing and beautiful pillows for her family. If you'd like to learn more, feel free to email Petek: <petekkent@prodigy.net> All content copyright © 2000-2007 Petek Kent. All rights reserved.