Background
Hello. My name is Stephen Hackett. I live in my hometown of Memphis, TN. I married my high-school sweetheart, and we have a toddler who is a patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a one-year-old daughter and a cat. I drive an older Toyota 4Runner with a Yakima bike rack, she drives a much newer Honda Element.
The cat doesn’t have a car.
I have a dogcow tattoo on my ankle. I was featured in The Memphis Flyer’s 20 Under 30 feature in 2010, and am an active volunteer with Operation Broken Silence, the Greater Memphis Greenline and The Have A Standard Foundation. I have an account on the Twitter.
Education
I discovered many of my passions in high school.
I attended the University of Memphis and majored in internet journalism after a two-year stint chasing an art degree. I was hired by The Daily Helmsman as “the Sports section layout guy” as an incoming freshman. (I found out later the Helmsman never hired incoming freshman.) I was promoted to News Editor my second semester, and laid out almost every page the paper produced for three years.
After several years, including some just going part-time, I finished college. I have a Bacehlor of Arts in Journalism, with focuses in design and “Internet Journaslism.”
Whatever that means.
Past Work
Four years into school, I took a job as a sales guy at the local Apple Store to help pay for my wife’s engagement ring.
I quickly became a part-time student and began working as a Mac Genius. Six months later, I was promoted to the Lead Genius position and quit my job at the newspaper. Being Lead meant managing my team of young Geniuses and keeping the angry people at the Genius Bar as calm as possible. I smoked a good bit in the parking lot.
After two years, I left Apple to manage a start-up Apple Authorized Service Provider. It was a lot of fun to see Apple tech out in the real world — not just from behind a Genius Bar. Most days, it was a lot of fun, but some days it meant unloading hundreds of iMacs in the rain.
Freelance & Consulting
I currently offer several services on a freelance basis, including brand creation, logo design, WordPress work and more. I also offer consulting and support for Apple products for individuals, families and companies. If you are looking for someone who can help, and won’t waste your time, get in touch.
Current Work
In early 2010, I started as the IT/Multimedia Director at The Salvation Army Kroc Center in Memphis. I get to work with lots of technology, using it to help change the city I love for the better.
