New Hire Spotlight: Larry Gamble

As we continuously strive to grow and improve our haku family, our newest team member is graphic designer, Larry Gamble. Larry was born in “the City by the Lake” Erie, Pennsylvania and relocated to Miami about 7 years ago.  

Larry brings a wealth of design experience across multiple industries, including travel, engineering, hospitality, health care and more, where he has done design work, video editing and photography at the corporate and agency levels. Let’s get to know more about him. 

What is your role with haku?

My role started out as a graphic designer but it’s quickly expanding and that’s great. So I would say overall I get to lend my creativity to the team currently with a focus on graphic design. 

Were you looking for something specifically related to tech/software industries or did this kind of change your plans?

When it comes to design, I just want to be able to be as creative as possible. I have a destination I want to get to within my career but I just want to be as versatile as I can with my skills and experience and I was attracted to this role because I could enhance those skills and add more to my repertoire working in a new industry and for a great company. This is exciting and I pride myself on growing in the tech industry to add the knowledge I gain here to my toolbelt. 

What’s the best part about living in Miami? 

The weather! I come from somewhere so cold, that it was the biggest deciding factor in moving down. 

What are your long term career goals?

I want to be an art director. I want to always have a hand in the creative process and it drives me as a designer. I want to be as involved as I can while also being able to nurture and guide a younger generation of designers and inspire them to grow as well. That 1-2 punch exemplifies what an art director role would allow me to do and provides the best of both worlds. Inspire, guide, and enrich a group or team under my watch and continue to exercise my ability to be as creative as I can. 

How do you define success?

I would define success as the achievement of a desired goal that was set. Those goals mean different things to different people but if you achieve what you set out to do, then that’s success. It’s not an all-encompassing destination, because success can be big or small relative to the individual going through that process. So it’s the realization of a set goal. 

What are your early impressions of haku?

It’s a very warm and welcoming atmosphere with good people. It’s fun and exciting. Everyone is very passionate about their work and it’s great to be a part of the team. 

What are some of your unique talents? 

I am multilingual. I speak 5 languages in multiple levels of fluency - English, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, and Greek. 

I also write stories. There is a whole universe and cast of characters I’ve created over the course of my life and have added in experiences and perspectives from the different phases of my own life to their worlds, personalities, and stories. I really enjoy animation and drawing the characters from it that have inspired me when I was a kid. Initially I wanted to go into animation as a career but things turned out differently. Maybe one day I will be able to bring my characters and stories to life fully on the big screen. 

What has been a memorable life experience for you? 

I studied abroad in Costa Rica and got matched with a wonderful family there. It was an amazing experience in a beautiful country. I was actually living in a house with a retired chef which made it even greater and allowed me to experience the very best of Costa Rican cuisine everyday! It was my first time living in another country and I got to experience the city as a local, exploring the neighborhoods, taking photos, commuting as a resident on the bus to school, and celebrating on occasion and learning with a family. I felt like I was really there and immersed in the language and culture as opposed to just being a commuter student on a curated track. I formed such a great bond with my host family and even my university professor and classmates. I still keep in touch with a lot of them to this day.   

If your boss announced that you had a free day off tomorrow, how would you spend that day?

That’s easy! I would rest and relax. I have a sort of “soundtrack” to my life. There’s certain songs I play that just make me feel good like when I cook, clean, draw, etc. so I’d play that soundtrack and just have a great time doing the things that I enjoy. 

What is your biggest or proudest achievement?

I’m honestly proudest of the wisdom that I gained through the experiences I’ve had throughout my life. Several times I thought I was going through the most difficult moment of my life, but through those trials and tribulations and with perseverance and resiliency I’ve gained knowledge and wisdom that deeply ties into who I am and how I carry myself each and every day. I’m proud to have overcome those tough moments and be who and where I am now on the other side of them. 

There are a lot of great stories surrounding nicknames at haku. Do you have a good one to share?  

So I have several nicknames - one of them is LG, which is clearly my initials, but the story behind it is tied closely to the phone/tech company, LG. In high school that brand was becoming really popular and they had the slogan, Life’s Good. So friends started calling me LG and saying “Life’s good LG!” and it fit perfectly. Life’s Good! They would just say it to me and it kind of took off from there and I love it. 

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Want to explore an exciting career at haku? We’re growing our team and always looking for talented and outgoing individuals to add to our incredible haku family. Check out our openings here.