Success by Design
Judy Trepal is the Creative Director, Agency Principle, and Co-founder of Ethos Marketing & Design in Westbrook.  She is known as someone who will not let anyone get away with telling her they are not creative.  She says she will challenge anyone who does not believe creativity exists within them.  In fact, she believes that sometimes we need to put ourselves in a new space to discover our creativity.  She has learned that remaining open and flexible are two essential components for keeping creative thought alive.

Judy received a B.S. in arts education from University of Connecticut and an M.F.A. in graphic design from Tyler School of Art, a division of Temple University.  She has received numerous national design awards from organizations such as the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), Creativity magazine and American Corporate Identity.

Judy says, “Life is too short to not live in the truth,” an ethos she began to develop at an early age. There were many influential people who helped shape Judy’s path.  Her creativity was nurtured by her mother who studied painting, ceramics, and lapidary at the University of Kansas.  She feels that her mother’s passion and appreciation for art encouraged her to honor her own creative expression.  Judy’s grandmother was also a tremendous inspiration in that she received a college degree during an era when many women were not able to pursue higher education. Even though Judy’s grandmother died when Judy was a child, stories about her life’s accomplishments remained a motivating force. 

Judy reminisces that it was Mrs. Cohen, her art teacher at Cape Elizabeth High School, who took Judy under her wing.  Judy recalls that Mrs. Cohen always made her feel welcome;  she often invited her to work on art projects after school, and she  invited Judy to be her assistant teacher during her free periods.  Judy remembers feeling both calm and excited walking down the hallway to Mrs. Cohen’s art room, and she still can visualize the batik cloth that she made in one of her classes. 

It was through these experiences that Judy was given the freedom to trust her artistic abilities.  Perhaps this is also where Judy first learned that she could be a leader.  She fondly remembers Mrs. Cohen’s nurturing and feisty personality, and how Mrs. Cohen just “made you trust that you could push yourself.”  She also remembers that Mrs. Cohen had a distinct way of doing things and that she had earnest plans to have Judy take over her position when she retired.  Judy maintained a relationship with Mrs. Cohen after high school and visited her every year while in college.

Towards the end of college, Judy realized that she had a choice to make about her career.  She found herself questioning if she should continue on her path to become an art educator or school administrator.  Her college graphic design teacher encouraged her to get a M.F.A. and pursue graphic design as a career.  Judy returned to Maine where she became the Director of Design at ImageSet, Inc., an integrated, digital graphic communications company. 

Six years ago, Judy and the former CEO of ImageSet bought the design branch of the company and transformed it into Ethos Marketing and Design.  Judy now works with a team of designers and creative writers providing a wide range of marketing and creative services.  Utilizing an eight-step strategic process, Ethos works to distill for their clients, through brand development and strategic marketing, how to best communicate their core truth.  At Ethos, integrity, creativity, and clarity of thought drives results and is the formula for success.  As Ethos’ Co-founder and Creative Director, Judy is an example of a woman who was encouraged to discover her core truth through creative exploration.  

Judy explains that as a Creative Director she is always giving constructive criticism.  She attributes the ability to give and receive constructive criticism to her arts education background.  She also feels that her arts education taught her to apply self-discipline in her work.  While not an art teacher as originally planned, Judy promotes the use of arts education to teach other subjects.  She also feels that art can help students overcome obstacles in learning.  According to Judy, learning to express oneself is at the root of solving all problems.