When Tessa Ortlip was first hired at Action Property Management 8 years ago, her current position didn’t exist, but the combination of an evolving business mixed with a passion to excel created the perfect opportunity for growth, both for her personally and for the company. Today, as Action’s media administrator, Tessa has her hand on nearly every aspect of the visual image of the company.
From photography, to graphic design, to video production, Tessa’s artistic eye is able to provide a consistently professional image. She first discovered the art of photography as a young teen and gradually improved her skills through self-directed study. After finishing high school at the young age of sixteen, she enrolled in a community college to pursue a more formal study of photography.
Much of her passion for beauty was refined during the formative early teen years. At that time, her dad took advantage of an opportunity to move the family to Hawaii for what was supposed to be no more than a few months. As his job developed, the time was gradually extended and the family ended up staying on the island of Maui for two years. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the tropics, Tessa’s education was constantly supplemented by an immersion in the beauty of creation.
After returning to California and starting the photography program at Orange Coast College, Tessa began working part-time at Action in an administrative role. Once she had completed her associate’s degree, she was able to transition into a full-time position.
Tessa Ortlip
”There are very few creative opinions I trust without question, and those expressed by Tessa are at the top of that list.
Matthew HolbrookCEO
Tessa’s artistic eye did not go unnoticed by Action’s CEO, Matthew Holbrook, and he gradually expanded her role to make better use of her gifts. When it came time to launch Action’s podcast, The Uncommon Area, Matthew knew just who to turn to and tasked Tessa with designing a set, procuring equipment, and working on the overall visual image of the production. With little formal art or technical training beyond photography, Tessa seized opportunities for growth by studying on her own. Since the company now had the software and equipment to produce videos, Tessa used Google and YouTube to learn everything she needed to put that equipment to good use.
Not one to settle for mediocrity, her hard work has continued to impress. “There are very few creative opinions I trust without question, and those expressed by Tessa are at the top of that list,” Matthew says of her.
Over the years, she has proven that individual tenacity and an insatiable desire for perfection can provide the perfect supplement to a well-rounded foundation. With a background that combines the best of homeschooling, public schooling, and private schooling, she has indeed experienced it all.
Although soft-spoken and careful to choose only the most necessary words, Tessa is able to deliver whatever is needed, whenever it is needed.
With a role that transcends departmental lines, Tessa often works with the executive leadership team, marketing team, and tech team. One of the projects she completed early on involved redesigning marketing materials that could be easily customized for any client. She noticed that keeping multiple versions of things was costly, time consuming, and complicated. To address this, Tessa found a programmer who wrote an interactive script for her design software that could easily customize marketing materials and streamline the process of bringing the best of Action to new clients.
For the past year, Tessa has poured her energy into learning another role as well. As a newlywed, she enjoys creating a home with her husband as she learns about gardening and house projects as well as resurrecting her passion for cooking. Outside of life at Action, Tessa also uses her administrative skills to help manage her husband’s private tennis coaching business.
Not one to be content with the knowledge and skills she already has, Tessa continues to stretch herself by taking ceramics classes. She has quickly learned that there is much more to it than just an artistic eye. While it’s a lot harder than she thought, she always enjoys the learning.
If you were to sit down and talk with Tessa today, there may not be many words spoken, but each one will carry a powerful impact. In the same way, every piece of art or visual imagery that she produces is sure to pack the message of a million words into one neatly wrapped package, and packages like that are hard to find.