Today we’d like to introduce you to Cheryl Poindexter.
Hi Cheryl, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in Paris, Texas and then traveled and lived all over the United States and Canada. My father sold oil rigging equipment to the wildcatters. My first word was “Rock Bits”. My father wanted to be a commercial artist and loved to do watercolors. I watched him when he painted, and when I was four years old, I knew that I wanted to be an artist. During the summers, my parents would send me to my grandparent’s farm, and that’s where I developed my love of nature and animals. My Grandfather was the deacon of the Baptist church, and when I was four, I told him that God wasn’t in the church. He was in the woods. I still believe that today. More about that later.
My father wanted me to go to Art Center College of Design. After they told me that I needed to go to a Junior College for two years first, I applied to Chouinard and was accepted. My Dad was disappointed in me, as usual, but I ended up teaching there later in my career. I graduated with a BFA in Advertising Design. I was 19, and it was 1969. My first Job was with Linda Sinay Advertising and was in charge of Gilleran and Griffin’s Advertising and marketing. They were selling homes in the Antelope Valley. I decorated their sales offices and hired a couple dressed in Western costume and rented a horse-drawn wagon to draw interest in the housing developments. Ironic that I ended up buying a ranch here in 1999. I left Linda Sinay’s and was hired as creative director at Teen Magazine. In 1972, I had a meeting at Capitol Records on a story that we were doing, and someone interrupted our meeting saying they needed someone to decorate a Christmas tree to shoot for Tennessee Ernie Ford’s Christmas album. It was July. I volunteered. I met a lot of great people during that project and was soon offered a job at A&M Records.
I was in charge of all the advertising and marketing for the Carpenters, Joe Cocker, Cat Stevens, Carole King, Burt Bacharach, Herb Albert, Rita Coolidge, Humble Pie, Quincy Jones, Paul Williams to mention a few. I was 22. My most memorable project was a billboard that was to be on the Sunset Blvd. for Burt Bacharach. I chose a whole bunch of different characters with the line “Everybody loves Burt”. My boss, Roland Young, wasn’t sure, but he showed it to Burt, and he loved it so much he asked me to add Angie Dickenson, Willie Shoemaker, and his racehorse (his name escapes me). I was on that billboard, too.
I was featured in Communication Arts Magazine. A very prominent magazine in the advertising/Graphic design biz As I was one of the few female Art Directors in the State. They featured other female art directors in New York. Apparently it was a big deal back then if you had a man’s job and boy was it tough going. This was before the “Me Too” movement, and it was a day-to-day challenge.
From A&M I had a brief stint at California Apparel News as Creative director and designed and produced Fashion Week. A publication for the garment industry. I found it to be a very sleazy industry I found so I was hired by CBS as Creative Director. I was in charge of creating the news graphics for KNXT. This was before computers, so when a news story would break, we would have a runner go into the image archives to provide us with photos, images, etc., that we would prepare as art for the photo dept to photograph the artboards as slides for the camera dept. to put on the air. We had to think fast and work fast. I was good at it, too.
After that, I struck out on my own and started my own agency. After doing all the music promo, billboards and ads I was yearning to do movie posters. My first movie client was Pacific Coast Films. The home video biz hadn’t hit yet, and the very first one was Deep Throat. I started designing their softcore posters, and they began winning awards. I won a Hollywood Reporter Key art award over legitimate well known films with “Do you wanna be loved”. Was a big deal back then. I went on to design and produce posters, press kits, ad campaigns, billboards, video packaging, and trailers for films such as Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile, Scarface, Oh God, The Living Daylights, and over 100 more.
Some of the most well-known Poindexter Design Group’s clients included The Long Beach Convention Center, Aquarium of the Pacific, Blue Cross, Santa Anita Race Track, See’s Candies, and Don Cornelius (Soul Train). Don Cornelius was my client for over 30 years. I designed and produced the Program books, advertising, tickets, and trophies for all of his music awards shows.
I designed restaurant and bar interiors for Rubens, Charlie Browns, El Toritos, and Fuddruckers. I did the interior design, signage, and menus. I was very honored to design the interior and signage for the Reagan Library Cafe. I taught Advertising Design at Cal State Northridge, California Institute of the Arts and Art Center College of Design, and lectured at UCLA. I was “Professor Poindexter”. I hired most of my best students to work with me at my studio. Those were the good ‘ol days.
In 1999, I moved from Studio City and found my 11-acre ranch in Juniper Hills and became a non-profit animal sanctuary (Poinsie’s Haven). I am still designing, promoting, and making art for authors and large contractors, and I recently designed and installed the interior signage for the beautiful Palmdale Animal Shelter. I love what I do, and I am blessed and grateful that others love what I do, too. Juniper Hills is a very beautiful and spiritual place. I am closer to God here. Sadly on Sept 18, 2020 I lost everything I ever owned in the BobCat fire. All my photos, my original art, my portfolios, my paintings. The watercolor I watched my Dad paint of the Bucking Bronco when I was four is gone, too. I am currently trying to recover, and it’s my animals and my art that keep me going.
When I was in 3rd grade Catholic school, we were asked to do a report on what we wanted to be when we grew up. My favorite artist was Andrew Wyeth. I said I wanted to be an artist like him, live in the country, and send my paintings to the city. And that’s exactly what I am doing now since 1999.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it has not been a smooth road. Being one of the only woman art directors, I had to put up with a lot of abusive nonsense. Then, trying to rebuild after a fire in LA County has been nearly impossible. I am already losing work to AI.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in Advertising design. I also design and produce signage and websites, and I’m a professional photographer. What sets me apart from others are my creative ideas. I have an uncanny knack for knowing what will sell things. I think I am most proud of my teaching and lecturing at accredited colleges and my design and installations at the Reagan Library Cafe.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Yes. That I loved working from home. Always have. And very grateful that I never got vaccinated.
Contact Info:
- Website: poindexterdesign.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reinganspoindexter/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090257055218
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/pub/cheryl-poindexter/a/18/919
