Sandra Spilker doesn’t let little things get in her way. As a girl, she wanted a job detassling corn, so she rode her bike five miles to the local Dekalb seeds office. Though she was only 4-foot-8 — not tall enough to reach the corn’s tassels — she was hired on the spot for showing tenacity. She used that tenacity as she pulled each cornstalk to bring the tassel into reach, and she uses it now as a designer, a branding strategist and while developing new accounts for Mauck + Associates.

Spilker grew up in Hampton, Iowa, and has lived in the Ames area since 1988. In 1996, she graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.

Though she loved art, Spilker had spent a lot of time working to help people with disabilities and upon graduation took a full-time position with the Story County Community Life Program. The majority of her job was spent finding employment for individuals with disabilities and teaching employers and workers about working with disabled people. She also created graphics and marketing materials for the program. The task reminded her how much she loved using her creativity. It also taught her the difference between the skills necessary to create fine art and those needed to make art that communicates a specific message to the public.

Spilker returned to Iowa State University to study graphic design. While there, she helped the school build its student chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts from seven members to 70. She was simultaneously president of the ISU student group and director of events for Iowa’s professional chapter.

Now Spilker has a unique job with Mauck + Associates. Part of her job is new business development.

“I love forming relationships with new customers to the firm and spreading the word to the community about all of the things we do here,” she said.

Another of Spilker’s specialties is branding and strategic design. She says the firm sits down with a company’s leaders to discover its values and core mission. They evaluate whether the business has a consistent voice. Then Mauck streamlines the company and its image toward a particular look and message. The process can take three months to a year and a half.

“It goes beyond making things look pretty,” Spilker said.