Since I first met Marcia at a company event (our husbands work together), I keep bumping into her around town — at the Northshore YMCA where she exercises and at Steve’s Restaurant on Main Street where she meets for breakfast with the Bothell Chamber of Commerce crew.

Coincidentally, when I visited Olson’s Design on Main, Richard Olson asked if I’d like to see the design made for his new venture — Honeymoon Stones. The artwork conveyed the message of love, a simple heart in design, yet elegant in presentation.

Olson’s words sung praises, “This was designed by Marcia Repaci. She’s the best.”

I blurted out, “I know Marcia.”

He added, “She has the ability to communicate complex thoughts and ideas in a simple fashion. Her work is clean and a treat for the eye.”

It was time to discover more about the person I’d met at the company gathering.

It appears that Marcia’s graphic-design work has also caught the eye of Alexa’s Café, Monte Villa Farmhouse, Country Village shops, Criterium Pioli Engineers and Paul Richards Clothing to name a few. In addition, she’s just completed a 180-page photo-history book titled “Bothell Then and Now” that has recently been published and will become part of the city’s centennial celebrations.

“I worked with the Bothell Landmark Preservation Board and the city to design and layout this collection of historic and current photographs,” says Marcia.

Prior to working with Northshore businesses, Marcia took her talents to the University of Washington, serving both the Seattle and Bothell campuses over a 10-year period. At UWB she produced all of their recruitment materials, event and signage graphics, commencement materials, newsletters and annual reports. At the Seattle campus, she produced graphics for the health-sciences schools — posters, brochures, diagrams and illustrations. Since her background is biology, this resulted in a perfect fit combining her artistic talents and scientific knowledge.

Marcia graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a biology degree where she liked doing detailed drawings of plant structures, animals, habitats and … dissections! Following her studies, she took classes through the college extension studies in their Certificate in Graphic Design program.

A woman of many talents, Marcia’s childhood was spent drawing architectural floor plans of layouts for houses.

Her passion for drawing continued.

“I loved the idea of having a drafting table. You know, the old-fashioned, slanted kind with a T-square and a goose-neck lamp,” says Marcia, adding, “I got one of those and it felt so good to sit at it and draw.”

Today, she reflects on some of the unusual assignments in her career, like illustrating Northwest Native American tribal art, a complex 14-piece formal table setting or … drawing asthma inhalers to illustrating certain parts of the male anatomy for a scientific journal article!

Northshore sees much diverse talent. Marcia represents one of those skilled jewels to emerge.

Suzanne G. Beyer is a Bothell resident.