Bohdan Smaha
Creative Director, Co-Founder
Education and Background
Bohdan built his first website in 1997, for a non-profit environmental organization where he was working at the time. This was during his Freshman year of college at the National University in his home town of Lviv, Ukraine. From the get go he fall in love with web design and secretly dedicated his career to it, even though his major was Geography, and Geomorphology (Don't ask) :) He couldn't keep his new-found skills a secret for long though, and was snatched up by talent hunters from an emerging internet industry by the time he reached his junior year. He found his place in the Internet Service provider, which at that time was almost the only online business dealer.
In the early 2000's the dot-com bubble had burst in the United States and Bohdan made it his mission to be part of the recovery effort. Leaving the familiarity of his native Ukraine with only one suitcase and a dream, Bohdan enrolled at the Art Institute of Atlanta. There he polished his Design Skills, and obtained a more formal education in his trade, but Bohdan understood that design skills and raw talent weren't enough. An understanding of marketing and business would be required for the goals he wanted to pursue, so he applied and was immediately accepted to top-ranked Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
While at Regent, Bohdan studied under Professors who were not mere academics hiding behind textbooks, but highly accomplished business executives. These mentors, with real life experience at companies like Proctor & Gamble and Cadbury Schweppe, encouraged Bohdan to be bold in pursuing his dream of forming his own company. It was around this same time that fellow Regent grad student, Alex Demeshkin, came on to the scene with a similar dream. The two became instant friends and soon Visual Harbor started to take shape. Visual Harbor was launched in 2005.
Outside the Box
It may be hard to believe, but Bohdan doesn't spend every moment inside the four walls of his computer screen...in fact, he's an avid traveler and loves to explore new places and meet new people along the way. He hasn't even seen his 30th birthday yet, but has already traversed three continents...and is hungry for more. Watch out Anthony Bourdain! he likes snorkeling and wants to ride across the world his motorcycle. Although he doesn't have one yet and doesn't know how to ride. But, that's never stopped him before. The bigger the challenge the better. Same goes for a custom built green-certified modern house, which he is currently researching.
Profile
- Nickname: "The Fixer"
- Profile: creative, impulsive, spontaneous, mostly irrational (with rare exceptions that you don’t want to know about).
- On the clock: prefers you agree with what he says if you want anything done at all.
- Off the clock: dreams about inventing the next big Thing on the Internet; likes IPA; pool shark.
- Motto: “Give me water to work with, I'll send you home with wine".
Connect
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Skype: bohdsma