Seitu HaydenSeitu was born William Eric Hayden in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He began drawing in the second grade tracing pictures of his favorite cartoon characters from coloring books he brought to school to occupy his time during lunch. Eventually he began drawing te characters from memory. A story he drew was recognized by a local newspaper and carried the headline A Dr. Seuss Success. That was all the encouragement he needed to continue to get better and garner more recognition. In the seventh grade his mother introduced him to a man who would change his life. His name was Richard Green, an African American cartoonist, who was known by his pen name Grass Green. By eighth grade Grass gave Seitu his first professional job inking pencils for his Frost comic strips. After graduating high school, Seitu went to Chicago to attend the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts where after two months he sold a weekly comic strip called Waliku to the Chicago Defender that ran for three years. He adopted the name Seitu during that time which means artist in Swahili. A year later he transferred to Columbia College and graduated four years later with a B.A. in art. In the early 1980's Seitu began working as a storyboard illustrator and assistant art director at Vince Cullers advertising -the first minority-owned ad agency. That was followed by a stint at Foote Cone and Belding, Ogilvy and Mather, and J. Walter Thompson three of the biggest general market agencies in Chicago. After J. Walter Thompson Seitu began illustrating at the Steve Edsey studio where he was reacquainted with Christine Halloren (now Christine Wilkinson) whom he worked with at Ogilvy and Mather -a relationship that has continued professionally to this day. Read More Read Less