A few years ago, when the beauty of social networking really began to take hold, I stumbled onto Virb. As I spent hours pouring through the countless numbers of photographers, artists, writers, and other brilliant minds on the site (when I most likely should have been working), I ran across someone by the name “Pope Saint Victor.” Around that same time, I’d seen an overwhelming amount creativity spilling out of (what I refer to as) “the incomparable” Nashville, Tennessee, and Victor Huckabee happened to be one of them. In the last few years, I’ve somewhat silently kept watch of his unique work, imaginative illustrative style, and warm photography, and really took notice when I found out he landed a job at Blood:Water Mission. That being said, he was one of the artists at the forefront of my mind when I started this site, not only for his social justice background and experience, but because he seemed to be pushing creativity forward in what used to be a blandly-designed non-profit world. Not to mention, he actually knows his stuff when it comes to “branding,” a fancy little design term I’m so fond of.

With that, I give you Victor’s story from his own perspective:

“I wanted to be a part of history from a young age. I grew up in a small town on the coast of Georgia in the USA and the whole time I knew that my life was going to be very different. I was very blessed to have very supportive friends and family around me that knew I was different and saw talent in me. When I was around fourteen years old my mother brought home our first copy of Photoshop, and from that point on I was hooked. I had always been very fond of all types of art from a young age. In school I was the kid that was always getting in trouble for drawing when I should have been listening or studying. I never felt at home where I grew up. I knew there was a large world out there and I wanted to see it. That’s when I joined Youth With a Mission and moved to Europe. While in Europe, I was privileged to study graphic design in Switzerland and travel doing mission work all over the world. My travels took me to many countries and I started to see that there was a world out there that was beautiful but there was pain and injustice. Finally, it all came together to where I knew that the reason God gave me the talents I have were to be a catalyst for change in my world and generation.

“That brings me to where I am today. Through all the twists and turns in life I have found myself working for an incredible organization called Blood:Water Mission. Blood:Water Mission is a grassroots organization that empowers communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS & water crises in Africa. Started by Jars of Clay, Blood:Water Mission has changed the lives of thousands upon thousands of peoples lives since 2004 and is still growing. I was hired in the summer of 2008 as the Brand Design Architect. Since then I have been working on branding the organization.”

You can catch more from Victor on Twitter, here: twitter.com/popestvictor, or by checking out his Virb page here. You can also keep track of his work on his Flickr site, which he updates often. And, as always, keep an eye on what he and the rest of the crew are doing at Blood:Water Mission, which you can also follow on Twitter.