KC Ellis began work in graphic arts in New York City after several years as a Letter Carrier in Pennsylvania where, in the late 1970s, he served as president of Branch 2151 NALC . He learned the printing trade in the pre-digital age becoming a journeyman 4/color stripper just hours before computers rendered such skills obsolete.

Before turning to electronic pre-press and desktop publishing, he spent a few years as a member of UFCW working in meat processing plants in Portland, Oregon and Kansas City. In the early 1990s he worked as an aircraft assembler outside Philadelphia at a plant organized by the UAW. He returned to the printing field in the mid-1990s and started producing Web sites in addition to his pre-press work.

One of his first Web site projects, Penn Valley Pipes and Tobacco Company, was launched in 1998 and served as an ongoing experiment in online retailing for over 5 years. The pipeshoppe.com Web site was re-launched in modified form in May 2007.

In 2001 he established the Web design firm Drayton Lane Studios. In 2003 he was commissioned to develop a contract campaign Web site for SEIU Local 36 in Philadelphia and joined the staff a few months later. He left SEIU at the end of 2005 to pursue design work full-time from his Apalachin, New York farm.

He is a member of the Graphic Artists Guild, an associate member of the International Labor Communications Association, AFL-CIO and an approved Web designer with the PhillyUnions Pro-Union Preferred Partner Program, which screens prospective vendors to assure compliance with fair labor standards.

He is the father of two sons, Mike who became a father himself in 2007, and Charles who is going to school in Seattle. His closest friend, Steve O'Connor, who happens to live in Italy —closest to the heart, but farthest apart—complains that the photo above is too old. So here's a more recent shot.

KC and his wife Ann are currently planting trees and organic vegetables which are greatly appreciated by the local deer.