Patrick Rife

Navigating the Unknown. Building Businesses Along the Way. And Writing About It.

Join me as I embark on a journey to reclaim control, and build businesses that reflect who I am, and where I'm headed.

Founder

Pixilated

Pixilated is a photo booth company based in Baltimore, MD that produces an easy-to-use, shippable photo booth called PixiTAB that is powered by our B2B photo marketing software; PixiCloud. When not acting as the brain for PixiTAB we license the PixiCloud software platform to companies looking to capture 1st party user data at events and venues through photo experiences, forms, surveys, and other experiential marketing activities.

Co-Founder

Baltimore Creators

Our mission: connect Baltimore's business builders. Whether you're an entrepreneur, advisor, or curious learner, Baltimore Creators is for you.

PixiWeb

Event Photo Sharing Simplified: Create custom event websites that allow your guests to post photos directly to a shared event gallery.

Startup Soirée

Startup Soiree was a grassroots entrepreneurial community and event series dedicated to fostering meaningful connections among Baltimore’s founders, creatives, and business leaders. As Co-Founder, I helped create a space where entrepreneurs could engage in candid, no-pitch conversations, exchange insights, and build lasting relationships.

Key initiatives included:

---> Hosting monthly fireside chat events featuring prominent Baltimore entrepreneurs in unique, intimate settings.
---> Developing community-driven content, including a podcast and blog, to share startup stories and insights.
---> Strengthening Baltimore’s startup ecosystem by providing a platform for founders to connect, learn, and grow.

Startup Soiree played a pivotal role in shaping Baltimore’s startup culture, and its legacy lives on in the connections and collaborations it sparked.

Bonsai Fine Arts

Assist museums, galleries and private collectors in caring for their valuable artworks during transit and installation. Lead small focused teams on installations ranging from small sculptural pieces in private galleries to full scale multi-level commercial art installations.

Art Handler

Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, U.M.B.C.

Worked closely with Gallery Preparator to develop the physical museum space as it pertains to incoming exhibitions, hung and installed traveling exhibitions, took part in the registration, crate building and technical manuals for the traveling exhibition "For All The World to See."

Gallery Assistant/Art Handler

Contemporary Museum Baltimore

Provided primary interfacing to museum visitors and patrons. Oversaw Museum social media program. Provided technical and clerical support to higher museum staff.

Gallery Assistant

Entrepreneur Building Business and Writing About the Process.

Helping founders & leaders find clarity in chaos | Ground Control Newsletter

I've spent years building companies, communities, and connections. Now I help others navigate their own path forward.

As co-founder of Pixilated and creator of Startup Soirée, I've lived the founder journey - from scaling and strategy to the human side of leadership. But what lights me up isn't just what I built - it's who I became along the way.

What I Do Now:

I work with founders and leaders who are:

- Seeking clarity in their next chapter
- Building something meaningful
- Ready to align who they are with what they do
- Looking for perspective, not just strategy

My Approach:

Think of me as your mirror and prism - helping you see your path more clearly and illuminating possibilities you might have missed. Through deep listening and perspective shifting, we find the clarity you need to move forward with confidence.

Ground Control Newsletter:

Every Wednesday, I share raw insights about leadership, transformation, and finding your way. No guru speak. No formulas. Just real talk about what it takes to build something that matters.

Let's Connect:

- Ready for clarity? DM me
- Want weekly insights? Ground Control newsletter (link in bio)
- Looking for perspective? Let's talk

"The real ROI of human connection isn't measured in quarters. It's measured in years, in lives touched, in moments of breakthrough."

#leadership #transformation #clarity #growth #authenticity

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

As Sr. Programmer Analyst I was responsible for the creation, implementation, maintenance, support, and documentation of various school and departmental application systems, within the Office of External Affairs.

- Created a suite of Python web scraping tools to assist ongoing migration projects relieving content editors from the toils of copy-paste drudgery and reducing expenditures on outside contractors. 
- Created a successful proof of concept migration pipeline to move web content from static html into a third-party service for editing, and then into an existing Drupal 8 application using Beautiful Soup 4 and the Drupal Migrate API
- Supported Public Health Magazine (Drupal 8) with updates and maintenance
- Upgraded public-facing JHSPH.edu search backend and assisted LWD with completing frontend
- Managed various departmental legacy applications and information systems
- Coordinated with Academic Information Steering Committee & JHSPH IT to manage data flow and web display of course catalog system
- Coordinated with Office of Academic Affairs on management, data flow, and display of the public-facing Faculty Directory, Faculty profiles PURE research profiles, etc.
- Coordinated with JHSPH IT to update legacy authorization systems to modern REST-based systems 
- Coordinated with JHSPH and JHU IT to migrate and secure multiple legacy departmental information systems

Sr. Programmer Analyst

As Lead Web Developer I was responsible for leading and working with a team of both front-end and back-end developers through the development and deployment of various web-based projects, within the Office of External Affairs.

The position worked in an integrated manner with other communication and marketing positions and with the development/ fundraising and constituent relations team. 

The role worked on projects for OEA and for internal clients across the School. Key audiences that this position designed projects for include: faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, prospective students, affiliated and unaffiliated friends of the School.

As team lead:
- Led development and design of the new Dean's website
- Led development and design of the website for Clinton Opioid Symposium. Worked with the communications team to complete the project.
- Architected and led the relaunch of Public Health Magazine on Drupal 8. Hosted on Aquia Cloud with full deployment automation, unit testing, documentation wiki, and local development environment. Coordinated with ops team, editorial and vendor to complete the project.

Lead Web Developer

Ainsley & Co

As technical lead at Ainsley, my primary responsibilities were to drive utilization of new technologies and processes, set and maintain the standards for the web development team and ensure that all digital products were built to exceed client expectations & meet current industry best practices.

My primary accomplishment at Ainsley was the complete overhaul and redesign of the existing development process, both back end and front end, leaving the company with a modern, standardized open source tool set and streamlined, efficient, repeatable processes to rapidly build and deploy WordPress applications.
Some of the tools and methodologies I introduced include version control, local development environments, automated build and deployment, server standardization, and advanced front end workflows with automated build processes and dependency management.

During my 2 years at Ainsley I built and maintained approximately 15-18 custom WordPress applications, including websites, plugins, and a private intranet. I handled both back end and front end: Migrating databases, designing data structures and content relationships, crafting intuitive back end interfaces for content creators, translating design assets into functional, responsive front ends, setting up staging and production servers and deploying the applications.

Other responsibilities included maintaining the company's portfolio of web sites, code repositories, and servers, migrating data from other applications such as Drupal, and Joomla!, into WordPress and other web related duties as needed.

Smutek Creative

Web design and front end development.

Using primarily the WordPress platform, I worked with HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript to craft web solutions for small business owners.

I also handled marketing (strategies and implementation), client acquisition and on boarding, quotes, invoicing, and the myriad of other tasks that came along with being self employed, all while staying up to date with the latest advancements in the world of front end development where new and amazing technologies are released by the second.

Web Developer

ArtComp & Design

* Work with HTML, CSS, SCSS and LESS to complete projects as directed by the lead developer. 

* Design and develop custom WordPress themes.

* PSD to WordPress conversion.

* Static HTML to WordPress conversion. 

* Create and / or optimize design assets using Photoshop & Illustrator.

* Interface with clients to determine needs and to develop content and UX strategies. 

* Create workflow procedures and implement emerging technologies. 

* Assist print designers with overflow work as necessary.

Front End Developer

Marked Promotions Inc.

* Organize, produce and facilitate all tasks that fall under the art department’s scope. 

* Manage and complete projects within deadlines for a team of ten sales representatives. 

* Design, product mock ups, and pre-press production for screen printing and advertising specialty orders. 

* Update and maintain company WordPress site. 

* Design, launch and maintain niche marketing web sites as required. 

* Maintain equipment, computers, and supplies for the art department.

Senior Designer

Baltimore Art and Music Project

* Developed-from concept to delivery-posters, mailers, hand-bills, web collateral and other promotional materials.

* Updated and maintained Drupal based website.

* Designed and launched event specific microsites as was required.

Graphic Artist

Promotional Xpressions

* Conceptualize and create original art as well as prepare client-supplied art for print.

* Coordinate and execute all art activities that relate to screen printing and advertising specialty orders.

* Manage and complete multiple projects within deadlines.

* Communicate with both customers and vendors within all stages of the design process.

Holabird Sports

* Digitally photographed products and used Adobe Photoshop to prepare them for web-display.

* Worked with Art Director in layout of several display advertisements.

Web Production Artist

I'm a web developer from Baltimore, Maryland. I'm disabled and not looking for work at this time. My goal is to get back to working on the web in some capacity soon and I'm happy to network if you'd like to connect.

taplio

The Battle

Patrick Rife

Jimmy Smutek

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