Marq Mervin (he/him) is The Renaissance Man: award-winning creator, educator, TEDx speaker, lover of cartoons, and founder of 23Thirty Coaching & Consulting. The Florida native earned his BFA in Animation at Jacksonville University and MFA in Animation at New York Institute of Technology. Marq’s career led him to work with broadcast news, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions. His tenure in broadcast led to the Emmy Award-winning documentary, Challenger: A Rush to Launch.
Formerly, he was a Professor of Design & Digital Media at both the University of Florida and Florida State College at Jacksonville. Marq’s career journey informed his advocacy for accessible Art, Design, & Digital Media education for marginalized and under-resourced youth. Examples include: serving as an Ambassador for the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, speaking about equitable representation in arts education at TEDxFSCJ, contributing to Adobe’s Partners by Design program, and formerly leading the Education & Community Committee for AIGA's Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.
Marq's passion for the creative arts led him to moderate VyStar's International Artist Lecture Series Q&A with Disney legend Floyd Norman. Additionally, he is the host of the Keep Sailing podcast, author of One Day, I Hope That...: a collection of prose and poetry, founder and host of Behind The Scenes: Visiting Artist Lecture Series, and organizer of the student-led festivals,1 Minute Fest and Our Haus Design Festival. When he's not traveling for game tournaments or speaking engagements, he's catching up on his favorite anime, taking on voice acting challenges, and performing at open mic nights.
