Lynn Brannelly-Newman has long had great interest and strong talents in the fields of Fashion and Interior Design. The eldest daughter and the second of six children in an Air Force family, she was born in Nebraska, spent her earliest years in Texas and Hawaii, and grew up in Colorado and Virginia. Her diverse family ties and experience with many cultures in the United States helped nurture these talents.

Lynn's early adulthood was a busy and often turbulent time. Living first in Atlanta and then Salt Lake City, she became the mother of four children. After two years as a single parent, she entered into a second marriage with Steve Newman and in short order became stepmother to three older children and a step-grandmother to three younger ones. Yet despite the many turns of her life in those years, she still found time to foster and gain recognition of her exceptional talents in Fashion and Interior Design.

Throughout Lynn's school years, she found even the simplest tasks often daunting, but no one knew why. At age seven, her inability to read at second grade level cost her an extra year in elementary school. Even with this persistent challenge, she succeeded in finishing high school in Richmond, VA in three years.

From there, she went on to attend Ricks College, now BYU Idaho, in Rexburg, ID from 1985 to 1987, until her first marriage. But it was not until in her thirties, in 2001, that she was tested and diagnosed as dyslexic. It was this discovery that proved to be the turning point of her life.

Lynn is a self-taught seamstress who has been sewing since she was eight years old. She cites her mother and grandmother as her inspirations. Both are very creative, resourceful, and “without a doubt examples of style.”

Lynn started sewing professionally in 1991, a year after the birth and passing of her first child. She did everything from custom apparel to evening gowns for the Miss Georgia pageant to period pieces of the Civil War reenactment society in Atlanta . In 1994 she moved to Salt Lake City where she soon had an unusual stroke of luck, brought about from designing an outrageous Halloween costume. This costume led to an invitation to bid on creating a costume for the “Intel inside” ad campaign. Lynn 's prototype was chosen, and with a group of contracted seamstresses she produced the “Bunny people” costumes from 1996 until 1998. In that time, Lynn also did the stylist work for four commercials and two Superbowl spots in 1997 and 1998.

When asked why she so strongly wants her education now, Lynn 's answer is, “I know a lot about the how , but I just wanted to understand the why. Ultimately, I want to be in design. If it involves textiles, I'll take six yards, please!”

Like her mother, Lynn dabbles in custom furniture making. She eagerly looks forward to pursuing her new career here in Salt Lake upon completion of her degree. Lynn's singular talents and indomitable spirit, aided by the understanding and help of SLCC and AAC, has enabled the little girl who could not read like her peers to become a rising star and role model in the world of Fashion and Interior Design.