Ava Cook is a forward for the NWSL’s Chicago Red Stars and recently joined Parkside Collectibles as a graphic designer on the creative team.
Cook first encountered NWSL cards as a rookie in 2022 when she her rookie autograph card was featured in Parkside’s Paramount NWSL set with Signature Set #6. From that interaction, it was passed along to those behind the scenes at Parkside that Cook is a graphic designer and now, years later, they finally brought her on in 2024 as a graphic designer.
Cook, the artist, was involved with making the yearbook in high school and subsequently learned InDesign, which she now uses with Parkside. She continued to create during her collegiate career at Grand Valley State and, later, Michigan State before being drafted in the 2022 NWSL Draft by the Chicago Red Stars.
I spoke to Ava last week at Red Stars training about her new gig at Parkside and how she came to have two careers at 25.
*Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
JC: When did you start creating art?
Ava: I've always been a creative person. And I loved to draw as a kid. And then we got a computer and I was always doing stuff on the computer. When I wasn't outside, it was like 80% outside, I was inside on the computer.
“When I got into high school, there was a computer graphics class - I had always done stuff leading up to that - but there's a computer's graphic class, and my teacher was super cool. We did like the first project and he was like, ‘you need to go sit in that chair in the corner and do what you want in this class. I have no problem with it. Just tell me what you want to learn.’
“That's when I was like, ‘Okay, I want to learn the Adobe stuff.’ So I sat there, essentially for four years and just learned how to do Photoshop. There's a few other things I did like some CAD stuff, engineering on the computer. I couldn't do it now [laughs].
“It wasn't all Adobe. But I loved the graphic design part. So I was just kind of self-taught through those four years. And when I got to college I wanted to have a major that is somehow incorporated with graphic design but I didn't want to specifically be a graphic design major. And that's how I got into advertising because, obviously, advertising very much involves design.
“I just made sure I stayed up to date [on software changes] and kept learning more. And it's kind of gotten me to this point. I just love it. It's a very nice way for me to be creative outside of [soccer]. And I think that's important for people to have this as much as we all love soccer and we eat, breathe and live soccer. It's not who we are as people. There's more to all of us. So I think it's good when you can find stuff that gives you that fulfillment that's off the field as well.”
JC: Where did you first discover your love for creating art?
Ava: “I was a big doodler. And I just loved to draw no matter what it was. I wasn't a huge painter, but I love to draw. And one day, I said, ‘why don't I just try to do this on the computer?’
“So I drew something and I photocopied it and put it onto the computer and kind of traced it. And I was like, ‘I could do this again, I think.’ And that's what started at all.”
JC: When did you realize you may have some talent as an artist?
Ava: “We had to make a movie poster in one of my classes in high school. And I love movies. Father's Day was coming up. My dad loves Marvel movies. So I was like, ‘I'm gonna make a Marvel poster. Why not?’
“And I went to town on that thing. I'm not gonna lie, I put in some work on that thing. It turned out how I wanted it to and I was really proud of it.
“I went to print it out, it was probably like Walgreens or something, and they were like ‘you can't just be printing this out. It's so copyrighted.’
“But it was good. That was one of the things where I realized this was really fun to do and I really liked it. And I really liked this satisfaction that I got when I was done with it.”
JC: Who encouraged you to follow your creative passions?
Ava: “My parents are the most important people in the world. They were very encouraging towards whatever I liked and wanted to do.”
JC: When did you start to create as a side-hustle?
Ava: “In college I kind of had my own little side business. I'm super into Michigan. I'm a big Michigan girl. The state, to be clear, not the college. Going back to the doodles, I would always make little stickers or drawings about Michigan. And that's when I was like, ‘I need to put this on the computer.’
“And I made it on the computer. And my friend said ‘oh, you should make that into a sticker.’ That's a great idea. So I did that in college. I had a little side business. And I sold a bunch of touristy Michigan stuff. My thought with it was that all of this stuff, when I go to the stores, looks the same. And mine looks way different so I might as well throw it out there. And that kept me busy. I would also do sports posters and stuff like that, too. It really gave me a reason to sit there and not do my homework.”
JC: What have you learned in your first few months as a professional graphic designer?
Ava: “I’ve learned a lot actually. I love it. The stuff that I know is pretty self-taught. So that makes it easy for me to keep learning because there's always different ways to do stuff. There's different ways to set things up. That's the best thing about design: everyone's a little different. No one's the exact same. And it makes it really easy to just keep learning and keep getting better. The people that work there are phenomenal. And they make it really easy for me. So it's very nice.”
JC: What is your work set up when you’re designing?
Ava: “I have my desk, I usually do it at home. Obviously if I'm out at a coffee shop I have headphones, but I have a JBL speaker and my Mac Desktop. Laptop on the side. And then I usually have a notebook of some kind. A pen and a mechanical pencil, just to have some options. An Ipad with the pen, too, because I like to use Procreate.
“So usually, if I have an idea, I'll try to draw it out on paper first. That way I can just kind of get my thoughts there. And then I'll just reference that when I make it on a computer.
JC: Did you collect anything when you were growing up?
Ava: “I was a huge Pokémon girl.”
JC: What is your favorite Pokémon?
Ava: “For a while it was Growlithe because I thought he was so cute. I liked all the Eevee one’s too because they can just do whatever?”
JC: What is your favorite Eeveelution?
Ava: “Vaporean.”
JC: Did you play any of the Pokémon games and, if so, which character did you start with?
Ava: I was a big Emerald Green fan and I was a Charmander girl.”
JC: What is your favorite card in the 2024 Parkside NWSL Collection Volume 1 set?
Ava: “I really like the Astral inserts and I love anything vintage, so the [retail] Vintage ones are great, too.”
JC: Do you have a favorite Ava Cook card?
Ava: “The pinecone with Jenna Bike (2023 Parkside NWSL Pronto Week 11 Card #60 ‘The Pinecone Game’). Every time someone hands out to me after a game to sign I just have the biggest smile on my face because it was so funny and so goofy.”
JC: What does your NWSL collection look like?
Ava: “I have a little collection in my locker of my teammates and when I get them, sometimes if I see someone at the games that has like an extra one of them, I'm like, Okay, can I have that? And then I just have them sign it. I just keep them. I have some good ones.”
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