Marianne Kuga

OUR CREATIVE KUGA: If it weren’t for her mom’s suggestion that she apply for jobs to kill the time during a dreary Christmas break, we may never have met Goleta native Marianne Kuga, the newest addition to The Santa Barbara Independent’s advertising design team. The Dos Pueblos grad and current SBCC student — who did a short stint at UCSB after high school, then worked as a nanny in Milan, Italy, and then toiled in various San Diego jobs for five years before returning to town in 2010 — brings a bit of creativity to her otherwise math- and science-focused family. “I’m not particularly artistic with a paintbrush or drawing, but you can kind of cheat your way around on the computer,” she said. “So I like the more creative aspect but still having the precision of a computer.”