The newest member of our faculty and staff, Amanda Lemke, may be a new face to many, but this is not her first year on the Northwestern campus. A music education major from the class of 2017, Lemke is a familiar face to the Northwestern directory and to a few staff members who she now has the honor of working with. These staff members include, but aren’t limited to, members of Northwestern’s Music Department such as Dr. Kang, Dr. Carlson, and Cindy Moeller as well as much of the Education Department staff. After Lemke’s first appearance as a student on campus, she went on to teach middle school music for seven years. After she stepped away from her job as a music teacher, Lemke planned on just running her home sewing business, until she was offered the job as Costume Manager in Northwestern’s Theatre Department. Because of her love and passion for sewing and theatre, Lemke took the opportunity and so far, she loves it. As the Costume Manager, Lemke says her main job is to “help the vision of student designers come to life” by teaching students how to sew and guiding them in the right direction so that their vision can become reality.
She recently has overseen the production of costume pieces for Northwestern’s upcoming production of The Perfect Dog. If you are interested in seeing the work of Lemke and her students, tickets can be ordered online for the public showings on Friday, Oct. 4 and Saturday, Oct. 5.
Lemke says that her favorite thing about working with the Theatre Department is meeting new people. Whether it be freshmen who are new to us all or seniors who have established a presence on campus, Lemke loves the opportunities she gets in meeting all these new faces and personalities. She is excited to see how all the students, specifically freshmen, grow in their time here at Northwestern and is happy that she has the chance to be a part of that growth.
Outside of her job at Northwestern, Lemke is an avid Disney fan and loves to travel to Disneyland and Disneyworld. Her favorite Disney character is Daisy Duck, and her top two Disney movies are The Princess and the Frog and Hercules. Lemke also enjoys continuing her musical career by listening to and studying music in her everyday life. Another passion that she has and is also carried into her personal life is sewing. Though Lemke does her fair share of sewing as the Costume Manager at Northwestern, she uses her skill to run a home sewing business where she mainly alters dresses for Prom and other formal events.
More than her job, business and hobbies, Lemke loves her family. She and her loving husband Drew have a three-year-old daughter named Eloise and a dog named Margie. Lemke and her husband Drew share a similar passion for music and musical education as Drew is currently working as a band teacher.
Though she is only three years old, Drew and Lemke’s daughter Eloise also has this passed down passion for music, education and the arts as two of her favorite things are preschool and dance class. Lemke adores her husband and daughter and loves to spend as much quality time as she can with them. This much is clear if you sit down and have a conversation with Lemke. She is a very loving, caring and joyful person who the NW staff and students are blessed to have on campus.
