Estelle Carol grew up in the suburbs of New York City and came to Chicago in 1966 to attend the University of Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago. Active in the draft resistance movement during the Vietnam War, she joined the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union in 1969 after a stint in the Women’s Radical Action Project at the University of Chicago.
Estelle co-founded the Women’s Graphics Collective (1970-1983) which distributed tens of thousands of feminist posters worldwide. It was a workgroup of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union CWLU (1969-1976) and closed its doors in 1983.
She co-founded the CWLU Herstory Project in 1999, which is an online archive of the history of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union and feminism in the Chicago area. Since the site is also a rich archive of classic women’s liberation movement documents it is extensively used by students and teachers.
Since 1988 Estelle and her partner Bob Simpson have created cartoons for the labor movement and alternative press covering issues of politics and work under the pen name Carol Simpson. Bob writes the concepts that Estelle draws. An online archive of hundreds of their labor cartoons are at Carol Simpson DesignWorks.
Estelle worked as a graphic designer at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at Vegetarian Life and Times until 1991 when she started a small design studio in Oak Park, IL called Carol Simpson Productions. She also taught part time at Columbia College in the design department.
Estelle started WebTrax Studio in 1998 with her partner Bob, a former high school history teacher and self-taught web technology specialist. As the senior designer and lead project manager Estelle currently does illustration, graphic design and web design for small businesses, non-profit organizations, universities, unions, advocacy groups, magazines and book publishers.
Over the years, other communications/media/tech professionals joined the WebTrax Studio network, expanding the range of communication and marketing services available. The WebTrax team collaborates on projects big and small and shares client referrals. WebTrax Studio is committed to bringing positive change to our communities and to our planet. They are generous with their support for social change, education and arts groups.
In 2000 Estelle became a co-founder and a leader of Oak Park Coalition for Truth and Justice. She is co-chair of the OPCTJ/Oak Park Library monthly film series.
Since spring of 2011 Estelle has worked with Green Community Connections in Oak Park which focuses on education and skills sharing around local sustainability issues.
