The history of the…

And the owner of CMD Creations

Kelli Benger was born and raised in the Midwest.  As a little girl, although somewhat unusual, she was enamored by ‘the mouse’.  Not the real ones, but the ones you could place on a shelf or put on your bed.  Kelli began her “mouse collection” at about the age of five and, as you can imagine, the collection has grown.  There have been times throughout her life that the little mice have been packed away neatly as her interests expanded, however they always made their way back onto the shelves at some later date. 

Kelli has had the opportunity to live in a number of places around the country throughout her lifetime.  She was born in St. Louis, Missouri and graduated from high school in Nebraska after living in Iowa for a few years as well.  While obtaining her Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from the University of South Dakota, she served as President of her Alpha Phi sorority (Psi Chapter) and completed an undergraduate internship at the Devereaux Foundation in Victoria, Texas.  From South Dakota she made her way to the East Coast and completed her Masters and Specialist Degrees in School Psychology while living in Boston.  Boston seemed to serve as a ‘stepping stone’ for her as she immediately found her way to the Big Apple.  She was employed as a school psychologist for the New York City Board of Education in Queens, New York for three years.   Kelli then moved a bit North to Westchester County where she was employed as a school psychologist for the Bedford Central School District for seven years at Fox Lane High School serving as the district’s violence prevention expert and focusing on Community interaction.

While living in New York, Kelli started a side business in order to satisfy her creative passion.  It was obvious, without a great deal of thought, that the business had to be named City Mouse Designs.  Kelli moved to Cape Cod in August, 2002 to marry her husband, Kevin Benger.  The name of the company changed slightly when she moved “out of the city” into the “country”, becoming Country Mouse Designs for a brief period time.  However, changing City to Country seemed to change the perception of the company to potential clients, leading them to believe that a “country look” is what they would be receiving.  So the name was changed to CMD Creations in order to incorporate both previous names, with Kelli’s “mouse” thumbprint still being the insignia for the company.