A Bit About Me
I am passionate about user-centered design, building scalable applications, and continuously learning and mentoring others.
By formal education I'm a designer, and by professional experience I'm a front-end engineer and user experience specialist. I have been designing, building, and scaling software applications in a variety of contexts and industries for more than 8 years and I am just as passionate about building high quality experiences today as the day I started.
How did I get here?
Being curious about how the world is designed and how humans interact with their environment lead me to study art and design at Washington University in St. Louis. Getting my degree honed my creative analytical skills and introduced me to design thinking - the tech world tends to call this rapid, iterative problem solving. Initially interested in web design, I quickly needed to understand how to build what I was designing for. I dove into to learning development and fell in love with complex problem solving involved in creating the best solution possible - one that optimizes user experience, technical performance, and business goals.
My passion for understanding the problems we are solving, as well as who we are solving them for, has been a hallmark of my work in conjunction with promoting collaboration on every team I have been a part of. I have worked on a lot of different types of projects Web3, e-commerce, and enterprise software. In each context I have sought to distinguish myself by taking the time to understand three things:
- What problems are we solving?
- Who are our users?
- How can we leverage and improve existing systems?
I have worked on both sides of the Designer — Developer divide and in every role I have worked to bridge the knowledge and language gap between the roles to help them partner as effectively as possible. As a result, I'm passionate about multi-functional teams, and collaborative technologies that help teams produce results greater than the sum the individual contributors. Pivoting to working fully remotely, this passion has become key in helping my remote teams build rapport and collaborate effectively.
When I'm not working?
Designing and building is pretty much the fabric of who I am, but outside of work I find balance by creating things with my hands using a variety of materials, including food. I wouldn't really consider myself a foodie, but I enjoy exploring the world through food, and am always open to new recipe and restaurant suggestions!
I love spending time with my family, and being outside. In 2013 I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail end-to-end. It was a huge learning and growth experience. These days I generally keep trips much shorter, but the Pacific Crest Trail and the Te Araroa Trail are both on my bucket list.
