About

It’s strange how things unfold.

One doesn’t realize the sequence of events that had to happen that led to a significant life change until much later.

An old art project I worked on sat on the corner of my desk in my non-descript, gray cubicle. This art project, a wine bottle wrapped in an acrylic painting I did by hand, caught the attention of a co-worker, which sparked a conversation between us. I was working as a Leasing Specialist. A job I wasn’t too fond of. In fact, it was a job that I dreaded going to. My job entailed reading 140-page lease contracts every day. Analyzing the jargon that an attorney put in there, I suspected, hoping no one would ever read it. After I read and studied it, my responsibility was to raise an issue when I caught something wrong within the lease.

These ongoing conversations with this colleague ranged in topics from art, architecture, and design. He told me about a relatively new field of study called “interaction design.” He mentioned his alma mater offered a degree in this field. He also suggested several books explicitly related to interaction design. I read them all, Designing Interactions, Elements of Semiology, Envisioning Information, Designing for Interactions, and The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design. I found them fascinating and wanted to learn more.  

I called the college and made an appointment to sit in and audit the classes. After a full day of auditing classes, I knew this was where I wanted to be. 

This was the first time I experienced something that was both challenging and exciting. The stakes were high. I stopped working full-time and invested all of my savings into the tuition for my design degree. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Staying up until 2:00 AM wasn’t uncommon for us students who were fine-tuning our presentations. Critiques sometimes felt like being a contestant on American Idol. Sharing the creative work and being vulnerable for all to see, sometimes to little fanfare or...less than flattering comments from teachers in front of peers. What gave me perspective and the push to continue was asking myself, “Would you rather go back to your old job?” The answer was always no. 

The time, the money, the lack of sleep, and the sacrifice were all worth it. By my last year, I secured an internship which became a full-time offer before I graduated. My life suddenly had purpose and meaning. I could now actually call myself a “designer,” which seemed like the coolest thing in the world!

I love being a designer because no two days are the same. One moment, I might be getting feedback from design colleagues, which sparks a conversation and leads to different ideas to improve upon the work I’m showing them. The next, I might be filled with anticipation and a few nerves while fine-tuning my interview questions for an upcoming usability test and adjusting my prototype accordingly. Other times, I might be talking to a product manager and getting the scope of a new project. The next moment, the engineering team might give me a quick tutorial on asynchronous settings.

In this job, I’m around so many different people and constantly learning about their area of specialty, which is sometimes a completely unfamiliar topic. Whether it’s a topic on fleet management, secrets & keys, APIs, electric vehicle charging, financial statements, or live video streaming… I enjoy talking to people and learning about what they do, why and how they do it, and what I can do to help.

Somewhere between all that, I’m also using design tools to build end-to-end user experiences for digital products.