My story began in Michigan and finds me currently in Chicago. The years between are a trove of experiences that helped me hone the variety of skills and competencies which I have at my disposal today. 

During my time as a Peace Corp volunteer, an English teacher, a clothing designer, and a research project manager in South America, I became fluent in Spanish and developed excellent cross-cultural and multi-lingual communication skills, as well as the ability to work and empathize with individuals and stakeholders from diverse backgrounds.

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After returning to the US, I continued working in international education, this time at a Chicago-based education start-up.  For 5 years, I worked directly with customers, listening to their concerns, empathizing with their struggles, and striving to resolve their issues. 

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As I grew into my role at the company, I became a user advocate. My main focus became pushing for policies and products that positively impacted our customers and improved their experience with our company.

 

I then took on more content and product development projects, ultimately advocating to create a new website for our students and alumni. Starting from the ground up,  our team spent two years researching and designing this website.

 

Serving as a lead web designer, copywriter, and assistant project manager, I developed a deep skill set in project management, content design, and website design, which I used to move the team through multiple iterations of layouts and content, resulting in the creation of a remarkable student services website for a user base of over 40,000 students.

 

This project ultimately inspired me to leave my customer-facing role, and pursue user experience design full-time. Since then, I've become even more passionate about advocating for users while creating a delightful interface for them to use.