After dropping out of my first college I ended up working retail for many years. I worked my way up to a management position and worked as a buyer, pushing store sales to ~10% increases year over year by applying performance data to purchase orders. For a while, I hadn't known what to do with myself but having a supportive management team which saw fit to trust, train, and promote me instilled a particular confidence that I was capable of doing more.

On my days off I started taking classes to finish an Associate of Science degree in Graphic Design, whereupon I took a UX class. Taking that UX class changed everything. It gave me an avenue to do all of the things I was good at: ask questions, explore new topics and areas, collect and analyze data, create a visual design system, and combine all of these aspects to create a well-informed and thoughtful digital experience. It also helped me realize that my work can have a tangible impact on real people.

I felt like I'd found my calling and decided to knuckle down and make a transition to UX. I stopped taking freelance clients, quit my job, and went to ArtCenter College of Design to study Interaction Design. I worked harder and studied more than I ever had before.

• In 2010 I was a college dropout with a 1.5 GPA
• In 2023 I completed a 4-year degree in 2 years with a 3.9 GPA

Now I pursue interesting challenges across a variety of touchpoints to create human-focused solutions.