about

If you’ve found your way to this page, you already know a little bit about me. You probably already know that I am thrilled to have transitioned to a career in UX over the last few years, and am eager to continue growing in the field. I am a lifelong compulsive learner, unafraid to dive deep into the unknown, exploring and integrating new ideas, tools, techniques, and knowledge into my workflow and approach to working with teams. I learn by researching, reading, experimenting, interacting with experts, doing, and, yes, failing.

But, since I’m a whole person, there is more to me than my professional background and aspirations.

I’m a California girl. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and will always consider it my home even when I don’t reside there. The Santa Cruz Mountains, the Redwoods, the Boardwalk, California Highway 1… they are all iconic of more than half of my life spent living there.

Good food is right up there with good friends and morning coffee. I couldn’t exactly call myself an obsessed foodie but suffice it to say I prefer quality over quantity when it comes to food. My best compliment to any dish is when I can call it “memorable.” If thinking about it transports me to another place and another time, that meal was a winner.

I love to laugh and make others laugh. At work, I try to make sure to keep the “standup” in our daily standup meetings because work should be fun as much as possible. Am I right? We learn better and work better when we are having fun (and when we genuinely like the people with whom we work)! (For the record, I did not gain my sense of humor from reading books on how to be funny at work.) As a remote worker, this also means my GIF game is en pointe.

Some of my favorite jobs have been those that kept me learning, energized, and working synergistically with others. Being a wedding photographer was high-pressure stuff. This day happens only once for a couple—and it was my job to beautifully and artfully capture it to be treasured for years to come. Owning and running a small business taught me more than all my college courses combined. I loved all of it… except doing taxes. I didn’t love doing taxes. (I feel like that means I’m normal.) 

I was only 18 when I met my husband, Shawn. I was anxious for high school to end so I could get on with the business of being a grown-up. Independently minded, unstoppably outgoing, and a vivacious extrovert from birth, I left home to work at a beautiful place in the Redwoods in the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The first day I was there I inadvertently met the man I had never dreamed would be the man of my dreams; a fairly quiet, intellectual, guitar-strumming poet who knew how to keep me laughing raucously, mostly at his quirky knack for quoting British comedies. His friends nicknamed him, “the bard,” and he lived up to it with songs, poems, and adorable gifts of bagels and books. We stayed up nights talking until two or three in the morning, not caring that we had to get up at six. We had important deep stuff we needed to discuss as we did our laundry!

It’s been many years since we met, and I can tell you this; life is more full of surprises than I ever would have imagined at 18. I said I DO to the unknown; to moves and new experiences, to children and homes, to heartaches and joys inexpressible. Marriage, even to the love of your life, is hard work. Good work. And worth every ounce of effort. It’s a mess worth making and I’m so thankful for my partner in the mess of life.

Lastly, I’m a mom. I have four sons, mostly grown, and moved out now. Just saying the words, “I have four sons,” is often enough for people to bow in reverence. (FOUR SONS.) And I will say, it’s been a lot of work. Things used to get loud and messy sometimes. Raising four boys has required all of my heart, mind, body, and soul. But it has been my greatest pleasure. My sons are all so different and growing up to be individuals whom I would want to have as my friends even if they were not also my sons.