Self
I create things people use. I immerse myself in learning. I seek out new experiences and exciting opportunities. I cycle, climb, hike, and paddle. I read, write, and play.
I've travelled around the world by serving in the Peace Corps. I discovered my passion for creating human-oriented products, services, and experiences, established a strong foundation in the principles of user-centered design by completing my Master's of Human Factors in Information Design at Bentley University, and honed my skills in a wide variety of applications of my craft.
I research. I design. I code. I create. I live. Get to know me.
History
User Experience Architect @ Eventbrite
At Eventbrite, I lead the design process on key aspects of the experience. Whether optimizing an existing product area, researching user behaviors, or exploring entirely new opportunities, my focus is always on identifying the real needs of people who search for, attend, or organize events. While the artifacts of my work are often research reports, user flows, or wireframes, my primary responsibility is to understand user needs and ensure that the product development team can build solutions to those needs.
Independent Consulting
While I enjoy working on in-house design teams, I've found that a side project now and then helps keep my perspective fresh and my ideas flowing. I've worked with several small start-ups to define their intial concepts or to refine and improve critical aspects of their business. One of my favorite projects was working with RoastLog to design a brand new iPad app for monitoring and analyzing coffee roasting. Interested? Learn more.
Design Research Intern @ Bentley User Experience Center
Formerly the Design & Usability Center, this semester-long internship was where I cut my teeth on serious user experience testing. Working with everything from large financial institutions to government agencies to small businesses, I was able to learn by assisting, learn by doing, and learn by leading across a wide range of studies.
Management of Information Systems Intern @ athenahealth, Inc.
Complementing my course-work in the Bentley MBA program, this extended internship strengthened my understanding of internal business systems and offered my significant opportunity to document user flows and business processes through interviewing internal users. Due to the sensitive nature of this work, I cannot offer work examples from this positions, but I’m happy to discuss the type of work I completed.
Peace Corps Volunteer @ Peace Corps Moldova
As a volunteer in the Peace Corps, I was granted the privelege of immersing myself in a developing community in order to identify real needs in the community and then work with local community leaders to find solutions to those needs. This required empathy, commitment, and no small degree of selflessness. Still, I completed my service in Moldova with an unparalleled sense of meaning and contribution -- even if my humble efforts touch only one small community in an oft-overlooked corner of the globe.
IT & Technical Writing @ Various Companies
Between my undergrad and the Peace Corps, I put my familiarity with computers and my aptitude for writing and editing to use at several companies. I still enjoy hacking around on my system, and my writing and editing has evolved into more specific applications of information architecture and related skills. Ask me about this period of my life if you'd like to learn more!
QA Intern @ Autodesk
What started as a casual high-school internship turned into a multi-year opportunity to dive into technology and immerse myself in the professional environment of this amazing software development team. In my role as a QA intern, I started by manually testing graphics card compatibility with Autodesk's then-new solid modeling tool, Autodesk Inventor. Over time, I also developed automated testing using Visual Basic, and developed a formal process for putting graphics cards and new builds through the gauntlet and providing clear support ratings to end-users.
Education
MBA + MS of Human Factors in Information Design @ Bentley University
Combining the core curriculum of an MBA program with the full Masters of Science program in Human Factors, Bentley provides a powerful mix of skills that enabled me to dive head-first into my UX profession with confidence. The broad coverage of business know-how gave me the insight I need to make informed decisions with business needs in mind. However, it was the focus on strong human factors fundamentals and practical research methodologies that gave me the biggest boost as I sought to break into the field of UX.
Front-End Web Development @ General Assembly
My goal in attending this 10-week course was to brush up on my knowledge of HTML/CSS and to improve my fundamental understanding of JavaScript. While I had some knowledge of these domains going into the program, I greatly benefited from the structured course-work and the unstructured project work. The program gave me the platform of knowledge upon which I know build as I explore different ways of implementing the ideas I dream up every day as a designer.
BA, English (Writing & Editing) @ Washington State University
What started out as a love of literature led me to discover a similar love of writing. While I still write creatively in my free time, it was this program that gave me the depth of knowledge and real-world skill to write for technical contexts and to edit and produce great writing, as well.