I began with Responsival in May of 2020 as a Design Assistant, where I created my first UX project – an itinerary creation web app: Go! A year later, I realized I couldn't get enough of the team, so I returned as a Senior Design Assistant. Over the course of a few months, I established the design system, mentored design interns on UX and research principles, worked on client sites, and received in depth training to become a Webflow developer. Well, I must admit that the love was real and the love was true, so I stayed. Now I'm a full-time member.

So far, I've absolutely enjoyed redesigning and leading our design internship program. It's so rewarding to be part of the experience that first gave me my digital edge. Overall, having done a whopping total of 9 internships during undergrad, I gained an appreciation for mentorship, the effort it takes to break into the field, and the craft of UX and design itself. Making digital design education more accessible and feasible for beginners is a challenge I'm thrilled to take on!

Microsoft's operating systems from the mid-nineties through Windows 7 impacted my childhood, with each informing and molding my idea of what makes memorable UX. From there, I consider the authors Italo Calvino, Walter Moers, and Haruki Murakami, the spectrum of color and shapes, and drawings as key inspirations for my sense of creativity and whimsy.

First and foremost, I am a polyglot. I've studied French, Polish, Finnish, Korean, and Spanish. My current focuses include French and Finnish. When I'm not learning new grammatical structures, I'm drawing, antiquing, making ultra-specific playlists, jewelry making, listening to podcasts, reading hyper-imaginative or contemporary fiction, making music on my electric guitar, planning my next outfit, or exercising!

As a connoisseur (and daily consumer) of turkey sandwiches, my dear reader, you can stay rest assured that I am an expert. The key difference lays in the linguistics of our English language. Why must we differentiate a hot dog from a sandwich if they really are the same? This is no different than the cookie debate. A cookie is a cookie and *not* a cake, might I declare? In this battle, I feel cookies and hot dogs share the same plight. But all the same, they are not sandwiches, nor cakes.