About me

My Story

I am an elder millennial human out of Minneapolis, MN. In my spare time, I enjoy watching movies, video games, biking around the city, and (of course) playing bass guitar. I started playing music at age 11 and come high school I wanted to play guitar, but a friend told me “everyone plays guitar, you should play bass.” And that was the first of many decisions I made to take the road less traveled by. My approach to music and design has always been: if you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.

After graduating with degrees in Psychology and English Literature, I continued my bartending job. The job that got me through college carried me into my post-college ennui. 10 years later I was a GM of my own little restaurant kingdom. I had the pleasure of opening two small-format, first of their kind restaurants within my brand. In this space, I had unprecedented autonomy and freedom to innovate. I developed marketing plans, designed training protocols, operations documents, and worked directly with cross-functional teams. There were plans for 5 more locations within the next year. This was going to be my moment to go from a restaurant worker to a true leader and innovator. But, every good story needs a villain. And ours takes the shape of a multi-brand restaurant hydra looking to grow another head. After the acquisition, the future plans were shelved, the team eliminated, and the kingdom reduced to an island with no future trajectory.

I was in a rut of stifled creativity, punished for thinking outside the box, left to rot in obscurity. I had skills going woefully underutilized. I desired more. During the Coronavirus pandemic, I took a sabbatical to focus on my mental health. I used this time to find a new career where I could utilize my skills as a leader, communicator, and creator.

It was then that I found User Experience, a place where I can activate my years of experience empathizing with stakeholders (user and business), leadership, public speaking, research while developing my innate talents in writing, data analysis, and visual design. I am a driven, passionate, and creative designer with a love of language, learning, and collaboration.

I am looking for a place where I can make an impact, share my joy, be unique, and help others. Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.