In a nutshell:
I'm a Lead Product Designer with 15 years of professional experience in product and user experience design, branding, visual design, and web design + engineering in both the US and Japan.
I most recently built and led teams of UX designers, researchers, and engineers at Nike and Symetra Financial, designing both enterprise and consumer-facing software. I focus heavily on accessibility and imbuing easy to use, intuitive interfaces with enormous amounts of power and control for the user.
The “tell me about yourself” version:
It all started when I was just a kid going in to the office after school with my mom, a senior art director at an ad agency, and she'd sit me down in front of some Photoshop production work (removing red eye, simple layout, etc) to keep me from scribbling with the Copics. I never looked back; design was in my DNA from the start.
Immediately after earning my degree in Digital Art & Design, I moved to Japan and started my design career in earnest, becoming fluent in Japanese and an expert in Japanese visual design and typography along the way. I got to do really fun work with large corporations and old family businesses alike, mentor junior designers, broaden my skillset as a digital designer and developer, and forge a Japanese work ethic that serves me well to this day. Also, I wound up with an addiction to Japanese snacks and stationery.
When I moved back to the States, I started a boutique creative agency with a partner and got right to work. Apart from getting to wear all the hats required to do great work as an entrepreneur, my favorite part was getting to work closely with clients to learn their needs and tell their stories effectively. No matter where my career takes me from here, I'm deeply grateful to have had this experience.
More recently, I’ve been building and leading UX Product Design teams at Nike and Symetra Financial to create exciting new industry-first software that’s improving the lives of the people using it every day.