I used to think the tech industry was reserved for hardcore computer nerds who despise humans. Ok, maaaybe there’s still a few of them out there, but I’m not here to bash us digital geeks. We’ve all got our passions, right? Who would have guessed my passion for writing and love of humans would lead me to user experience design? As cheesy as this sounds, I've always had a love affair with words. I was that kid in school who actually read the books assigned in English class. My first crush (besides MC Hammer and David Bowie) was the art of storytelling. Inspired by the authors I admired so much, I began writing my own stories for fun and sharing them with friends. I fell in love with words and continued that love affair through college.

I spent the majority of my copywriting career enticing audiences through words. Every industry came with a different audience; some with familiar voices and some completely new. As much as I enjoyed learning about and communicating in different voices, I always wanted to know more. WHY are we going this route in this campaign? WHY are we creating more copy for this page when there’s already so much? WHY am I such a nerd who is always curious about these things?

I shifted my focus to user experience design because people are my passion and I’m forever curious about how we think. I love building things and watching a person enjoy them. This is one of many reasons why I volunteer to build infrastructures at outdoor festivals, and sometimes even get paid to do it (shout out to my Bonnaroo crew!) I’ve been building experiences for people for years, both analog and digital. Ideation paired with empathy and my genuine love of humans is what brought me to the field of UX in the first place.

I’ve been a researcher and strategist for years working with both methodologies throughout my career. I sought out UX design training to give myself a framework for the work I was already doing throughout my career. When I was unfamiliar with an industry or brand voice, I’d research both in order to effectively communicate with a user audience. I’d strategically communicate with users and audiences for the best results. Now that I’m a certified UX researcher and designer with my fancy General Assembly training, I’m ready to combine my powers and go all kinds of Captain Planet in the tech industry.