Before I was a designer or researcher, I was a teacher in New York City public schools, specializing in learning disabilities and working with students with dyslexia. I used reading and writing as tools for inclusion — which, in hindsight, is exactly what this work is: finding the way a person actually experiences something, and translating that into something the people building things can act on.

I do both halves of the job. I run research that reframes what teams think they're building — generative studies, longitudinal research, mixed methods, research that changes the decision not just the report. And I design the experiences that come out the other side — from information architecture and interaction design through high-fidelity UI and design systems. Six years at Backpack Interactive working across EdTech, health and wellness, and enterprise platforms. Most of that time doing both at once.