Education and Experience

My background has varied from almost eight years in education learning to design and develop, to teaching design and development, to becoming an instructional designer and creating courses for others to teach, to working in an agency environment designing and developing for amazing clients.

Harvard University

Master's Degree

I obtained a master’s degree in digital media design from Harvard University’s Extension School in 2019. Coursework included courses on modern and mobile front-end web design, react.js, web application development using node.js, digital photography, video editing, and more. Coursework GPA was a 4.0.

Harvard University

Graduate Certificate

I obtained a graduate certificate in learning design and technology from Harvard University’s Extension School from 2017-2019. Coursework included instructional design studio, online course design, and culminated in me developing a 12-week online college-level course on the Canvas platform.

University of Central Florida

Bachelor’s Degree

I received a bachelor’s degree in Digital Media with a track focus of web design from the University of Central Florida in 2015. Courses included e-commerce, rapid application web development, digital media production, and user centered design courses.

Branding Brand logo

Branding Brand

Director of Design

I lead a team of designers in designing user experiences for iOS apps, Android Apps, and mobile-friendly websites. Using data-driven design methods, I help the team to make decisions that convert users and funnel traffic for better conversions on all user experiences.

Designzillas

User Experience Designer

I designed wirefames, user interfaces, and interactive prototypes using Sketch and InVision. I developed websites with HTML, SCSS, PHP, JavaScript, and WordPress. I developed custom WordPress themes, templates, post types, taxonomies, and plugins. I also designed the in-house design system.

NBC Universal

Advanced Design Lab Intern

As part of the University of Central Florida’s Advanced Design Lab program, I created extensive project research and conceptual art for the Universal Creative team, developing copy and 3D renderings for conceptual purposes for proposed future in-park experiences.

Work Ethics and Values

Wherever I work, I have a strong belief that always stays with me – do good work consistently, push yourself to always deliver above and beyond, and lift others around you up – no matter what. My list of personal work ethics is how I ensure I always continue on my path towards designing for good, and designing with the mentality of growth for my team and clients.

Ethic 01

Excellence in Iterative Review.

I always strive to over deliver, and do so by running iterative internal design and code reviews for deliverables until they are above and beyond initial expectations.

Ethic 02

Share and Educate.

I like to share my education with others to do my part in growing and cultivating a community of strong, multi-disciplinary designers around me. I participate and speak at local tech meetups every year, and am a proud mentor for AIGA Orlando’s student mentorship program.

Ethic 03

Build a Community

There’s no better way to keep learning, stay sharp on new tools, and build up others than by being a part of the industry’s community. I’m currently a member of over 16 meetup groups, including local chapters of AIGA, Dribbble, WordPress, and more where I collaborate and work with others in the industry.

Software and Tools

I’m proud to be proficient in the industry’s top tools for design and development.

Figma

Sketch

InVision

Photoshop

Adobe XD

Principle

WordPress

HTML5

CSS3

JavaScript

Gulp

GitHub

Read the Source Code to My Leadership Style

Resolving Merge Conflicts in Design and Development

I’ve always teetered on the line between designer and developer. I’ve worked in agile production workflows as both a designer and developer (separately, and all at once). I studied coursework varying from user experience testing to web development using the MEAN stack. I have always loved design and how it satiates my creative needs as an outlet. I have also always loved the challenge that came with bringing visuals to life with just a few lines of code typed into a keyboard (and honestly, a few StackOverflow discussion boards). After years in agency environments, I’ve learned that I don’t have to choose between the two. I am definitely a designer at heart, but being a developer has made me a stronger designer – by knowing the limitations of what can be built in specific browsers and platforms, knowing how to make websites more accessible, and designing with ease of development in mind – and I’m proud of how well the two skills complement each other.

In my mind, design and development are just two pending feature branches that need a pull request to get their merge conflicts resolved, and eventually, they’ll seamlessly get merged up into the main master branch, together – in solid unity, to work together as one repository getting the job done. This is honestly how I see my design leadership mantra as well. I see my team as always just one pull request away from solving a merge conflict and getting to that haven of going live. This is how I tackle everything: from design and development tasks, to client projects, to team conflict resolution, and honestly, the management of entire departments. I’m just here to help resolve the merge conflicts and get products live. This means figuring out scope, budget, timelines, tech stack, doing design QA, and anything and everything necessary to get products launched, with the empathic coaching assistance of someone who has been in the production team’s shoes.

To this day, I still practice both design and development, and use those skillsets to help form cohesive relationships and clear communication funnels between design and development departments. Now with so many years of production in both design and development, I’m currently helping lead design teams to success to design functional, accessibility-friendly, and high-converting interfaces that development teams are proud to work with.

Production Workflows

My years of experience has taught me the skills to design and develop, and how to execute client requests and user needs. Here are some of the skills I’ve picked up along the way.

Work With Me
1

User Experience Design

In a web project, the user experience is the foremost important aspect of a project, above and beyond design or development tech stack. I start every project with user experience research – looking into existing user data, heat maps, competitor analysis, and sometimes even survey data to dictate what users actually want, what they need, and to problem solve issues they have with existing systems. Once I gather all the data from the research, I move into user experience design. I wireframe out regions and user flows to make sure all aspects of both the client and user requirements are met.

2

User Interface Design

With my user interface design skills, I take planned client requirements, user flows and wireframes, and bring them to life. I choose fonts, colors, layouts, textures, photographic assets, and more to set the branded tone for the digital conversation at hand.

3

Interactive Prototyping

To be able to bring design to life, sometimes I prototype wireframes and designs. This may mean making a full interactive prototype of a user flow from start to finish across multiple pages, or animating an interactive banner feature on a home page. Depending on the need, I use Principle App, Anima, or Adobe Premiere to get my animations done.

4

Front-end Web Development

I develop websites mainly using the WordPress content management system. I build custom themes and plugins, as well as custom post types and taxonomies to build the full robust and functional websites needed to achieve all users goals scoped out. I’m knowledgeable in the following web languages and tools to achieve end-results: HTML,  CSS, SCSS, JavaScript, PHP, NPM, Gulp, Bitbucket, GitHub, and more.

5

Search Engine Optimization

There is nothing more frustrating than building an amazing web experience, only to find out that no one can find it or get to it. I work to optimize web experiences to better reach the site’s dedicated audiences with the use of meta content entry and keyword strategies, and the use of Google Analytics, SEMRush, and more.

View all Project Case Studies

View all of my latest projects in featured case studies to see examples of wireframing, user interface design, and front-end development work created in SCRUM-certified agile work environments.

View Case Studies

Let’s Work Together

If you are interested in working with me to develop online courses, speak at a meetup or conference, assist with a mentorship program, or even guest write a blog article, just send me a message to get started.

Let's Work Together