Frequently Asked Questions
Wait... so are you a designer or engineer?
Both. I've spent 10+ years as a systems engineer at Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and JPL, and recently completed an MDes in Interaction Design at ArtCenter. I don't see these as separate identities—I bring design tools to engineering problems and engineering rigor to design work. The thorniest challenges I care about live where people and complex systems intersect, and that requires both.
What kinds of problems do you want to work on?
High-stakes, messy, socio-technical ones. I'm drawn to situations where the problem isn't purely technical—where success depends on helping diverse stakeholders align, making overwhelming data understandable, or building trust between humans and AI systems. I want to be in the room when someone says "we have a problem" and help move it to "here's our plan.
Do you actually code, or just design?
Oh I can code for sure! Coming from engineering, I coded up analysis tools to review data from space systems from ground tests and from on-orbit! I'm not a software engineer (though I frequently work with them!), but I can wrangle data, automate workflows, and build working demos to test ideas with real users. I believe in making things to learn and coding is just one of many ways I make that happen!
What's your coffee order?
Espresso! I love the complexity of dialing it in as well as chatting with others to see if there are relatable flavor notes.