I have always been a designer at heart, when I was a wee little one I would design greeting cards using our dot matrix printer and would sell them for a dollar.
After volunteering for the prom committee in high school, I knew my career needed to be something creative, it just took me a little while to settle on one thing since I have so many creative interests. I also had a drafting internship that turned into a job during college.
College jump started my career in graphic design, but I feel that I have learned the most about web/ux design on the job over the last 10+ years.
My recent focus is in user experience design and the importance of getting feedback from actual users to create a better experience for users while still accomplishing business goals, because we obviously have to pay the bills. Design on all devices is constantly evolving and I enjoy the challenge. I also enjoy working with a team of other ux designers, front-end developers, developers, product managers and so on. Collaboration and critique only breeds the best products and it’s a fun day at work.
Saying I’m a UX designer & researcher is a bit of an understatement, it’s hard to place someone under just one label. Companies I have worked for are Ally, American City Business Journals, Lowe's, and LPL Financial - all spreading titles from visual designer, ux web designer, to user researcher (more info on LinkedIn). I also know enough html & CSS to be dangerous, and built my website. In my free time I’m an interior designer, painter, photographer, wanna-be architect (designed my house), gardener, traveler, runner, cyclist, FIA leader, mother of two amazing kiddos, wife and friend.