I love solving problems for people. This is what originally led me to the environmental policy field as a qualitative researcher, and now to user experience design. I have always sought to address challenges, whether societal or individual, whether small or complex — with a focus on creating meaningful impact.

While at Nature Canada, I worked on a project to define urban tree equity. After interviewing key informants in the urban environmental space, I conducted a thematic analysis — what I later recognized as affinity mapping. I used direct interview quotes to capture and tell the story of the communities affected — which in hindsight would make great user personas. As a policy researcher, I found that my work has always closely mirrored the role of a designer, placing human needs at the forefront, while visualizing and understanding the bigger picture and thoughtfully balancing stakeholder perspectives.

My interest in design thinking led me to explore new frameworks, which is how I discovered experience design. Whether analyzing policies or creating a user interface, one thing is clear: I am passionate about (re)designing, prototyping and testing strategies and systems for a more liveable future.