Creativity Within Constraints
Design has always been at the centre of what I do, even before I called myself a designer. I once wondered why I gravitated toward photography and thrifting furniture over painting. Photography requires working with what you have—the lighting, the space, and even the random passerby who might completely transform the shot. Thrifting furniture means finding a way to integrate something that once belonged to someone else into your home, making it feel like it was always meant to be there.
I thrive on working creatively within constraints. Constraints aren’t roadblocks—they’re opportunities. They push me to stretch the boundaries of my thought process and come up with solutions that are better than I initially imagined.
Designing for Impact
Professionally, 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, and 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 balancing it with complex stakeholder perspectives.
I am now working as a product designer on an agile team with Philly Truce, where I am designing a route management system (RMS) to improve student safety in vulnerable areas of Philadelphia.
What I offer
Available for work
Product Design, User Experience Design, Interaction Design, Visual / UI Design, Wire-framing, Prototyping, User Research & Testing, Agile Collaboration.