My Story

The year was 2018. I was a busy teacher. I was managing my time between designing intentional lessons based on observations of my kiddo’s interests & wants and my assessments of their needs & skills, and facilitating meaningful learning. I was always working on developing powerful relationships with my students, their families, and other staff. My strong classroom management skills were needed to make all of these pieces fit together into something impactful. I had a pretty well-oiled machine going. Then, I was required to implement some new technology into my day.

“This is awesome”, I thought. As a tech-savvy teacher, I was always looking for ways to add and engage with technology in my classroom (I’ve been fortunate to have worked with SMART boards and have brought in my own laptops, iPad, and tablets to expose students to tech and assist learning). One application was going to make it easier to take attendance and keep track of where students are or where they’re going (cool) and the other was going to make it easier for me to share moments from our day with families (more family engagement…very cool).

Unfortunately, working with these new apps only proved to be frustrating. I remember thinking “Who made this?” I was questioning “Why would they do it like this”. They were wasting my valuable time. I was combating these apps that were supposed to be making my life easier. It was clear to me that even though these apps were supposed to be for teachers, they were not made for teachers. A few months later, I discovered “UX” AKA, User Experience and I was hooked. I had lived through such a meaningful example of bad design, that I understood the need for good design. Now, I understand the power of intentional design.

TL;DR (too long, didn’t read):

My bit-sized story:

• I was a teacher in my first career; I’ve taught 6th grade - preschool

• I have felt and lived through the frustrations of poor design

• I chose User Experience Design because I am passionate about people and love the challenge of intentional design to find the intersection of business and user goals

Let’s Connect

Thanks for taking the time to learn a little bit more about me! If you have questions, want to learn more, or just want to talk food or photography, let’s connect!