I started my career in graphic design watching shows like Mad Men longing to be in advertising. Eventually I found my way into a advertising agency shortly after college. It was most certainly not like Mad Men. My 45 minute lunch breaks did however include the occasional trip to the comic book store.

It was fun being a creative director who got to see the TV commercials I made on my own couch and see the billboards and bus wraps I made designed as I drove down the road. But I discovered my true calling—and where I get the most job satisfaction—in the world of UX/UI design for software.

Pivoting my career after years of freelance and building my portfolio enabled me to show that I could do true UX/UI work beyond a marketing a website. Although challenging at times, I've gotten a lot of  joy in my 9 years in software.

It may be an unpopular opinion, but the "design" part of being a designer is the easy part. The big challenges as a designer are; navigating technical conversations with your engineers, selling your idea to a co-founder, creating a blue sky design, then tearing it down for what you can do today. All while thinking about how you can incrementally get to that blue sky design and utilizing the resources you have while meeting business needs, user needs, and working within technical constraints.

My track record shows that I'm good at making the best of whatever situation I've been put in by creating value for users and the company. I'm looking forward to helping the next company I work for get to the next level.