How did you get involved in user experience design?
I went to college for Industrial Design and Graphic design. In the curriculum at NC State University's College of Design, I gained a lot of exposure to Human Factors. Designing with specific people and needs in mind really interested me and I chose to explore this further when choosing my career after college.

What's your speciality and is that your favorite part of user experience design?
I am an interaction designer - the problem solving inherent in this role is definitely my favorite part of user experience design. I would say that I am most happy when there is also a graphical element involved.

What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as a user experience designer?
Being a User Experience Designer is a challenge in itself - you see allllllll the things around you that could be better and deliberate on how you could fix them, given the opportunity.

What is one product that has been your crowning achievement and why?
Palscommunity.com was a really rewarding project. I liked that it had a philanthropic goal - empowering patient advocates. Additionally, it was a "from scratch" website and was rewarding to see the process work from start to finish.

What's one of your favorite designs (of any kind)?
I love gmail!

What do you do when you're not dreaming about how to improve all of the world's broken products?
I have an amazing dog named Able who runs the remainder of my life. I am an avid painter, enjoy travelling, and have recently taken up cycling.