I graduated from design in 2007 and found my first role working for a web agency in Sydney. This was before everybody had a smartphone and BlackBerrys were still considered the only device you could get “real work” done. In collaboration with System Architects, I designed billing, reconciliation, and moderation systems for Telcos and financial organisations running intranets. People’s understanding of UX was in its infancy, design systems, Figma, and Sketch didn’t exist yet.
In 2012 I continued to work while studying a Bachelor of Visual Communication at UTS. It was through their Design Facility that I was introduced to a purpose-driven design studio — Digital Eskimo. They pioneered human-centred design for social impact and environmental change in Australia. Shortly after meeting with their GM and Creative Director, I was offered a role.
I spent two and a half years working among some of the most talented designers I had met. It made a huge impact on how I lead teams today. In 2016, I moved into Sydney’s emerging tech and start-up scene. I became heavily involved in the production of design systems which at the time was supported by React’s growing popularity and Airbnb’s incredible product design. Since then, I’ve been building design teams, systems, and supporting frameworks at several tech-companies.
Outside of building design teams and systems, I spend my time working directly with founders and department heads coaching design and discovering new ways to improve internal processes, build research repositories, and how we can collectively achieve business goals — in the most elegant and engaging way possible.
