The Story Behind the Systems

Bridging Vision & Execution

I’m a UX Strategist, Design Systems Specialist, and Project Manager who transforms complexity into clarity. My expertise centers on documentation-driven Atomic frameworks, AEM authoring systems, and scalable standards that align design, development, and content across enterprise environments.

My approach fuses user research with deep technical understanding, advocating for users while managing cross-functional teams and projects to deliver practical solutions within real-world constraints. I don’t just design interfaces; I understand the technical architecture well enough to influence decisions upstream, coordinate stakeholders, and prevent costly rework downstream.

What drives me is solving systemic problems at scale. Whether managing enterprise-wide initiatives, standardizing components for global teams, or building documentation frameworks that eliminate translation gaps, I create scalable systems and processes that empower teams to move faster with fewer errors.

Rooted in Design Thinking

Design has been central to my life since childhood, from drawing and painting to teaching fellow high school students how to create digital art. That early passion led me to study Visual Communication in Phoenix, establishing the creative foundation that continues to inform how I approach complex systems today.

From Art Direction to Digital Strategy

My career began as an Art Director at a Fortune 500 company, creating campaigns for clients including Apple, HP, and NEC. After relocating to Seattle, I expanded into branding and web design, delivering work for Egghead Software, First Tech Federal Credit Union, Mission Fed Credit Union, OnPoint Community Credit Union, Union Bay Clothing, and the 14/48 Theater Festival. This period marked my shift into UX, as I began developing sitemaps, wireframes, and full websites in collaboration with developers across B2C and B2B environments.

Beyond client work, I served as the creative lead and strategist in launching a company focused on delivering affordable branded marketing and web solutions for smaller financial institutions.

Investing in Multidisciplinary Growth

After freelancing while raising my children, I returned to formal education to deepen my technical capabilities, earning a Web Application Developer Certificate from Edmonds College and a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Technology and Culture from Washington State University Vancouver. This training in experience design, psychology, and web development, combined with my Visual Communications background and 15+ years in the field, is what enables me to bridge design thinking and technical implementation seamlessly.

Driving Enterprise-Scale Results

From 2021 to 2025, I served as a UX Website Analyst and Documentation Lead for Intel.com. I helped maintain the legacy AEM design system while partnering with a small team to architect its replacement with a next-generation atomic design system. Working directly with development teams and a dedicated designer, we built the framework from the ground up. The main challenge was organizational: aligning designers, developers, and content teams in a sprawling system where ambiguity in the design process led to misaligned expectations, rework, and delayed launches.

The solution wasn't faster production. It was a better specification. I built a documentation-centered framework for page pattern design that gave every team member, regardless of their role, a shared understanding of what was needed at every stage, from concept through development. By making design intent explicit and traceable across audiences, the framework eliminated the interpretive gaps that were quietly slowing everything down.

Thanks to this documentation-centered framework, design-related support requests fell by 98%, authoring efficiency improved by 23%, and over 80 AEM dialog patterns were standardized across more than 700,000 pages. The system continued operating effectively after my departure because it relied on clear specifications, not individual oversight.