From a young age, growing up on the East Coast, I have been deeply drawn to visual design. I vividly recall examining the logos on packaging from store-bought items, wondering about the design choices and the thought process behind them. My fascination extended to fonts, colors, and typography—elements that naturally captured my attention. Notably, this curiosity emerged in an era before widespread internet access or even the advent of pagers.

This innate curiosity has been a cornerstone of my professional journey, spanning 14 years of tackling complex design challenges. I firmly believe in the value of continuous learning, asking thoughtful questions, active listening, and fostering a culture of objective feedback—qualities that I view as critical to success in the design field.

My career began in advertising agencies before I transitioned to a small startup called Instinctiv. At Instinctiv, I led the comprehensive rebranding effort, designed marketing materials and pitch decks, and contributed to the UI/UX design of their music player, which utilized an algorithm to play songs based on user mood. In 2012, Instinctiv was acquired by SoundCloud.

Following this, I spent four years as the Lead Designer / Founding Designer at Moat, a SaaS enterprise specializing in attention-based analytics for online and display advertising. I played a key role in designing Moat’s flagship products—Moat Search and Moat Analytics—from the ground up. Beyond product design, I collaborated with C-level executives to develop pitch decks, sales materials, marketing campaigns, and event collateral. In 2017, Moat was acquired by Oracle for $850 million. My time with startups like Moat and Instinctiv reinforced my appreciation for taking on diverse design responsibilities and collaborating across departments, an aspect of startup culture I thoroughly enjoyed.