I live in Brooklyn with my dog, Song, and my partner Yuri. I love a good seafood tower and drinking a glass of wine on my stoop.

<aside> 👋 This README is for my team, but I’m sharing outside the walls of my employer in case it’s useful for other designers. These statements reflect my personal opinions and are not the views my employer. As always, I will update my approach based on the needs of my team and how I evolve as a leader.

</aside>

Background

I've been a designer for over 20 years and have had almost every design job imaginable. Here are some things that shape my POV:

• I have a BFA and MFA in Design. Design is more than a job to me—it’s a part of how I see the world, who I am, and the impact I hope to make.
• I have a deep background in tech, I have worked at great agencies, and worked at world’s best news organization. These amazing teams taught me lessons in camaraderie, product development, and the unique role that design plays in making something great.
• I have not had a linear path and have gone back in forth in my career as a Manager ↔ Director ↔ Principal IC. Each of these experiences have made me a stronger leader and I uniquely understand the needs and challenges of leveraging senior talent in both IC and people leader roles.
• I have been managing distributed teams since 2015 when I helped establish the NYC Design Team for Dropbox. I’m passionate about building a strong hybrid culture and tools for remote collaboration. I’m continuously experimenting with new ways of working.

Guiding principles

Design is most impactful when we’re focused on work that we’re uniquely capable of.

Great design is a differentiator that sets brands apart. In order for design teams to meet that potential we have to prioritize innovation, (calculated) risk taking, and support the work that matters most for the business.

I see the potential of design stall when teams don’t get the balance of innovation vs stability right. I work with my team and other leaders to balance this tension and make intentional investments so that we have a healthy mix of exploratory and execution-oriented work.

I want us to do the best work of our career.

Obviously, there is a lot of nuance to this but here are some examples of practices that set us up to do our best work:

• Individual excellence: meeting high standards for craft, communication, and collaboration; building domain expertise in users and strategy; being proactive and making cross-business connections