In 2011, I graduated from the Wellington Institute of Technology with a ‘Bachelor of Creative Technologies’. This was a perfect degree for me, as it allowed me to explore many creative pursuits, including film and TV, photography, fine art, and graphic design.

In my final year, I managed to get internships at two different Graphic Design companies. The studios were always fun places to be, consistently working with outgoing, creative people.

Once I finished my studies, one of the companies I interned for offered me a full time job as a junior designer. From there, I moved from studio to studio, learning new skills as I went. I started off doing print and branding work for government clients, then moved on to advertising for large companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Porsche and Netflix. I eventually transitioned from graphic design work into digital-focussed UI and UX design.

For my first UX design role, I was very fortunate to design a cloud-based software product from the ground up. This was an invaluable experience for me, and a huge learning curve. I interpreted the business and user requirements, created the concept wireframes, tested them with users, supported the development, and reviewed the analytics of the finished interfaces. Witnessing the software come alive was incredibly rewarding. Since then I’ve been working for various fintech companies.

I am currently working as Lead UX Designer for a software company. I’ve been very fortunate to work on a cloud software product from the ground up. This has been an invaluable experience, where I have created the concept wireframes, tested them with users, right through to reviewing the analytics of the finished interface. Witnessing the software come alive has been incredibly rewarding.

In my spare time, I listen to a lot of music and podcasts; take walks in the bush, take photos, make furniture, tinker on my old motorcycle and take my ex-racing greyhound out for runs.