I am a product designer based in Seattle/Toronto. I'm interested in solving problems with elegant solutions that empower our daily lives. I previously worked at Nexa AI, Reel Talk, and collaborated with Starbucks China.
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."
This quote from Steve Jobs resonated deeply with my younger self, and I was determined to make what I love my work.
At the time, I was studying health sciences in CEGEP (what's between high school and university in Quebec). If I were to be honest with myself, the reason I chose this path was because it was popular among my peers, but it wasn’t what I was interested in.
Luckily, I had always been an avid reader since childhood, and my
library became a source of insight. After some reflection, I
concluded that I was interested in achieving two things:
1. To understand the world
2. To create something beautiful
At the time, I chose the former because any activity that channeled creativity seemed foreign and intimidating to me, though I had always been intrigued and knew I would eventually try.
As I entered university, I enrolled in business school, thinking that, since we live in a capitalist society, following the money might be a good way to understand it.
After 4 years of university and 3 internships, I successfully graduated with distinction as a marketing major.
After graduation, I joined an advertising agency to further enhance my marketing expertise. I was responsible for planning, launching, and optimizing digital advertising campaigns, managing a budget of 4 million CAD per quarter.
My clients included McDonald's, Telus, and others.
During this time, I also taught myself Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to channel my creativity. I designed a series of posters and sold them through an independent online store. Thanks to my passion for design and my marketing skills, this venture generated an ARR of 35K CAD.
Both the 9-to-5 and startup experiences taught me tremendously. Managing advertising campaigns gave me a snapshot of the inner workings of how corporations entice potential consumers and promote products, and I successfully applied what I learned to my own website.
But when I did design, it was something special; I could sit there tirelessly to tweak every detail until it was perfect. It was fun and effortless.
It was clear to me that
behind “understanding the world" lies curiosity, and beneath
“creating" is passion.
In 2020, I took out a loan and returned to school, certain that design was something I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life.
I enrolled in the MFA design program at the California College of the Arts, specializing in Interaction design.
We looked into the past, the present and future of design, and it made me realize that good design is much more than just aesthetics; it has the potential to empower and transform people’s lives.
After graduation, I joined a UX boot camp to learn how to design in the real world., where I completed a co-op project with Starbucks China. I also gained valuable experience working with NexaAI, an AI startup, and Reel Talk, a movie/TV-show community startup. I loved it.
I'm confident that my ability to learn and my passion would (eventually) make me a great designer; I have a lifetime—about 40 years—to achieve this, and I'm very patient ;)
I'm a curious learner, exploring topics that intrigue me through books, textbooks, and research papers. Here’s a breakdown of my areas of interest, along with my level of expertise.
Feel free to reach out if you’d like to discuss any of these topics :)
