About

I’m a UX and service design leader based in Washington, D.C. For more than a decade, I’ve worked at the intersection of research, design, technology, and public service to help organizations understand people and turn that understanding into better products and services.

At the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid, I led UX work across more than a dozen digital products and services, including the FAFSA form, StudentAid.gov, and tools for managing and repaying student loans. I managed a team of UX professionals, developed research programs, and helped bring the experiences of students and families into complex product and policy decisions. Currently, I manage a team of product designers at PeopleGrove, a company aimed at helping colleges and universities unlock alumni networking and offering experiential learning tools.

I hold a bachelor’s degree in media arts and design from James Madison University and a master’s degree in user experience design and information sciences from Kent State University.

UX design, research, and strategy
I help organizations build a clearer understanding of their users and use evidence to make better decisions. My experience includes research planning, usability and comprehension testing, discovery interviews, information architecture, card sorting, journey mapping, workshops, and research-program development.

UX leadership and capacity building
I’ve led multidisciplinary UX teams, managed portfolios of research and design projects, and helped organizations incorporate human-centered design practices into how they plan and deliver work. I’ve worked on multi-million dollar procurement efforts in the government to help align tech teams toward user outcomes rather than rigid requirements. I enjoy creating the structure, partnerships, and shared understanding that allow good design to happen consistently.

Product management
Experienced managing large product backlogs in Jira, identifying research priorities, managing stakeholders, delivering work, assigning work across multiple agile teams. Helped standup first cross-vendor agile team at U.S. Department of Education.

Service and product design
I work across individual interactions and the larger systems surrounding them. I translate research into practical improvements through service blueprints, workflows, wireframes, prototypes,, content recommendations, and product strategy.

Emerging tech and front-end development
Experienced with content management systems, such as WordPress. HTML/CSS. Experienced in building out custom sites for different non-profit organizations. Led an effort to design, code, and manage a federal agency’s internal design system. Skilled in building component libraries and design standards for use with generative AI tools such as Claude Code, and Claude Design.

Content strategy
With roots in journalism and design, I’m comfortable working across content, design, and technology. Grounded in a journalism background focusing on reporting, writing, art, design, and photography. Experienced in content strategy for print newspapers, medium and large websites. Experienced in content and comprehension testing on large websites.