My journey into STEM and Expereince Design was not typical or straightforward. My formal education was in the performing arts for high school, the liberal arts for college, and the fine arts for graduate school. I intended to spend my life in the literary arts and teaching.
But there was another plan for me that had been unfolding since very early in my childhood. Though I hadn’t recognized it or even realized it was happening, I had been homeschooled in computer science.
My mother, Trinidadian-born, was a developer at Boeing. Her best friend, a Japanese American so close to our family that I call her auntie, joined Boeing at the same time. They were rare women of color developers in the 70s and 80s. But I was even more rare—a brown-skinned little girl surrounded by technology. My mother made sure to keep our house filled with the latest computers and I was drawn to them like a magnet. At seven, I copied my first program into an Comodore so I could play a racing game. At nine, I spent hours staring into the green screen of the DOS PC that took over our dining table. Then, the first Mac with that captivating GUI interface became mine alone. I would disappear into my room, creating digital art or writing stories, then creating programs to support my art and stories. I provided my own tech support, troubleshooting software problems and upgrading hardware.
While these machines provided me with a hands-on laboratory, lectures came from listening to my mom and auntie discuss their work, the adversities they faced, and how they overcame them. Watching them move up the corporate ladder into management, even seeing how Boeing would try to pit them against each other for positions, they always loved and supported each other, regardless of the challenges.
However, I never considered following in their footsteps; I was a writer and an artist, after all. Outside my home, at school, with my peers, technology didn’t exist. My bonds were with my dad over our love of language arts and with my cousins over novels we read during summers. Computing was just a solitary hobby. So, I continued on the path I'd laid out for writing and academia.
The first major shift came in my last year of graduate school. I was immersed in writing, working on my first novel while experimenting with different forms of fiction. I became a tutor, then eventually a teacher, in the writing program. I taught both Introduction to Fiction and Fiction 1. Everything was moving exactly as planned, and I was on track to earn both an MFA writing and an MA in teaching concurrently.
In my final term, however, things changed. With my coursework complete, I returned home to save money while finishing my thesis and began applying for teaching positions at local colleges. I also found a computer training center and applied there.
At the training center, I taught Windows systems and applications, as well as graphic classes (Adobe, Macromedia, and Corel Suites). The graphic classes were my specialty. Watching students struggle and learn provided insights I would carry forward—where digital metaphors made sense and where they didn't. Eventually, I left the training center and moved into tech writing, a role that pushed me further into IT. Sitting with developers as they discussed software, then writing manuals for loan officers, I applied the teaching experience I'd gained.
After a few techinical writing positions, I began freelancing as a web developer and built my own Content Management System to support the websites for my clients. I finally decided to fully commit to IT. I started applying for roles as a developer. One agency suggested User Experience (UX)—a field I'd never heard of but knew was a perfect fit. UX was analytical yet creative, allowing me to combine my love of the arts with technology. In the last 20 years, I've made significant impacts in companies where I’ve worked.
At AOL, I was a contractor on the Mobile Desktop team. My designs proved successful, and I was quickly promoted. I was eventually lead designer on Shopping, AOL’s second-largest channel. I introduced consistent design strategies and improved user experience for desktop and mobile. I also initiated internal changes, such as wiki-based, modular documentation, supporting Agile development.
I joined Siteworx, a consulting firm, in 2010. There, I reorganized the workflow, enabling collaboration and improving client satisfaction. Promoted to Lead Architect, I led projects for high-profile clients such as the Mandarin Oriental, the National Gallery of Art, and Time Warner Cable. My work for the American Association of Plastic Surgeons won a Webby Award. Ten years later, the underlying Information Architecture, Content Strategy, and UX remains largely the same.
At CustomInk, I implemented a style guide, introducing standards for consistent elements across teams and products, which influenced divisions beyond the web properties, including marketing and internal applications.
When I joined ICF, I was looking for better work-life balance, with a focus on remote work. The team quickly embraced remote-first, and I expanded the UX offerings, growing our contracts. With management support, I built one of the company’s most diverse teams, now over 30 members strong.
As a partner and Director of the User Experience team, I feel I’ve finally found what I was always looking for. I’ve created a career that combines the arts, technology, and mentorship—things that have shaped me into who I am today. An I hope in the next years to continue to develop the talents of design teams and strive for excellence and usability in the products we create.