I’m a mixed race design leader & strategist. I was born in New York City’s Chinatown and spent most of my childhood on the Jersey Shore. I can’t be away from the ocean for too long and jump in to mark moments of transition, no matter the season.

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I’ve spent my entire career finding the right intersection of creativity, learning, and supporting my almost-but-not-quite bi-coastal lifestyle.

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I love postcards, Little Free Libraries, and my cattle dog mix, Luna.

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I've tiptoed around teaching professionally for my whole life, from teaching SAT prep classes in college, to being a volunteer ESL teacher in NYC, to spending a year at a university in Brazil as an English Teaching Assistant. Ultimately, I like being able to form meaningful relationships with my students and have learning go both ways, which usually means small group or 1:1 relationships with other adults or near peers.

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I've volunteered with Braven for over a year as a Leadership Coach for their Accelerator program at San Jose State University, leading 8 students through a course that included career coaching and a design thinking capstone challenge. My team won the challenge, but it wasn't about winning ;) Afterward, I became a Professional Mentor, working 1:1 with students to help them find a job.

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I’ve also deeply benefitted from mentoring and coaching in my own professional career. It’s helped me get over humps of insecurity, little and big, and lean into opportunities I wouldn’t have dreamed of before.

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I try to overindex on supporting students who wouldn't otherwise have mentorship support, whether they're first-generation college students, BIPOC, or don't have a degree.

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 In my job as a Senior Director at IDEO, I regularly mentor and guide more junior designers and design teams on client work, and more informally through ERGs and programs like Color by Design, an apprenticeship for BIPOC Design Researchers.

• finding a job as a non-technical major
• balancing business & creativity in work (and life)
• pivoting into design or other creative roles from a non-design/creative background
• telling your story through cover letters/personal statements
• finding your authentic voice on LinkedIn, in leadership, and elsewhere

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• non-traditional lifestyles (think: buying a house with a friend)
• long-distance relationships
• being multi-racial and embracing intersections
• moving to new countries, states, cities, and between urban and rural areas
• shaping your professional narrative
• overcoming insecurity and people pleasing 

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Warm, curious, creative, and open, I approach mentoring as a safe place to land. Our conversations will be spaces where you can vent, ask “silly” questions, hear advice based on my own lived experience, and play out different versions of yourself.