Prior to EY, we understand you were a designer at VaynerMedia. Can you give us a bit of background about your road to EY and how you got here?
I have so much respect for those who have transitioned from completely different fields to become designers. I’m really fortunate because I knew I wanted to be a designer ever since I was a teenager. However, the journey and evolution of being a designer has and still continues to be a winding road.
I graduated at the height of the recession, and back then, it was almost impossible to find work. After a short stint as a print designer back in my home state of Rhode Island, I decided to make the leap as a designer in my dream city, New York. In the first few years here, I worked as a freelance visual designer. It allowed me to build my network, work in different industries, explore different offices and neighborhoods, and evolve my design portfolio. After freelancing, I was fully in agency life for a few years. My professional experience as a designer working in print, marketing, advertising/art direction caused A LOT of stumbling and getting back up again as I was trying to find my right fit. After working at my last agency, VaynerMedia, I finally woke up to the direction I always wanted to move in my career: experience design.
It is important to keep in touch and not burn bridges with your network, because our industry is small and tight knit. I found out about EY Design Studio through Linton, actually! We worked at Food Network as designers, and became fast friends. When he told me about EY, I was really skeptical. At the time, there was no website showing existence of a studio, but he told me to trust him. The rest is history.
What was the biggest pain-point of your transition over to EY, if any? Additionally, EY isn’t known as a design studio, what caught you off guard about joining the digital team here at EY?
The transition to adding consulting to my skillset was the biggest pain-point of my transition at EY. I had experience balancing different clients from a freelancing and agency perspective. Working with different teams, lots of travel, task prioritization without a project manager, and learning about economics and pricing was completely brand new to me. Everything has gotten easier over time, except the weekly timesheet. I still struggle with that!
Working at EY Design Studio has truly been a blessing. It is the most diverse, fun, and supportive team I’ve ever had the pleasure to work for. Everyone really supports you to pursue and become the leader you want to be. EY has given me opportunities to grow in many ways, not just in design, but with soft skills as well. My design network is always surprised when I tell them the types of opportunities we have here, such as growing your public speaking skills, teaching classes, or hosting workshops.
What type of project(s) do you like the most? Are you working on any side projects to flex those creative muscles?
At work, my favorite types of projects I like to work on are “ground up” products, especially if there is a chance to influence and push it. I am especially passionate about design systems because it unites designers, developers, and business to manage the work we do at scale. Instead of focusing on silly tasks like button resizing, we can fully dedicate ourselves to making really cool experiences instead. That is my biggest career goal here at EY Design Studio, to bring a design system to life and hopefully make everyone’s lives easier.
On the side, I’m moonlighting as a podcaster. I play a few instruments, but I don’t have much experience with music editing or conducting interviews. It’s been fun though, to just be a complete beginner and explore. My podcast is about women sports fans who follow football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. I’m in the process of scheduling fans and getting it up and running. I hope to get it up and running soon to share with everyone.
Every designer tends to have their own tools of the trade…can you share a photo of your desk setup or items that you always have on you and why?
At my desk at home, I have toy vinyls… but since I can’t carry these around all the time, these are the things that I carry on me everyday on the go.
I love colorful pens like the Stadtler Triplus Rollers, but always have one strong heavy black pen on me (Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Pen orPentel Sign Pen) are my go tos. I always have sticky notes on hand, to help me organize my thoughts on the fly – that I later translate back into Evernote. A notebook helps me with having a master list of to dos and for random thoughts. Bose’s noise cancelling headphones have been a godsend when working in open offices.
My #1 thing that I cannot work without is my “Let’s Get Things Done Today” sheet. It is my guiding light for the day. It really forces me to prioritize my tasks, even if it is a simple reminder that I need to drink more water.
We all know you are a big supporter of the Boston sports teams and the area itself, is this because you are from the area, went to school there?
Yesssss! I am proudly from the smallest state, Rhode Island, and went to undergrad in Boston (Massachusetts College of Art & Design). My hometown, Newport, is famous for being a popular summer vacation destination. By default, every Rhode Islander (with the rest of New England) follows Boston sports religiously. I am by nature a very friendly and warm person, but have been known to unleash a snarky trash talking side when watching games. 😉 It is definitely a passion of mine for sure.
Lastly, you get to have lunch with any band/artist/musician, who would you choose to engage in a conversation with?
The first person I’d choose to have lunch with is Janet Jackson. She fascinates me so much in so many different ways. She has continued to redefine herself and her career over several decades. I admire her because she’s stayed true to who she is, while continuing to produce both socially conscious and personal work. Despite her major success as the “triple threat” actress, singer, and dancer: she’s managed to keep her private life under wraps. She never had to put her life out there for the world in order to get her success, it was all talent and hard work.
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