Tell us a bit about yourself.
I'm currently a Senior UX Designer in the NY Studio. I joined EY in 2018 fresh out of college, having done both their Emerging Leaders Program and an internship; I graduated a Management Information Systems major / Psychology minor, with a hobby interest in art and design. I didn't actually know UX was even its own discipline until senior year of college; I first learned about it at a different internship where I worked with UX/UI, front end, and back end devs. I wasn't about to change majors with one semester left, though.
I started as an FSO TAP (now TCP) initially doing a bunch of data and AI/ML projects. It was dumb luck that EY had IdeaLab back then and I got in (shout out to Joel and Tommy), hard work that I was "discovered" through it (shout out to CoCo) went through our then UX Bootcamp program (shout out to Joe) and the studio gave me a shot (shout out to Chris.) Now I get to do what I never knew I always wanted, and I have the honor of finally having my own EY Mix.
What is something people don’t know about you because the right question hasn’t gotten around to you yet?
I like tea and have a lot of loose leaf varieties, including some I got from other countries. My homemade iced tea blends are a big hit in the summer.
Favorite band, concert, musical experience?
I LOVE concerts. I collect band tees, I've got concert posters, I have a shadow box with picks, set lists, and broken drumsticks hanging over my desk, I have signed vinyl records, and I constantly have notifications from Bandsintown on my phone. I enjoy getting close to the stage to really immerse myself (and also because I'm short,) so I prefer smaller venues. If I wanted to sit in a chair in a huge crowd looking at screens, I'd go pay $15 to watch a movie, not give Ticketmaster $300+ so I can push through sidewalk-standers to get into MSG.
The best concert I went to was Failure's Fantastic Planet 20th anniversary tour. They're my favorite band and that's their biggest album. That concert was in a smallish venue where they played the entirety of the album with some additional requests at the end. Failure recently switched to digital equipment so the sound quality at the shows is incredible and their stage presence is excellent. Great energy, lighting in sync with the songs, really seamless transitions. At the beginning of the set they did this spacey instrumental riffing over a movie montage with all the inspiration and references that went into the album; that's the kind of intimate vibe there was.
All I'm saying is there's a reason they're referred to as your favorite band's favorite band. Definitely check them out if you're into alt and/or space rock.
If you had an entrance theme song notifying everyone in the office of your arrival, what would it be?
"G.O.A.T." by Princess Nokia
