My interest in technology began in high school, when I took introductory computer science courses. These courses sparked my curiosity and made me want to learn more.  As a part of my initial courses, I took Cisco Networking 1 and 2, where I learned how to create network diagrams and manage complex networks. While I found this information helpful, it was not my favorite subject.  

I was more interested in courses like Java and Introduction to Engineering, which I found to be much more exciting. I loved the idea of building something from nothing and making things happen.

In Introduction to Engineering I was introduced to 3D modeling, creating Lego structures, and more. This knowledge would later be very useful when I was in college working on 3D animation. Excelling in these courses along with math and science led me to get the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Medal scholarship.  

I was excited to attend RPI and expand my knowledge in video production, one of my passions. I enrolled in the Electronic Media Arts & Communication program with a concentration of Digital Storytelling, where I focused on video creation and editing, 3D animation, graphic design, and web design. I quickly realized that while I was enjoying my studies, I missed computer science courses. In my first semester, I signed up to add a dual degree in Computer Science.

While I was at RPI, I was a member (and Vice President) of RPI TV, a student-run television club that filmed and broadcasted programs on living streaming and occasionally live cable TV. I filmed, edited, and directed many programs, including a trip to Tampa, FL to film a Victory Ship celebration and to Fenway Park to film a Centennial celebration. You can find some of my film work on my IMDB page.

While pursuing my degree programs, I learned about the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), which focuses on User Experience (UX) Design.

This sparked a new interest in me, as it blended my love for design with my love for computer science. I was thrilled to find a field that could bridge all of my passions into one. This was just as UX was starting to take off and wasn’t as widely known as it is today.

While I was at RPI, I completed three internships in different fields. These internships gave me valuable experience in the media and technology industries.
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My first internship was at Your News Now (YNN) in Albany, NY where I worked as an Operations Intern. I worked closely with the production teams to film, edit, and direct news broadcasts on a daily basis. I also ran audio during live broadcasts and filmed my own segments at the Capitol. This internship gave me hands-on experience in the media industry and taught me the importance of teamwork and collaboration.

My second internship was at the Golub Corporation in Schenectady, NY, where I built their entire intranet on SharePoint. This included programming the encryption that was needed to protect their employees' personal information, such as their Social Security Numbers (SSNs). This internship gave me experience in the technology industries and taught me the importance of security and privacy.

My last internship was at Razorfish in New York, NY as a UX intern where I worked mostly on the Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) account. I worked on creative executions for digital campaigns and put together search engine optimization documentation for mbusa.com. I created wireframes and interaction design blueprints for an internal Razorfish “performance wall” and researched 10ft experiences for a presentation that a lead UX designer was giving. This internship gave me experience in the UX industry and reiterated the importance of user-centered design.

These three very different internships taught me a lot about adaptability, quick thinking, and creating something new. My favorite of these internships was doing UX design and project management at Razorfish which is the direction I took my career in post college.

I began my career as a Business Analyst at Blackstone in New York, NY after graduating from college. I spent 8 years at Blackstone evolving the BA role and the UX team. After 9 months, I was tasked with leading the Marketing Technology team while my manager was out on leave and was asked to continue to run the team when she returned as I had done a great job. I was in charge of the MarTech engineering, design, and QA teams throughout the rest of my career at Blackstone which had around 13 people. I was also in charge of our agency partners and ensuring that we all felt like one team building towards a common goal.
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As a business analyst I did everything from creating designs for our public websites, internal applications, and our Investor Portal to creating project requirements, project plans, and running the entire agile process.

During that time I was also pushing for more UX design throughout all applications and our investor portal including redesigning and rebuilding the Investor Portal in a mobile responsive design so it would be easily across all devices.

I was quickly promoted to Associate and later promoted to Vice President while running the MarTech team and pushing UX initiates across the entire organization. All the hard work I did in the UX space at Blackstone led to me founding the first ever standalone UX team. I built this team from the ground up and by the time I left we were a team of four managing all UX design across all technology at BX. I also mentored younger employees and had a track record of having the most interns that converted to full time hires (I was 6 for 6)!

After 8 years at Blackstone, I joined HQ Digital, a Digital Currency Group (DCG) subsidiary, as one of the first 10 employees. We were focused on creating a Life and Wealth Optimization platform for ultra high net worth individuals in the crypto space.

In my first month, I worked with the Chief Product Officer to finalize the brand and initial app designs, and launch our MVP of the iOS application. I also created the project plan and QA plan for the MVP, as well as executed the QA plan. I built the team with the CPO from having just us two as the full-time employees to adding 1 PM, 3 Engineers, 1 UX writer, and 1 QA engineer along with an agency partner (including 3 developers) that worked with for a year before HQ shut down.

I did everything that was needed at HQ from creating 1 pagers for each team, to building project plans for other teams projects, testing quantum encryption network devices, video editing, animation creation, mentoring, and more. I got to blend all my skills and background together in this fast-paced startup environment.  

We built a product that had strong authentication security, personalized recommendations based on users' needs, a way to set up their entire portfolio through our portal to see their entire net-worth, a way to chat with our Membership Operations team through our app and the web, project requests that kicked off into our Salesforce org, and more.  

Unfortunately, the crypto winter took hold and HQ Digital was forced to shut down. Closing down HQ was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in my career, I loved the team, I loved the mission, and I loved what we built. We spent the entire month of January shutting down everything we had done. While it was sad to see it close, I gained valuable experience shutting down a company and understanding how to close vendor relationships.

I was asked by the CEO of HQ Digital to join her and 9 others to create a new company called CAMO. CAMO was a digital identity platform that was going to use cutting edge technology including biometric authentication and local device storage for user data.
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I created the CAMO logos, assisted with brand design including colors and tone and voice. I spun up all the social media business accounts, marketing tools, analytics tools, and created the first website. I learned a ton about the security and digital identity space during the few months of work on CAMO and was really excited about the product and mission. Learning that we were not going to get the amount of funding we needed to create the product we planned was another tough blow for 2023.

I learned invaluable lessons in how to create a company from nothing, design a product with no set direction, working with new vendors and cutting edge technology, and resilience. I am so proud of what I have accomplished at the last two startups even if the time there was short lived.