About

Design Systems and UX Development

I'm obsessed with great UX, so design systems and component libraries are one of my favorite areas of software. I've worked on four component libraries, maturing and maintaining them, as well as remediating them for accessibility and building new accessible components. I've built complex components, like dual-thumb range sliders, responsive and sortable data tables, datepickers, modals with focus trap, filters & comboboxes, animations, customizable theme engines, and more.

Component libraries should be flexible and collaborative, without compromising on consistency, so I aim to expose the right configurable pieces, while installing guardrails and fallbacks. I think about composability, scalability, and flexibility. I attempt to build iteratively in ways that avoid potential breaking changes in the future.

Feature Development

I've also built full features for enterprise apps with millions of users, mostly in the fintech and ecommerce space. Features that I've built include bulk payments, recent transactions (money transfers), sign up and onboarding, and app integrations. I'm proficient with async API calls, complex state management, security, and performance.

Performance

Did you know that if an app takes more than 1 second to load, users perceive it to be slow and the delay can lower conversion by more than 10%? Users expect fast and I believe it's a big component of delivering great UX. When I build on the frontend, I test the performance of my code. I implement techniques to increase performance, like preventing unnecessary re-renders, offloading tasks to the server, debouncing expensive tasks, memoizing values, and initializing objects in a performant way.

Digital Accessibility

When I was at Shopify, working on the Polaris design system, I discovered digital accessibility and fell in love with it. I consider accessibility as a core component of UX. I strategically worked on projects that gave me hands-on accessibility experience. I'm now an expert at conformance testing, remediating, and building apps to WCAG standards.

I understand how and when to use ARIA attributes, labels, landmarks, focus management, and semantic markup. I can embed accessibility into modern design patterns, like animation, overlays, interactive components, drop and drop, forms, tables, and other dynamic content. I'm trained in assistive technology and accessibility tools.

Technical Writing

I have strong writing skills from years as an English tutor and from writing classes. I adore writing technical documentation and come from a family of technical writers. I have a certain way of approaching complexity and I've heard many, many times that I simplify confusing topics in a way that non-technical people can understand.

Soft Skills

As a Colleague

I'm a go-getter, by nature. I'm highly self-motivated and thrive on making an impact. I'm insatiably curious and always want to improve things. I prefer being held to high standards and being challenged in ways that stretch me.

I'm friendly and building good rapport with my colleagues is important to me. I love helping and thrive in a collaborative environment.

I'm T-shaped, which means I have both a deep level of expertise in my craft and a broad understanding across a number of adjascent topics.

As a Person

The first thing people usually notice about me is my enthusiasm and my zest for life. The second thing is often my persistence. I've broken through many glass ceilings with resilience and tenacity. I believe in a growth mindset.

One of my passions is communication. I have 19 years of experience with empathic communication in addition to other communication and conflict resolution modalities.

For fun, I have too many hobbies, like music, cooking, cake decorating, snowshoeing, canoeing, cycling, and board games. I'm the first to admit that I make terrible puns and laugh at my own jokes.