For me, good design has always been about more than how something looks. It’s about understanding people, solving the right problem, and making something that works.

I was first introduced to the wonders of Adobe's creative software as an impressionable high school sophomore in a “Computer Graphics” course, and have never really been able to let go of my love for design since that fateful class. In college, after a brief detour through the Film program, I found my way into the competitive Graphic Design program and quickly began developing strong opinions about typefaces and color harmonies. With my BFA in hand, I entered the professional world at the peak of the 2008 financial crisis, so when I landed the only job I could (a non-creative role in banking), it only confirmed that I needed to be making things.

For over a decade, I built and led the Art & Design program at Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas, working to inspire creativity in others through my work as an educator. While starting out in the school’s Advancement office in digital communications, I brought all design work in-house and began to wear an ever-growing pile of hats (web master, graphic designer, social media coordinator, creative director, and more). Three years later, I moved into the classroom, where I introduced new classes for Photography, Graphic Design, and AP Studio Art. Over time, my role grew again, eventually including department leadership as well as creative direction for the school’s student publications. And what I learned in those years is something I've continued to carry with me in every role I’ve held: the hardest design problem is rarely the aesthetic one. It's getting an organization to do something consistently, across people, over time.

That's what has pulled me toward design systems. When you're advising a team of 20-30 students on a 400-page publication, you learn very quickly that creative direction isn't about controlling every decision yourself. It's about giving people the clarity, tools, and confidence to make good decisions on their own.

Today, my work at LeadsOnline sits at the intersection of brand, product, and marketing. I've designed interfaces for complex investigative software, helped shape how our brands show up across the business, and built tools and systems that help other people create better, more consistent work. Compared to my time at Jesuit, the context at LeadsOnline is very different, but the challenge feels familiar: how do you give people enough structure to create something cohesive without taking away their ability to think and create for themselves?

More recently, new tools, including AI, have given me ways to take that idea even further. What interests me isn’t the novelty of the technology. It’s the opportunity to help more people create good work without requiring a designer to make every decision for them.