It all started with book covers on 99designs.com. I was just an amateur trying my hand at graphic design, completely unaware that I was taking the first steps into what would become my life's work and the defining thread of my entire career.

That initial spark of curiosity about visual design quickly grew into something much deeper while I was at engineering school. In 2012, I discovered human-centered design through Scott Klemmer's HCI course on Coursera, a free class that fundamentally changed how I think about design, creating digital products and experiences. What began as an interest in making things look good evolved into a passion for making things work better for the people who use them.

Since 2013, I've been practicing user-centered design across companies of all sizes and industries. But beyond the individual contributor work, I've found my calling in something equally important: building and elevating design teams. There's something incredibly rewarding about not just solving design problems, but creating the conditions for other designers to do their best work.