// About

I PRIDE MYSELF ON BEING AN:

Empathy-driven design leader

Listen, let’s be real. We’ve all occasionally had to deal with shitty bosses throughout the course of our careers; speaking for myself, I have worked under a few here and there. But, I have also had some absolutely amazing ones: leaders who lifted me up and helped me find my creative voice. I always flourished under the kind of leadership that make me feel safe, seen, and supported. So when I transitioned from being an individual contributor to a design lead, I knew exactly the kind of boss I wanted to be.

I passionately believe that we need to practice empathy for our colleagues before we can hope to do the same for our users.

It’s important to me to create a sense of psychological safety for the designers on my team. In order to go beyond personas and truly see our users as real human beings — with complex lives, hopes, fears, and messy contradictions — we have to see each other that way first. We all have ups and downs, joys and pains; when we recognize that in one another and give ourselves the grace to be imperfect, that’s when the magic happens:

Creativity takes root.
Ideas flourish.
Innovation blossoms into a frickin’ super bloom.

Why?

Because when designers feel seen, they stop holding back. They pitch the “bad” idea, knowing it won’t be judged. And that idea? Sure, quite often it’s utter crap (because we all know the first idea is never the best one) but that doesn’t matter since it is the spark that leads to the next one, and then a better one, and eventually a really freaking AMAZEBALLS one.

And that’s the goal, isn’t it?

Utterly delightful human being

I was raised in the wilds of New England by Vikings* before making my way to California to study Character Animation at California Institute of the Arts.

Alas, art school is really, really, REALLY expensive and, spooked by the possibility of graduating with a medical degree’s worth of student loan debt for an animation degree, I opted to leave CalArts before graduating. I resumed my career as a designer but do not fret, fair reader: it wasn’t wasted time! Returning to my craft with a fresh perspective, I was delighted to discover that the skills I learned at school — the practice of getting into a character’s mindset, understanding their struggles, and crafting the way they conquered them — taught me how to think of user journeys as stories and, in telling them, I became a better designer.

I have not looked back.

These days, I have given up the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles to live in a tiny lake town atop a mountain in Southern California with my husband, two Labradors, and three (very dumb) cats. When I am not busy working to make the internet a friendlier and more usable place, I am busy throwing pottery, drawing doodles, kayaking, skiing, and picking up (as well as putting down) one of my million and one other hobbies.

*Both my parents are from Sweden and I, myself, have dual American and Swedish citizenship (bork-bork!). So feel free to hire me for all your EU-based design needs. Have passport, will travel—no sponsorship required!