My path into UX started with a capstone project I wasn't expecting to change my direction.

As a Computer Science student, I was part of a small team tasked with building an archival system for our college's English Department, from ideation all the way to delivery. I'd never taken a design course, but somewhere along the way I was handed Figma and told to make it work. And I tried. I genuinely knew what the system needed to do. But what I built looked like a mess. No visual hierarchy, no intuitive flow, functional but not something anyone would enjoy using.

That gap between "it works" and "it's actually good" is what pulled me into UX, and it's also what taught me that the most important skill a designer can have isn't technical. It's the ability to truly understand how another person thinks and feels when they sit down with something you've made.

Empathy, for me, isn't a soft skill. It's the lens I bring to every research session, every design critique, and every decision about what stays and what gets cut.

I've since built a portfolio of projects that put these principles into practice, all while keeping the CS instincts I never left behind.

I'm actively looking for my first role in UX, and I'm ready to bring curiosity, technical fluency, and genuine care for users to a team that believes good design makes a real difference.