I got into design through career counselling, honestly. I'd heard a little about UX design from a friend of a friend, and it sounded cool—especially the possibility of working remotely (this was pre-pandemic, so that was still pretty rare).

At the time, I was on the path to becoming a doctor, and I knew it wasn't going to be a good fit for me. But making the leap was terrifying. Career counselling helped me iron out what I actually needed in a career to feel fulfilled. A few possibilities came up, and web designer was one of them.

With what I already knew about UX and my background as a scientist—I have a degree in biochemistry—I felt confident enough to make the jump. I enrolled in a three-month bootcamp, put together my portfolio, and started applying. Landed my first role about three months later. A lot of hard work, and honestly, a lot of luck.

As a Senior Product Designer, I lead product design at the squad level—and right now, I have a few squads reporting into me while we're lean during an acquisition.

Day to day, I work closely with my lead PM and developers to prioritize work and ensure everything we ship has a great user experience and is accessible. I'm an advocate for our users—conducting interviews, testing designs, and all the things a normal product designer would do.

I also built our design system from scratch and maintain it ongoing. Beyond hands-on design, I handle stakeholder communication, build credibility for our team, and foster an environment where people feel included. I'm involved in hiring too, and we're bringing on a junior designer soon—mentoring and preparing for that is something I'm really excited about.

There's also an expectation to keep learning, especially with AI tools emerging. Staying curious and proactive is part of the job.

One of the main difficulties is how fast the design process is changing with AI tools. I'm trying to look at it as a positive—there's always something new to learn, which is exciting—but it can feel a little intimidating at times.

Another challenge is that we're currently merging two companies, and there are inherent difficulties that come with that. A lot of learning to get up to speed and understand how things work across both sides.

And honestly, there's no shortage of work—but there is a shortage of time. Prioritizing accordingly and striking a balance between wanting to put more effort into something and recognizing when to draw the line and move on to the next project is an ongoing challenge.

Right now this is pretty fluid and changing quickly. Figma is still my main tool, but the second biggest app I'm using now is Granola. It records meeting transcripts and acts like a colleague I can ask questions to—what happened, what my next steps are, just staying organized. I capture all the relevant feedback, then take that to my designs so no detail is left unconsidered.

Dictation tools like Whispr Flow have also been huge. I really struggle with typing—it's time consuming and spelling and grammar can almost be a blocker. Dictation has removed that friction entirely.

I use Perplexity as a thinking partner to check if I'm missing edge cases and challenge my reasoning. I'll tell it what I'm thinking and ask it to poke holes.

And I've been experimenting with Cursor and Claude Code to build prototypes. It's so much faster and more flexible than a simple single-flow prototype. I start in Figma, but for scenarios and edge cases, these tools have been a game changer.

This is probably different from what I'd say to someone trying to break in today, because the industry has changed a lot, but both are relevant.

For my younger self, I'd say: don't hide what makes you different—lean into it. I came from an 'unrelated' science background and for the longest time saw that as a negative. But those skills—critical thinking, problem-solving, simplifying complex concepts—actually made me more competitive in ways I didn't realize at the time.

For someone trying to break in today, I'd encourage them to really lean into AI tools. This is going to be a huge differentiator. Companies want people who are innovative and forward-thinking, not stuck in the past.

No, honestly, it was the best career decision I've ever made, and I'm so fortunate to be able to say that. Going to career counseling really gave me the confidence to know this would be a great fit, and I think that was huge.

The only regret—and I'll say this lightly—is that I wish I had started sooner. I dragged my feet for so long because I was just so scared. But maybe not even, because I am exactly where I am today because of the choices I made. And I'm in a pretty great spot. I'm really happy about that.

I stay inspired by chatting with other designers. At work we share ideas, podcasts, and feedback that fosters a community where you want to stay in the know and keep learning. It really matters who you surround yourself with.

This carries over online too. I'm super active on LinkedIn—I love seeing what people are posting, what ideas are being shared, and sharing my own because it sparks great conversations. I often learn so much more that way. It's not like my ideas are the best ones. I'm always getting the best ideas from others and learning from them.

Keeping yourself surrounded by people who are also learning will really inspire you—at least it has for me.