Story

I’m a proud Mexicana and a first generation American. I’m a native speaker but also formally trained to teach Spanish.

My first 10 years in the workforce were in the service industry in roles ranging from server to administrator. This is important to my story because I developed most of my soft skills in these roles and credit that experience for my success post college and as a designer. 

As a teacher, I prepared for and taught three different levels of the Spanish language to high school students. During my transition to public school education, I completed a program for teacher certification for Texas while teaching at the largest campus in the Austin Independent School District. I became team lead in my second year at AISD and led a group of educators to identify gaps in achievement, develop an action plan, and design materials that fit our curriculum.

I taught for AISD for three years, but decided to transition into UX design in 2021 after teaching virtually for two years due to COVID. This new challenge of engaging students virtually pushed me to think about the way they’d experience learning in a way I hadn’t done before. In the past, I’d had more control over their learning because we were in the same room and I could shift gears if necessary. I began, albeit unknowingly, creating lessons using a Human-Centered Design Process. After a couple of years of this, I wondered how I could do this in a full time capacity. I was finally able to put a name to it one evening after a chat with some friends. UX Design.

I completed an immersion program through CareerFoundry from January 2021 through September 2021. I took a risk and bid my career as an educator farewell in June of 2021. During my studies with CareerFoundry, I carried out two complete case studies. I am currently pursuing the completion of a Frontend Development for Designers course which will make me an even stronger asset by improving my communication with development teams.

I'm currently helping the fine folks at DaySmart improve the UX for their self and pet products.