Why I am a user experience designer
I had the great good luck to grow up at a Girl Scout camp in the Florida Keys, where my parents were caretakers. All summer I had nonstop Girl Scout friends and activities. Year-round I had access to craft supplies and books and the all day every day fun of living on an island.
I majored in English, where I edited the university newspaper. My career dream was to work as a journalist, but I quickly learned that meant either paying the rent or taking care of food and utilities, not both. Working as a reporter meant I was closely analyzing problems and situations but wasn’t ethically able DO things about them, other than report.
My first career pivot was to go into Montessori teaching. I loved it — the basic philosophy is “control the environment, don’t control the child.” My days were spent observing children closely, then making tweaks to the classroom and educational materials to make it possible for them to learn deeply and joyfully.
User experience has felt like the inevitable progression of these two early careers: the analysis and questioning practice of journalism, combined with the empathetic observational methodology of Montessori teaching. I bring them together as a UX leader by emphasizing the strengths of my team members, evangelizing qualitative and quantitative user research, and continuing to love the work of taking apart every hard problem that comes my way.