A creative type 

Throughout most of my life, people have described me as a creative type, a maker, committed to my craft. And based on my distinct childhood memories of turning placemats into purses and spending weeks at a time designing and building doll fortresses out of common household objects in my basement, I would agree with this assessment. But I’m not just a maker, I am an admirer. I crave aesthetically pleasing and well-designed environments and experiences. I appreciate design, I always have. Because of this, my path in life seemed very clear, I would pursue a creative career.

Wound up in the business world

I shocked myself when I ended up going to business school and then accepting my first job in the “real-world” as an IT consultant. I was totally out of my element and wished I could start over. Luckily, I met some wonderful mentors who encouraged me to follow my creative impulses and figure out ways to weave in my passions in this new business world I fell into. 

Pivot to passion

I knew I loved creating well-designed experiences and I loved people, so I pivoted into IT training & instructional design. Having more creative freedom, I used the momentum to get my master’s in Educational Technology and take on more responsibility at work in this arena.  

Exposed to the world of experience design

Serving my client in a new capacity as the training and change management lead for a large scale IT modernization project, I was introduced to the world of design.  In this role, I was the natural liaison between the end-user and the developers. I became very invested in the design of the system. From my perspective, good design meant easier user adoption and buy-in, and less complicated, more efficient, enjoyable and impactful training. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time working closely with and learning from the UX team. 

UX is the common thread

It was then I realized, UX lies at the juncture of all my passions and experience; creating, people, technology, learning. My desire to create, my efforts to keep my learners at the center of design, my passion for learning and technology, can all be connected by a common thread - user experience.  Which brings me to today. In true impulsive fashion, I enrolled in a UX bootcamp by Thinkful in my never-ending journey to evolve as a creator! Welcome to my portfolio, let me know what you think!

Cheers!

Elena