I am not your traditional designer. I didn’t go to a classic design school, but instead learned the trade from traditional design craft, letterpress. I didn’t follow the normal career path but instead designed my career grounded in a wealth of life experience. I have worked from community to corporate and worn many labels: queer, non-binary, femme, artist, printmaker, model, designer, strategist, photographer, partner, arborist, adventurer, cyclist, climber, public speaker, activist, disruptor, humanitarian, hopeful, optimistic, facilitator, leader… all of which can all be distilled into three magic words, MAGICALLY DISGRUNTLED MANIFESTOR.
I don’t just break rules, I redefine them. My award-winning design career was born out of one inescapable truth, the world is poorly designed. From our social systems to our methods of production, everything we create is founded on models of competition over cooperation and exploitation for profit, with a status quo that was intentionally constructed to keep certain groups of humans from achieving their true potential to preserve outdated monoliths to power and influence. My design practice is about changing these processes for the greater good.
My design philosophy is born from the wisdom of Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I believe that when we look through the proper lens all human problems can be solved, and all human suffering can be relieved. I believe in the power of design to be used as a methodology for social healing and reconciliation of even our deepest wounds.
I am a course instructor at M.AD School of Ideas, the school for unconventional thinkers. I co-authored The Path to Impact, a 5-step methodology for socially responsible design, and 2018 winner of the Sappi Ideas That Matter Grant. And I am a letterpress printmaker and print artist... among many other things in my craft. My intentions are to hold space for hard conversations, solve complex problems, and demonstrate the power of design to create a better world for everyone. I am inspired by the power of each moment, the abundance of love, the human imagination, and the kindness found in strangers.