About me

Born and raised in San Francisco (and a few years in Tokyo), I have been working in visual systems, product, web, and interaction design for just over eight years now.

At my core I'm a builder. The current goal is to see how far I can hone my skills as an individual contributor since that's what gives me the most energy. If management is a byproduct of that process down the line, that could be fun. But for now I just want to make cool stuff.

Design is an infinite game of progression - and that's what I love about it. There's always room to learn, whether it be sharpening aesthetic sense, problem-solving principles, collaboration methods, tool mastery, or any of the other skillsets that make for a good designer.

I believe in meticulous work, having a high personal standard of excellence (for the sake of those around me), being easy to work with, learning by doing, open and direct feedback, and leading with curiosity.

I currently reside in the Mission District of San Francisco with my partner, Hana. Together we enjoy our design careers, cooking and eating all kinds of fun stuff, spending time with our friends and families, and the funny little inside jokes that come with sharing (part) Japanese heritage.

We recently got married in Tokyo - a place we both used to call home. Fun fact: we overlapped for two years at the American School in Japan in middle school. We try to get over there as much as we can.

Happo-en, Tokyo

Sealing the deal in 2023

For most of my life I've been intensely passionate about a few things - one of them being skateboarding. Growing up in San Francisco exposed me to the culture at a young age and it's still something that I'm very lucky to enjoy.

Skateboarding continues to be a personal teacher of resilience, determination, humility, and friendship. When you fall, you get back up and figure out what happened. When you succeed, it's because you worked your ass off for it. If you try to fake it - it's glaringly obvious. When your friends are right there with you - it feels like chasing gold in the air with the wind at your back.

Potrero, SF

Dawn patrol for the working stiffs

There are of course all kinds of (somewhat cliche) comparisons to be made with building products or business models, but I'll resist the urge for now. Maybe in a blog post or something down the line... but only if there's a way to do it respectfully to both skateboarding and design.

Boston University (BA Political Science, Minor Fine Art)

From 2009 to 2013 I spent my college years at Boston University studying political science because I’ve always been fascinated by the human-made social structures that spin the world.

At the time I was also super into oil painting, printmaking, and site-specific art - and I got to do a bunch of that through BU’s college of fine art. UX wasn’t really on the map yet as far as college curriculums went so I had to discover that later.

Looking back on it, college work was actually a lot like what I do now - intense shifts between analytical and creative projects. Lots of writing, lots of drawing, lots of getting to know people.

Fenway, Boston

Doodle installation for a friend

After college I moved back to San Francisco to check out the job market. It wasn't super clear what the opportunities were for someone with my background so I followed some advice to work in sales - “you’ll have to sell your ideas no matter what you end up doing in the long-run”. In hindsight sales was definitely not the best fit but funnily enough did lead me to design.

In 2015 while working at Elation Health - an EHR SaaS startup - I was exposed for the first time to product design and the role it plays in building the things we use. Until that point I only knew of the classic academic design disciplines - graphic design, interior design, architecture maybe, etc.

I really enjoyed eating lunch with the product designers and engineers and one day thought to myself, “wow, I think I would actually much rather do this instead”. It was just one of those existential, undeniable things.

It was an unsettling moment of clarity because I knew it would be a long road - which made it feel kinda exciting and dangerous. Trusting myself to make that change was the best thing that I've ever done for myself.

Long story short, some time later I quit my job and pivoted into product design - kicking off a self-taught journey of personal growth, progression, and obsession.

SF

Doodle installation for a startup

It was love at first sight. Sometimes I still find it kind of shocking that I get paid to do it - so I do the hell out of it. It’s a massive privilege and I’m grateful for it every day.