I have always been a creative at heart. Creating a work of art from a mere vision is almost effortless. Many of my creations spanned from writing stories with characters I designed, to building prototypes and structures from found objects and wood borrowed from construction sites. My parents always supported my creativity and allowed me to express myself in any way I felt. One summer in high school they let me spray paint my room in graffiti, which turned out pretty good. The experience led to many more that channeled my energy into a portfolio that got me accepted to the Art Center in Pasadena, California, just a few miles from my home in Glendale.
As it turned out, I forwent my first design opportunity to explore my talents in football at Southern Illinois University— I was offered a full scholarship. But throughout my career at SIU, I couldn’t shake the creative bug that seemed to be intrenched in my DNA. For the next few years, I would channel my talent towards creating stories with compelling, yet complex characters in fictional settings. Even post-college, I still managed to remain uniquely creative in the arts, but now i had to apply that creativity to business opportunities, seeking employment that celebrated (and paid for) creativity.
After spending time in various industries and executive roles, I find that my aptitude for creation and building things has shifted to building processes to develop people, products, and organizations. As a Designer, I help companies design + strengthen service and product experiences for their customers, which increases operational efficiency, visibility, and growth opportunities for small, medium, and large business. All this is accomplished through innovation workshops stemming from Human Centered Design process and application.
Design Education & Instructor Shadow
Having experienced Stanford’s methodology for design and innovation is truly transformational. The experience also encourages students and instructors to reach even further by applying (and transcending) shared methods to create additional methods, concepts, and prototypes to challenge both the student and instructor to consider expanded and improved methodology and applications…
Mentorship @ Blackstone Launchpad
Blackstone LaunchPad is a program that helps students of all backgrounds navigate the UT entrepreneurship ecosystem. Think of us as the Google Maps for everything entrepreneurship on campus and in Austin. Blackstone LaunchPad at The University of Texas at Austin believes that entrepreneurship is for everyone. The LaunchPad is a centralized, cross-curricular, accessible hub for entrepreneurship on campus. We offer students, faculty, and staff a variety of resources at all stages of idea and venture development
From Design Thinking, to Design Doing
The MBA in Design Strategy provides for vast exploration, mastery, and expression of design at the graduate level. Through engaging with my professors and cohort, I was able to understand my aptitude for design, as well as execute from the examples provided by the curriculum, corporate projects, and explorative atmosphere. After graduation, I felt a strong urge to build a design firm and grow it through the sprit of teaching and pushing innovation.
The office of Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at UT Austin focuses on addressing the income inequality gap for overlooked communities by helping them learn the tools of wealth creation, innovative thinking, community stewardship, and social impact.
As a guest lecturer, I have had the privilege of meeting and educating some extremely bright minds who would not have the opportunity to experience the world as many do, if it were not for the existence of programs developed by the office of Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship. I look forward to continuing support of this office through my expertise and experiences, in business, design, and process of innovation.
The Product Prodigy Institute is a two semester-long class that takes students from underprivileged and underrepresented backgrounds through the process of creating and learning the hard/soft skills for launching a venture. Product Prodigy Institute immerses students in an intense and supported environment that leaves them graduating with college-level coursework, marketable job skills, and cutting-edge entrepreneurial training. The program focuses on social impact through a combination of product management training and human-centered design. Being part to the Product Prodigy Institute is a very rewarding experience, as I am able to contribute to the development of curriculum, as well as lecture on design strategy and the process of innovation for our youth.
The Texas 2030 Inclusion Challenge is a city-wide call to action. By the year 2030 Austin will be one of the leading technology hubs, home to many more startup and fast-growing companies, and it will be more diverse than ever. However, we now see that even with the economic boom in the tech sector and other fast-growing industries in our city, we are not keeping pace with the level of inclusivity we need to make Austin a more equitable city. The Inclusion Challenge challenges companies to start investing today in helping advance diversity and inclusion within their workforce and senior leadership positions so that by 2030 their industry’s workforce demographics will reflect the demographics of our city as a whole.
Good Emporium was created to help users find thousands of organizations doing good work in their area, as well as identify which ones need our help. Good Emporium is currently in development, and always in search of talented people to help us build a platform that showcases good works around the world. As design lead, my contribution include primary research interviews and developing insights that lead to product and service concepts within the local social-good ecosystem.
Qubicle is the result of two careers and a love for design merging into one agency. Prolonged exposure to management, operations, and generating revenue has made the decision to transition from executive and entrepreneur, to Designer rather simple. The Designer was always there— it was the education and experience that was missing. For me, the idea of designing products is innate, but to develop one’s own process could take years without experience and education—enter Stanford d.school and the dMBA @ California College of the Arts.
Applying human-centered process as an entrepreneur was a huge confidence builder. It provided the opportunity to take extremely ambiguous situations, and turn them into measurable results and products for startups and new organizations. Now that Design Thinking has become more popular, it’s great to see entire organizations adopt new habits and culture ignited through our innovation workshops.