At the Edge of the Unknown
I was the kid who always preferred cardboard boxes over toys. They were blank slates—worlds waiting to be built. I spent hours constructing makeshift bridges over creeks with branches and mud. They weren’t structurally sound, but that never mattered. The joy was in the making. At some point, we all start with big ideas. We think, I want to make something amazing. And then we realize—making something amazing is harder than it looks. That was my first lesson in creativity.
Building, Failing, and Learning
I’ve always been drawn to the intersection of creativity and technology—the space where ideas become tangible. It’s what led me to launch Annamika, Hado Labs, and StyleBoard, startups built around a belief that if you can imagine it, you can create it. But momentum is fragile. Sometimes, co-founders take new opportunities. Sometimes, you pitch an idea to a room that doesn’t quite get it. Sometimes, the timing just isn’t right. These moments teach you something important: ideas are easy. Execution is everything. So, I learned how to pitch. How to turn concepts into products. How to navigate Y Combinator Startup School. How to let go of what isn’t working and keep moving forward.
The Duality of Design: Structure vs. Freedom
Working inside agencies for clients like Starbucks, Target, and Walgreens gave me a clear process—frameworks, approvals, structured execution. There’s a rhythm to it, a way of working that keeps everything moving. Freelancing with artists and small businesses was the opposite—less structure, more experimentation. There were no rules, no fixed templates, just the challenge of figuring things out. That’s where I learned what truly makes design successful. Not trends. Not aesthetics. But how it makes people feel. A good design tells a story. A great one makes you believe it.
From Designer to Educator
At some point, you realize you have something to share. That’s what led me to Cornish College of the Arts—first in one role (a story for another time), and later as an Adjunct, teaching digital product design and UX. It was more than just theory. I wanted students to understand how to take an idea and turn it into something real. The hardest part of creativity isn’t coming up with ideas; it’s closing the gap between vision and execution. Ira Glass talks about this—the frustrating space where your taste outpaces your ability. The only way through it is practice. That’s what I taught: how to think like a designer, how to iterate, how to solve problems—not just how to make things look good, but how to make them work beautifully. Because if you don’t love the process, you won’t make it through the hard parts.
Big Tech, Big Systems, and the Power of Simplicity
At Expedia, I was part of a small team rethinking how developers interacted with our tools and systems. What began as a white-paper turned into a priority, growing from five people to a department of over a hundred. We led the data migration to a new platform, consolidating twenty brands into three. In a large organization, a good idea isn’t enough—it has to be sellable, scalable, and strategically aligned. Process became just as critical as execution. I also realized that genius is simplicity. If something takes too many clicks, too much effort, or too much thinking, it’s broken. The hardest things to measure—delight, ease, flow—are often the most important. And the easiest things to measure—views, time on site, engagement metrics—often don’t mean what we think they do. That’s the real challenge of UX: figuring out what actually matters.
AI, Automation, and the Next Chapter
I don’t see AI as a replacement for creativity. I see it as a creative partner—an accelerator, a tool that expands what’s possible. With isloved.shop, I tested this theory. In less than a month, I went from zero to one—building a fully automated e-commerce business from the ground up. I created a hundred unique designs across thirteen thousand SKUs. I built seamless workflows integrating Printify and Shopify. AI helped generate copy, optimize SEO, and even guide legal structuring. The result? A business with no inventory, no overhead—just ideas brought to life faster than ever before.
Rethinking Design: A Subscription Model
The way we work is changing. The way we hire is changing. Startups and small businesses need great design, but they don’t always need—or have the budget for—a full-time hire. So, I started thinking: what if design worked like a subscription? No unnecessary meetings. No hourly billing. No back-and-forth. Just rapid, high-quality design delivered in forty-eight hours, one piece at a time. It’s an experiment in efficiency. But then again, so was everything else I’ve built.
Life at the Edge of the Unknown
The edge of the unknown is where growth happens. You can plan, you can prepare, but reality rarely unfolds the way you expect. That’s what makes it interesting. It’s why I travel solo. I know I’ll land in a new city. But beyond that? Anything can happen. Design, business, life—it’s all about distilling complexity into clarity. Creating products that feel effortless. Breaking challenges into smaller, solvable steps. Making space for what truly matters. So I keep moving forward. Because the best stories—the ones that truly matter—always begin at the edge of the unknown.
Whether you require a single service or complete project execution, I blend seamlessly with your team to bring your vision to life.
