A little context…

Background

Reader, writer

So listen, I have an English degree because I love reading. It was one of my first favorite things to do as a little kid, and my nose is always still in a book (or usually, several books tbh).

Sometimes, I write too. I’ll probably spend the rest of my life trying to be a better writer, which is ok by me.

Independent media

I was a member of the editorial collective of a local independent weekly newspaper called the Asheville Global Report for four years.

The AGR’s mission was to publish unreported or underreported news, believing that access to information is vital when organizing for change.

My experience here taught me that the voices we choose to represent, and the context from which they speak, critically shape the story we’re telling.

I also learned that content, no matter how clear, can’t speak for itself: Presentation counts.

The same is true for design. Whose voices are we listening to when we design a solution to a problem? When we understand their lived experiences, how does it inform the choices we make? And how are we presenting and advocating for our choices, to achieve clarity and meaning?

“Our classification systems inherently reflect social and political perspectives and objectives. We live in the first world. They live in the third world. She is a freedom fighter. He is a terrorist. The way we organize, label, and relate information influences the way people comprehend that information.”

— Morville/Rosenfeld, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web

*The AGR editors’ collective circa 2001.*

The AGR editors' collective, making it happen circa 2001. That's me in the sparkly purple hat.

Service industry

I worked in the service industry full time for nearly two decades, and I learned some things about empathy and human behavior (not to mention cognitive load).

How does context influence our behavior? How do people convey their needs without asking outright?

We can learn these things by paying attention, listening, and asking good questions… which, as it turns out, are also really important things to do when conducting research.

Activities

Co-Organizer, Make A Mark Asheville

One of a team of four, I helped organize Asheville’s first annual Make A Mark event, a 12-hour design and development make-a-thon to benefit local nonprofits.

Together we got the word out to makers and nonprofits, identified projects and matched them with people, and coordinated all the moving parts to ensure that our volunteers could do their best work on behalf of their organizations on the day of the event.

Founder & Co-Organizer, Asheville Women In Tech Meetup

I began this meetup group in the spring of 2015 to help grow and strengthen connections between women here in Asheville working in web design and development. The group has casual networking meetups, and occasionally joins forces with other local tech and community groups to work on civic tech projects.