A little bit about me... I had thought it seemed pretty easy to land an internship at a small studio in Pasadena, CA. Freshly graduated from The Savannah College of Art and Design, I was thrilled that my career was about to take off, and so proud of myself for this accomplishment.
Maybe a little too proud.
Shortly after my internship ended, I was offered a job at Lucasfilm Animation, and I commended myself again for the hard work that brought this opportunity to me.
Celebrations ended immediately when I received a slap-to-the-face reality check. The job turned out to be a money laundering scam - and I fell for it. It cost me $5,000 - money I didn’t have. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever been through, and I still find myself trying to 404 it from my memories. What had happened to me was so devastating that I just decided not to pursue a career related to my field anymore. My love for art had been detrimentally poisoned by this scam, and I could no longer think about art without being reminded of this embarrassing scar.
Waking up in this unfortunate new reality, I turned to animal care. Working at an animal shelter brought me some much needed joy and healed my broken heart back to a semblance of normal. It was such a treat to see the cats and dogs I loved so much being adopted into their forever homes. During the pandemic, we even devised a way to help people adopt pets virtually without having to visit the shelter. We used an app called Trello to list all of our animals, and shared the link with anyone looking to adopt.
Hello…
Kitten season provided another challenge. We couldn’t keep up with the amount of kittens who needed homes. So, we hosted the very first kitten drive-thru! You simply drove through our make-shift obstacle course of orange cones and adopt a kitten, easy as that! It was an amazing experience working at the animal shelter, and I even started wondering if I should pursue their on-site program as a vet tech.
Four years into this new path of my life, another challenge struck. This time, it was health problems.
After an episode of anaphylaxis in the family, I was told by my doctor that I needed to be tested for several comorbid hereditary disorders. I’ll spare you the details, but basically, I couldn’t work a job that was physically demanding anymore without hurting myself. So, pursuing a career in animal care came to a halt.
Funny enough, I wasn’t too sad about this new situation. Instead, I found myself reflecting. I thought logically this time.
First, I tried to pursue what I loved only to be so disheartened by my own mistakes that I stopped. I tried for a career that was deeply rewarding, only to be told I could no longer pursue it due to forces outside of my control. What were my options? Where was I supposed to go from here?
Simple.
If I couldn’t do something I wanted, then I should go back to doing what I loved. I realized at that moment that mistakes can’t hold you back.
So here I am again. This time seeking an occupation as a UX UI designer. I’m not surprised ending up back here again, in the design world. It just seems like a natural sequence of events in my life that, looking back, I knew I needed to go through in order to be where I am now.
Some favorite photos from my camera roll…
I am available for UX UI projects.
You can download my resume here.