Growing up, I wanted to be a dancer. At thirteen, watching the performers at Justin Timberlake's 20/20 World Tour glide over the crowd on a moving platform (it was as wild as it sounds), I knew exactly what my dream was: creating moments that make people feel that immersed and alive.

My first taste of building that kind of magic was in robotics class, when I programmed a Lego snowflake to spin, light up, and play music at the click of a button. Code turns text into physical magic, and I was hooked. Engineering seemed like the way to make that my life, so I headed to Stanford set on Computer Science or Mechanical Engineering. There I found the d.school and Product Design, where I realized I could bring all of myself to the table: the dancer, the maker, the Disney nerd, the coder. Wanting to dive deeper but be grounded in industry too, I earned my MDes in Interaction Design through ArtCenter's remote night program while working full time at Epic.

The dream never actually changed. Whether I'm choreographing a routine or prototyping an interface, I'm doing the same thing: creating experiences and carving out space for people to feel connected and seen. That small, unmistakable moment when something clicks: your eyes light up, you lean in, and you can't help but smile.

Because whether it's through a performance or on a screen, the little things create the biggest smiles.