My approach.


As a Creative Director, I believe my role is to craft the story our projects tell and provide essential inspiration for the team to build upon. To design something uniquely satisfying each client’s needs, I employ a deeply User-Centered approach. With insights from users, the worlds we create answer unmet needs in surprising ways, and my co-creation process gets clients deeply involved in what becomes the best part of their job.

I believe I advanced quickly in my career because leaders gave me opportunities and responsibilities far beyond my years. I pay this forward to my teams and direct reports, acting as a safety net for designers at all levels that I push to fail fast and grow in leadership on each project. This mentoring on design work, presentations, charity work, and supporting personal passions is how I help grow talent in my studio, across the organization, and the design community.

Design is a powerful tool for change, and I believe I am responsible for using it only as a force for good. My fierce protection of the environment, striving for racial and gender equality, and care for the next generations of designers have pushed me to volunteer with like-minded organizations in the Chicago and global design community. These include DIFFA, Canstruction, SEGD, ISA, the Chicago High School for the Arts, Marwen, Young Women’s Leadership Charter School, CivicLAB, Chicago Civic Hack Nights, Pumping Station One, and Lost Arts, among others.

Speaking Engagements

  • 2022
    World Usability Day, ”Our Health” Presentation at FedEx
    SEGD Panel Discussion, Placemaking in Digital Experience Design: Dimensional Innovations, Envoy, IA Collaborative
  • 2022
    Realcomm Panel Discussion, Navigating The “Now” Normal: Flexible Hybrid Operating Models: Gensler, The Coca-Cola Company, MRI Software, Yardi Systems, Join
  • 2021
    Interior Source's Design Connections “The Expansion of the Project Team,” Panel Discussion: BranchPattern, Gensler
  • 2017
    Xplorer Workshop, Chicago, IL: Arduino Sensor & Visualization, Panel Discussion: Leviathan, Gensler, and Digital Kitchen
    Xplorer Webinar: Audience Engagement with Digital Technology
  • 2016
    BYOBeamer Projection Exhibition, MANA Contemporary, Chicago, IL: Displayed 2 hand built video projectors
    CivicLab Chicago Presentation, Chicago, IL: Engaging the Public With Digital Experiences
  • 2015
    SEGD National Convention, Making/Code Presentation, Chicago, IL: Data Visualizations with Public APIs
    SEGD Webinar: Programming Custom Patterning
  • 2014
    ISA National Conference Presentation, Orlando, FL + Las Vegas, NV: Architectural Signage and the BIM Revolution
  • 2012
    SEGD Xlab Presentation, Austin, TX: Creative Coding

Awards

  • 2020
    ENR TX/LA Award of Merit in the Interior/Tenant Improvement: The 1100 Experience digital experience & strategy
  • 2019
    GDEA Design Excellence Award: American Airlines Headquarters Real-time Data Visualization
  • 2018
    Regional Innovation Award: Mark the Variable Size Cable-Driven Wall Drawing Robot
    Appointed to Gensler Design Director
    Named Gensler Digital Experience Design Regional Practice Area Leader
  • 2016
    GRIA Innovation Award: Real-time Data Visualization Concept for Workplaces
    Gene Watenabe Award: Recognizing individual achievement in visual communication. One awarded annually.
  • 2015
    Appointed to Gensler Senior Associate
  • 2014
    Named Gensler Brand Design Regional Practice Area Leader
    EG Magazine Article: “Motorola’s Hack Couture” featuring custom digital experiences and environmental graphics
  • 2008
    SEGD Merit Award: Universal Studios Cinemas
  • 2002
    Teleactor Model, Scrub Brush, and Speaker Models chosen for display in Art Center Student Gallery

You Might Not Know

  • Grew up in a house full of Colonial American antiques, learning woodshop skills from my father who was a Biology teacher by day and furniture restorer by night
  • First job was as a math tutor at a Kumon Math Program
  • Earned a BS in Illustration & Fine Art from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena
  • Earned an MS in Industrial Design also from Art Center College of Design
  • A descendant of the Eames Office: Raised as an EGD and Signage Designer for over seven years at Sussman/Prejza by Deborah Sussman (herself growing up in the Eames Office and one of the originators of Super Graphics now known as EGD)
  • Self-taught in electronics, programming, 3D modeling and animation