UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE + designing NEW POSSIBILITIES
I am a design researcher, ethnographer, and experience designer who is driven by human-centered approaches to meeting people where they are and designing for the future. My primary areas of expertise are in researching and designing for health and well-being, play and entertainment, and education. My experience spans consumer products and physical goods, in-person services and experiences, and digital products for a range of people from children to highly specialized and technical users.
My ethnographic work in the United States and abroad has brought me to hospitals, schools, summer camps, virtual settings and digital communities, social service organizations, senior living facilities, and to where I am happiest—talking with people in their homes. My background in anthropology helps me gain insight into how people behave and think about their daily lives, and I value participatory design as a way to co-create inclusive, accessible, and desirable new experiences.
My professional work has included:
Founder and Principal Researcher at Forage Insights Studio, LLC: Informed by qualitative and ethnographic methods, I have offered services in design research, consumer insights, and experience design to clients since 2016, and deliver actionable and strategic next steps for design, UX, engineering, and marketing teams
Principal Experience Design Researcher at FM Global: I led end-to-end research efforts to guide the design of digital experiences for the commercial property insurance industry
Experience Designer at Business Innovation Factory (BIF): I led human-centered research efforts to understand complex challenges, and created and led participatory design processes with end users and stakeholders—from children to executives—to co-create innovative solutions and transformational change in education, healthcare, and civic spaces
Consultant at The Healthcare Management Council: I helped hospitals strategize to improve financial and clinical performance, and collaborated with software engineers to ensure digital products that supported this work met users’ needs
I enjoy making music and jewelry, hiking, dance, and creative storytelling. I hold a B.A. in Anthropology from Dartmouth College and an M.A. in Anthropology from Brown University, and I am a Certified Professional for Usability and User Experience (CPUX-F) through the International Usability and UX Qualification Board (UXQB).