Childhood: A Practical Ethnographer 

I grew up in a small town in Zimbabwe, spending weekends and holidays barefoot exploring the African bush. If I wasn’t out discovering, I was painting and drawing what I’d seen out on my wonderings. Observation and curiosity helped shape my creative process. Then came my younger sister, who was born with Down syndrome. I became her protector among our peers. Defending her at all costs, even once with a garden fork that I flung through the air and chipped a tooth of one of our antagonists. I acted as her translator to the world around her, trying to make things make sense and simplify things to meet her level of understanding. Little did I know that I was figuring out her mental model and creating things to help her learn and get things done, the same skills I use now as a product designer. I developed curiosity, empathy, and a strong intuition early on. These are hallmarks of how I lead and approach anything in my life.

Career: my journey into design & leadership 

• I studied Marketing and Graphic Design at the AAA School of Advertising in Cape Town, South Africa.
• It was a three-year immersive education into the pragmatism of how design and marketing can drive business outcomes.
• After graduating, I did a short entrepreneurial venture—a professional fine artist, exhibiting in the US and selling work to international art collectors.
• I used my earnings to fund a fresh start in London, where I picked up temp gigs and worked as a live-in caregiver.
• Finally, I got my break into design with Virgin, working as a brand, UX, and front-end designer.
• As I redesigned their checkout flows and marketing campaigns, I tracked sales conversions and directly saw the correlations between my work and revenue. I was hooked!
• I went on to spend many years working as a freelance UX and brand designer at digital agencies.
• I was at Ogilvy when a recruiter called asking if I would be interested in working for Adobe’s innovation lab.
  
• This was a pivotal moment in my career, where I went from website design and traditional branding to designing for complex systems.
• I worked with Adobe for many years on groundbreaking designs for Morgan Stanley and Nike. *** awards***

Philosophy: an integrated approach leads to a well-balanced life 

Inspired by my meditation teacher, David Nichtern, and his book Creativity, Spirituality, and Making a Buck, I intend to weave these three core aspirations into my life. 

I'm a qualified mindfulness meditation teacher through Dharma Moon. And my daily meditation practice is the foundation for how I show up in life, at work, and in everything in between.