In 2013, I moved to Vancouver from Wisconsin to study art at Emily Carr University and quickly fell in love with the city's vibrant cultural scene and natural beauty. With the option to hike up a mountain in the morning, have a picnic at the beach in the afternoon, and visit a contemporary art opening in the evening, I found Vancouver perfectly matched my energy and I decided to stay here after getting my degree.After graduating, I started working at Empty Wall, a small gallery in the South Granville neighbourhood. To my surprise, I discovered I excelled at sales because I took the time to research artists and understand their stories, and I listened to our clients tell their own stories about their homes and businesses. If I could meaningfully connect the artist's story to the client's story, I could make a sale. This storytelling method made me the top of sales at the gallery, and after a year I was promoted to manager.As manager, I oversaw the curation of our gallery space, always striving for an engaging experience for our clients. I also designed and implemented a Shopify-based e-commerce website for the gallery, so we could expand our customer base to the US and the rest of Canada. This move boosted our sales revenue by 18%, and greatly improved our catalogue system for our inventory of artworks.I found I really enjoyed making the website and was impressed with the results, but I knew I could do so much more if I had comprehensive training in UX design. I decided to go back to school to take the UX Design Certificate course at Emily Carr. I'm on track to graduate in November 2024 and am looking for UX design positions in retail and e-commerce. I’m all about making beautiful spaces that work seamlessly, whether digital or physical, in order to create intuitive and pleasurable experiences for customers. Excited to bring my unique perspective and collaborative spirit to the UX world!