Chelsie Johnston Email & Phone Number

Theater! Lots and lots of theater—probably my favorite IRL thing to do besides gardening, and I'm so fortunate to have been able to lend my time to several wonderful groups over the past year while on a hiatus from the web dev industry. Watching someone on stage (or screen) allows us to connect to our own experiences and gives us permission to engage with them in a world that otherwise discourages or distracts us from doing so. The STL theater community is alive and vibrant, and I hope to someday be as cool as many of the new friends I've made this year. I'm so privileged to have been able to (hopefully) get people to feel feelings from the cushy comfort of a darkened audience seat. If I've performed with you this year (or stage managed you!)— here's to you. <3

Bridging the gap between design and engineering in a fully distributed agency, I coded visually polished UIs for Drupal sites (including decoupled!) while also serving as liaison to the design team—which made for rewarding and frictionless collaboration in delivering high-quality work on schedule. We crafted accessible, attractive design systems/component libraries using Mannequin.io, an open-source integrated pattern library tool (for which I served briefly as a maintainer). At times I interfaced directly with our clients, nailing down requirements with empathetic communication (and then quickly delivering on those requirements), improving stakeholder trust and shortening time to delivery during critical business periods. The people at Last Call are highly talented and remarkably intelligent, and I'm so grateful for my time there!

Chicago, Il, Us

I built and maintained Drupal public and member-facing websites as part of a great cross-functional team, personally collaborating closely with UX designers to deliver pixel-perfect UIs. I also led our front-end team in conceptualizing, developing, and maintaining an integrated component library using PatternLab and the principles of atomic design, allowing us to provide cohesive, attractive branding across the AMA’s diverse web properties. As part of my leadership I initialized clean front end code standards for our team, an effort that enabled us to deliver high quality experiences that were well-organized under the hood.The AMA's committment to bettering public health is fundamentally important, and I'm proud to have been able to serve the organization as part of a highly effective band of teammates.

Chicago, Il, Us

I performed dual duty as a designer and developer, supporting the University’s academic mission through delivery of Drupal and ExpressionEngine websites for degree programs, academic research organizations, and other University entities. Alongside my work redesigning the behemoth UChicago News site (and embarking on a D7 to D8 migration with some fantastic teammates), I was also part of a small team that maintained a massive Drupal multisite instance that allowed content editors from various University departments to publish content in a visually brand-cohesive manner.Always obsessed with process improvement, I spearheaded an overhaul of the University's in-house web design process by implementing a thoughtful model of iterative, educational hands-on design sessions with stakeholders, transforming our time to delivery. I also played a central role in facilitating the transition of our department from waterfall to more agile project management methodologies, a collaborative effort that resulted in significant cost savings and the cultivation of stronger client relationships. Working passionately alongside such brilliant colleagues, this was a team achievement that I had the privilege of guiding.

Hanover, Md, Us

As an assistant in the Project Management Office at the University, I worked under fantastic mentors (here's to you, Ellen and Kate!). My duties included compliance and QA testing for internal automated systems that allowed the University to manage regulatory workflows for grant applications and funding—these were massive systems with highly complex business logic, so this was a great introduction into the realm of enterprise software. Alongside some data entry work and manual testing, I assisted in web application development via collecting team status updates, as well as answering tickets as part of tier 1 production support.I also had the pleasure of helping boost the University-facing visibility and brand of the Project Management Office by rebranding the PMO's SharePoint homepage. After gathering requirements from key stakeholders within the office, I designed and developed an interactive visual model of the department's project management methodology using jQuery, HTML, and CSS. University community members could point and click the colorful flowchart-style model to learn about each step of the process, resulting in better buy-in (toward the PMO's end goal of aligning project management processes among University departments).Working in the PMO was a formative experience for me because I worked with great people—and also because I got to learn *a ton* about project management methodologies! After a 9-month contract there, I moved into the Web Services department at the University in a full-time capacity.

Spurlock Museum is home to a diverse range of historical and cultural artifacts from across the globe. As part of the delightful IT team at Spurlock, I had the privilege of conceptualizing and building digital experiences for web and in-person exhibit kiosks using HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Adobe Creative Suite. My web work there involved design and development, as well as testing and documenting the patron-facing website’s compliance with emerging web accessibility (A11y) standards. I undertook diverse IT-related responsibilities in this position. This included managing the production of educational, documentary, and creative video projects, such as grant and exhibit promotional videos. I provided technological support and instruction to museum staff and documented live performances, events, tours, and exhibit development through HD video and photography. I even got the chance to lend my voice to an exhibit! Working at Spurlock was a formative experience for me as an undergraduate student, and I look back fondly on my time there.