I started out as a graphic designer at a newspaper company, and before long I was leading a team there and paying as much attention to how the work got done as to the work itself. I came up with a simple way to show our production numbers, and the whole department ended up using it. Later, at a design production company, I helped my team raise its digital output 40% in about ten months.
After my MBA, I moved into agency work: creative strategy, creative direction and client services. At its heart, most of that work is storytelling: figuring out what matters and making it clear.
Along the way I got hooked on AI. When something at work frustrates me, I get curious about why, start testing tools and try to build a fix. AI is what lets me turn those ideas into something real, like one place for client health and billing, and a contract process that mostly runs itself. I still love the creative side. I just have a hard time leaving a slow process alone.