What my resume won’t show you is that before BCIT, I spent five years drifting through post-secondary—seven schools, countless courses, but no real direction. I wasn’t the type of student who excelled academically, and honestly, I never thought I would be. But BCIT changed that.

For the first time since high school, I took my education seriously. The program was tough, but I actually cared, and for the first time, I saw what I was capable of. A huge part of that turning point was finding the right tutor—someone who not only helped me understand the material but also changed the way I approached learning.

That experience stuck with me, and looking back, it shaped a lot of what I would do later in my journey (more on that further down). I pushed myself harder than I ever had before, and it paid off—I graduated with honours. BCIT wasn’t just a degree for me; it was proof that I could succeed in ways I never thought possible. And it was just the beginning.

One week after graduating from BCIT, I hopped on a plane to Hong Kong to work at a startup. No time to overthink it—I just packed my bags and went.

Doki was building smartwatches for kids, and I joined as a Product Management & Design Intern, working on both the mobile app and the watch’s UX/UI. Designing for a tiny screen was a challenge—how do you make something intuitive for a kid while still keeping parents in mind? I spent a lot of time figuring out navigation, button placements, and feature prioritization, making sure every interaction made sense. I also got to dig into user data to understand why certain features weren’t being used, which taught me how to connect user behavior with design decisions.

Then things took a turn. Doki got acquired by Fitbit. A month later, Fitbit got acquired by Google. For a brief moment, I had technically made it to Big Tech—not bad for a kid who just graduated.

But while my career was taking off, life in Hong Kong was getting more complicated. The city was in the middle of massive protests, and I ended up spending three months locked down in my 120 sq ft apartment. Eventually, I had to make the tough call to leave. I genuinely thought I’d spend the rest of my life in Hong Kong, but life had other plans.

Coming back to Canada wasn’t part of the script, but looking back, Doki was where I really started thinking about product design seriously. It wasn’t just about making things look good—it was about solving real problems, understanding user behavior, and balancing technical constraints with good UX. That mindset would follow me into every role after this.

Coming back from Hong Kong, I really thought I had it in the bag. I had international experience, worked at a startup that got acquired, and had built real products. I figured landing a job would be easy. It wasn’t.

No matter how many applications I sent, nothing was sticking. It was frustrating, but more than that, it made me rethink what I actually wanted to do. I knew I wanted to keep working in design and product, so I spent six months at the University of Toronto completing a design certificate program, sharpening my skills and figuring out how to make my work better.

Eventually, an opportunity came from an unexpected place—my old boss from Hong Kong had just started a new venture studio and needed design help. That’s how I landed at Ground Zero Labs. The work was scrappy, fast-paced, and a bit all over the place, which made it a great place to learn. I worked on end-to-end user flows, wireframes, and prototypes for mobile and wearable apps, helping founders turn early ideas into something real. Since many of them weren’t technical, a big part of my job was translating vague ideas into something that actually made sense for users.

Looking back, this was the first time I really started thinking about how design impacts the earliest stages of a product—not just how something looks, but how it works, how it scales, and how it fits into a user’s life. Also, I was broke, trying to find my next move, and learning everything I could in the process.

After Ground Zero, I wanted to work on something that actually helped people. That’s how I landed at First Session, a marketplace that connects Canadians with the right therapist. Mental health services can already feel overwhelming, and finding the right therapist? Even harder. My job was to make that experience easier—and this was the first time I truly owned both product and design.

I led the complete redesign of our website and rebrand, figuring out everything from UX flows to visual identity. We wanted First Session to feel trustworthy, human, and easy to navigate, so I reworked the site architecture, improved therapist profiles, and streamlined the search and booking flow. Once the designs were locked in, I worked directly with a developer to bring it all to life.

This was also my first real taste of product management. Beyond just the UX/UI, I was responsible for making sure the redesign actually solved the right problems. I mapped out friction points in the therapist-matching experience, ran usability testing, and prioritized what features would have the biggest impact. A big challenge was that clients were dropping off before booking, so I focused on making the search process more intuitive—simplifying filters, adding better therapist descriptions, and reducing decision fatigue.

First Session was where I really saw how design and product strategy intersect—how the smallest UX changes could mean the difference between someone getting the help they need or giving up entirely. It was also where I realized how much I loved owning the full product experience, from research to execution.

What led me to Queen’s wasn’t entrepreneurship or business strategy—it was artificial intelligence. By this point, I had worked in startups, led design projects, and gotten a taste of product management, but AI fascinated me. I wanted to understand how emerging technologies were shaping industries and what it actually took to bring AI-driven products to market.

The MMAI program at Queen’s gave me the chance to dive deep into AI commercialization, coding, product strategy, and innovation frameworks. It wasn’t just theory—every project pushed me to think about real-world applications, from how AI could improve user experiences to the ethical challenges of implementation.

Beyond the coursework, Queen’s gave me access to a network of educators, researchers, and operators working at the forefront of AI. It was the first time I really started thinking about how design, product, and AI intersect—not just from a technical perspective, but from a human one. How do you make complex AI-driven experiences feel intuitive? How do you design for trust? Those questions stuck with me and continue to shape how I approach product and design today.

My internship at Vector Institute came directly from my time at Queen’s, and it landed in the middle of one of the busiest times of my life. I was:

✅ Working full-time at First Session
✅ Completing my Master’s at Queen’s
✅ Taking on this internship at Vector

It was a lot to juggle, but I wanted hands-on experience in the AI space.

At Vector, I supported AI-driven projects in robotics and customer retention, working with researchers and engineers to help translate technical work into industry applications. A big part of my role involved sitting in on research discussions, helping with documentation, and understanding how AI models could be deployed in real-world scenarios.

While this wasn’t a product role, it broadened my perspective on AI’s challenges—how difficult it is to move from research to implementation, the limitations of AI in practice, and the ethical questions that come with it. It gave me a deeper appreciation for how AI intersects with business and industry, and it’s something I’ve carried forward in my career.

At some point, every designer or product person wonders what it’s like to sell their soul to consulting—so I did it. But honestly, I came to Deloitte for a reason: I wanted to lead large-scale projects, work with teams across different industries, and see what it was like to build products at an enterprise level.

Originally, I was brought on to do product management, but after a few projects where leadership saw that I could actually design as well, I started doing both—just at a bigger scale. Some of the work I’ve led:

• Designed and built a PIN management system for government employees, making it easier for homeowners to securely access their home energy rating portal.
• Led the product build and launch of a provincial home energy rating portal, helping homeowners track energy efficiency and apply for retrofits.
• Designed and led the agile build of an unsecured lending platform for one of Canada’s Big 5 Banks, improving the borrowing experience while ensuring compliance with regulatory and data privacy requirements.

Across these projects, my focus has been on simplifying complex systems, improving usability, and working across teams to bring digital products to life. Deloitte has given me the chance to work on high-impact projects at scale, balancing product, design, and business strategy. It's not always glamorous (hello, PowerPoint decks), but it is exactly the kind of experience I wanted.

After spending some time at Deloitte, I started thinking about what was next. I had built products across different industries, worked with executive teams, and learned how to navigate big organizations. But I wanted to sharpen my business acumen, level up my leadership and soft skills, and get a broader perspective on strategy and decision-making—so I decided to pursue my MBA at Ivey.

Ivey’s case-based learning was exactly what I was looking for—real-world business problems, rapid decision-making, and the chance to work closely with a diverse group of people from different industries. It forced me to think beyond product and design and focus on the bigger picture—how businesses operate, scale, and make trade-offs in the face of uncertainty.

More than anything, Ivey gave me the space to refine my approach to problem-solving and solidify what I wanted to do next. It wasn’t just about getting another degree—it was about gaining the skills and confidence to take on bigger challenges in product, design, and beyond.

Looking back, everything I’ve done has led to this.

I’ve worked at startups, led design and product teams, built digital experiences for banks and government, and even spent time working in AI. But it all started with one simple experience at BCIT—finding the right tutor. That one moment changed the way I approached learning, and years later, I found myself building TutorLyft, a platform designed to help students do the same.

With TutorLyft, I’ve been able to bring together product, design, and business strategy in a way I’ve never done before. I designed the entire platform experience—from how parents find the right tutor to how tutors manage their sessions. I built out the booking flow, and user dashboards, ensuring that everything was as seamless as possible.

But beyond the product itself, this has been my deepest dive into building a business from the ground up—understanding marketing, customer acquisition, and growth while balancing user experience. Unlike the projects I worked on before, there’s no client, no external deadlines—just me, solving problems and iterating to make it better every day.

TutorLyft isn’t just another business. It’s the culmination of everything I’ve learned—how to build, how to design, how to scale, and most importantly, how to create something that genuinely helps people.