I like helping people transform ideas into effective and intuitive software solutions. My strength lies in developing relationships with customers to thoroughly understand their use cases, allowing me to conceptualize how software can best be applied to enhance their experience. As someone who has written code for applications in a variety of sectors, I excel at bridging the gap between individuals of different areas of expertise by communicating information in a palatable and engaging way.
Some of my specific areas of interest include life sciences (particularly health and wellness), geography, environment, and video editing.
I began my undergrad in Biochemistry - as someone who had always been fascinated by biology (and the chemistry behind it), this seemed like a good fit. However, I began to feel like my program was leading me towards a research-oriented career, and I realized that this was not for me (particularly not in a lab).
Around this time, I was becoming more interested in coding, and had taught myself how to code in Python. The more I learned about programming, the more I learned about how powerful of a tool it is in many sectors, such as in the world of business. With this in mind, I decided to switch to Waterloo’s Science and Business program - a program that builds business skills on top of a science foundation. I felt like this program was the perfect place for me to explore programming in a business context, while still keeping a few science courses in my schedule to satisfy my interest. It also provided me with a solid understanding of a variety of business areas, such as marketing, economics, accounting, finance, human resources, and law.
After transitioning to the new program, I did my next 2 internships in the fintech sector, which helped me to take my programming skills to the next level and learn more about finance. During my school terms, I took a few extra programming courses to strengthen my understanding of computing fundamentals. From there, I did my last internship at Plotly, where I eventually picked up a full time role after graduating in 2021.
My time at Plotly helped me to discover my passion for working with customers. I had the opportunity to work with clients from a variety of different sectors, and it was my job to understand their unique use case, and actualize a solution using our product. This was process was often quite challenging and often required a lot of creativity, which I loved.
You can read more about my work experience here.
After spending some time in this role, I decided to take some time away from tech to satisfy my travel bug and work in the hospitality industry.
Some of my main interests are as follows:
I consume a lot of music (probably my favourite type of media) and am always on the hunt for new songs to add to my library. I can enjoy a song from pretty much any genre, but my top genres tend to be altnerative/indie, female rap, and rock. I like songs of different genres in different ways and for different reasons, but abstractly, I like any song where the artist takes me on a journey and sells that journey to me with sincerity. Some of my favourite artists are: Hippo Campus, Arcade Fire, The Paper Kites, Nicki Minaj, Phoebe Bridgers, Sexyy Red, Megan Thee Stallion, The National, Summer Salt, The 1975, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Jesse Ware, Adrianne Lenker, Lorde, and so many more.
I’m currently trying to learn how to play the guitar so I can take my experience of music to the next level.
Growing up, I could not understand how anyone could enjoy running, as I found it exhausting and tedious. But in the last few years my mindset has shifted, and now running is one of my favourite things to do. I find it so freeing and therapeutic, and of course I enjoy the fitness benefits that come alongside it.
I much prefer outdoor running over treadmill running, and when choosing an route to run, I try to find somewhere that is 1) flat 2) uninterrupted and 3) beautiful (it can be a tall order finding all 3, so I typically stick to the same spot once I find one that satisfies the criteria).
I started doing yoga on YouTube during the pandemic as a way to alleviate stress and increase strength and flexibility, and pretty quickly I noticed positive changes in all of the above. Since then I’ve completed my 200 hour Yoga Teacher training course and have taught a few informal classes here and there, and have continued to develop my own practise to be better suited to my areas that need work.
I’ve done a decent amount of travelling in my life so far (19 countries to date), and I love exploring new landscapes, foods, and cultures. I recently took some time off for a year and a half long backpacking trip, which you can read about here.