I'm a UI/UX designer with over 17 years of experience, and I still get excited about solving problems. What I do is pretty simple to say and a whole lot harder to do: I help teams figure out what their users need, then design the product that gives it to them.
Right now I'm a Senior UI/UX Designer working on an initiative to bring AI into how our clients (and teams) work day to day. When I started this work, there was no playbook to follow, so I helped build one. I'm proud of what we've put together, and I'm still picking up something new just about every week day.
One thing that's always helped me is my front-end background. I started out writing HTML and CSS in tandem with designing in Photoshop when, as an web designer intern back in 2007, that's just what you did. That foundation still shapes how I work. It keeps my designs grounded in what's actually buildable, and it means I can have a real conversation with engineering. Collaboration matters a lot to me and the best work I've done has always come from teams where everyone truly worked together.
Accessibility isn't something I add at the end. It's part of how I design from the start. I design for WCAG 2.1 AA as a baseline and advocate for inclusive design from the first wireframe.