This site is a combination of things. It could be called a portfolio website, where other people can see what I’ve done. This is only part of the purpose though. I don’t want to create a website that is only for other people. My name is in the url bar so this site should be partly for me. So I’m going to use this site to not only show my work, but also be a reflection of the work that I’ve done. By this I mean writing and talking about what I’ve experienced. I’m not just going to post the most recent project, because that isn’t all that am or have gone through to get to where I am. This goes against the “tips and tricks” of a portfolio website, but my hope is that the journey is just as important as the final product.

Who am I? I’m more defined by what I do, so I’ll start with that. The problem here though is that I do a lot of things so coming up with a distinct title is a bit difficult. I take pictures so I could be called a photographer, but I also create graphics and interfaces so I could also be called a graphic designer. At other times though I find myself writing code for video games, or writing stories, or creating animations. Suddenly my title could also be programmer, writer, or animator. A single title that has to do with what I make doesn’t seem appropriate then, So I’ll define myself more with how everything is linked. They are all things that I make so I am a creator, and they all use technology in a creative way. So if I was going to label myself I would say that I a creative technologist.
There is a bit of a story behind why I do so many things and that will probably be a better explanation than anything else. So when deciding on a career path before going to college I thought about, as everyone does, what I liked to do to. This lead me to pursue a degree in computer science because I spent most of my time at the computer anyways. Initially this seemed to be going well and I was enjoying myself. Between my junior and senior years though I took an internship as a software engineer and found out that I actually hated programming as a career. Coding in quick small spurts was fine, and had been that way that all of my schooling had gone, but sitting in front of a desk everyday looking at nothing except code was so mind numbing and exhausting that I immediately decided that my current path was not the correct one. This seemed to be a big problem because I had less than a year to graduate with a degree in the field that I no longer wanted to work in. So, considering my options, graduate school seemed like a good way to change my trajectory. After a bit of reflection, I realized that my work done through my technology, arts, and media minor was when I was happiest and most comfortable. Luckily there was a new graduate program starting, so I leapt at the opportunity.
My years in graduate school were the happiest of my life in terms of what I was working on. Most of my projects spanned many different mediums and pushed me to always be working to learn something new, while also polishing my other skills. This was where I set into my current line of work and gained a joy of teaching. After graduating I’ve stayed on at CU Boulder to teach classes and workshops on a variety of topics along side going freelance.