Everything my resume won’t tell ya.
“You’re like a goddamn onion. Just when I think I know you, there’s another layer to peel back.”
– Past manager, a month into the job
How I got here…
After many lives as a multi-hyphenate, including 5 years as a copywriter and strategist at a top ad agency, I was ready to pivot.
My side projects made me a natural UX writer: I was a journalist, studied comedy, and published a book — all of which informed my tone versatility, my sense of ownership, and ability to embrace ambiguity.
In 2021, a Facebook recruiter took notice and asked if I’d consider moving to California to be their newest Content Designer.
Being an improviser, I instantly said “yes.”
I subsequently joined Expedia Group, and in 2024 landed at PayPal.
“I’ll do an ‘ermahgerd Cannes Lion’ face, because that meme will never go out of style.” – Me, holding the gold at DDB HQ, 2013.
…and the weird path I took.
Never planned to be a writer.
I just wanted to read, and quickly outgrew every novel in my school libraries. Kudos to my Grade 9 English teacher for biting her tongue when I chose Joyce Maynard’s steamy To Die For as book report fodder.
Figured I’d be a programmer.
I read Douglas Coupland’s Microserfs and thought it sounded glamorous (ha). I took my school’s first-ever HTML class and became obsessed with customizing Geocities sites. Real coding wasn’t for me (I tried!), but I learned enough about general logic to serve me well years later.
I made a detour to advertising.
Go figure: I didn’t even go to ad school or major in design. I did eventually go to clown school, but unfortunately the only thing I can juggle is multiple deadlines (hey-o). A lifelong interest in marketing suddenly landed me at the hottest ad agency in Canada. The first project I worked on won a Cannes Gold Lion.
It would’ve been all downhill from there, except that’s where I was first exposed to UX writing. Game-changer. “Keep your awards, ad bros, I have real problems to solve!”
How comedy came into play.
If you didn’t absorb the previous few sentences because you were like, “c’mon, she can’t just skim over clown school,” this is for you.
I was a passionate comedy nerd long before it was cool, but I had zero desire to perform.
Instead, I turned to journalism.
I wrote about comedy as my side hustle for a couple decades, freelancing for major publications, writing a book, and running my own outlet.
That’s all while balancing my 9-to-5s and saving up my vacation days for attending – and sometimes running – comedy festivals.
“So when are YOU going to get up there?”
Despite my paralyzing stage fright, my comedian friends finally convinced me to do five minutes. I didn’t suck.
I became determined to push myself further out of my comfort zone.
I learned improv from Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live), got personal advice from John Oliver (Last Week Tonight), and had my scripts torn apart by Emmy-winners J.R. Havlan (The Daily Show) and Tom Purcell (The Late Show).
And, yes, did a lot of clown training too.
I still didn’t want to perform for a living, but even just dabbling that much changed my entire mindset and life.
Just a few festival laminates.
On stage at the famed Comedy Cellar in NYC, back in 2007 when phones had potato-quality cameras.
How comedy influenced my approach to content design.
Just like a joke, writing an error message is delicate and precise.
Just like performance, leading with empathy for your end user (aka the audience) brings the most satisfying results.
Just like improv, it’s easy to dive head-first into ambiguity when you trust your instincts (and those of your teammates).
Just like clown, the smartest solution can come from the silliest spitballing.
And just like any creative endeavour, it isn’t how you avoid failure but how you learn and iterate.
(I have a whole presentation about how comedy and design overlap, surprising nobody who read this far.)
“Fun fact” icebreakers are my time to shine
I’ve had some Forrest Gump-calibre adventures. When we talk, ask me about:
- The time I got paid to yell at Nicolas Cage
- How I saw the final performance of the original Hamilton cast on Broadway, for free
- Why I knew the lyrics to every Rod Stewart song by the time I was 7
- Why I own Stephen Colbert’s bathrobe
