About Me
Content Design | Content Design Ops | Content Design Systems
I’m a senior content designer at Cisco with a passion for simplifying complex product content and user journeys. I work in close collaboration with a range of design partners and other stakeholders to design intuitive experiences that support user needs and business goals. As a full-stack content designer, I practice content design at all levels—from designing clear product copy based on user research to defining content strategy, IA, and taxonomy.
I’m also a specialist in content design systems & content design ops. I have a passion for developing tools and processes that help content designers and UX designers create high quality, consistent product content more efficiently. I designed and built a content design system for Cisco’s CX Cloud and PX Cloud SaaS products, and developed ways to use tools like Figma Variables and AI chatbot integrations to make it even easier to use.
I host an event I created called Content at Scale that brings together content designers across Cisco to share processes and tools they’ve developed for creating better product content more efficiently at scale.
The content design system tools I design and build improve consistency, reduce redundant efforts, and facilitate compliance with best practices as teams scale their content design practices. By automating surface-level content work and making it easy for UX designers and engineers to find and use approved copy, I free up content designers to spend more time thinking strategically about solving complex problems.
Content design ops is a highly collaborative and cross-functional role situated at the intersections of content design, design systems, and UX research. I work closely with systems designers, interaction designers, visual designers, content designers, engineers, researchers, and product managers to research and define content guidelines, simplify and automate them, integrate them into the existing design system, and drive adoption.
For more on content design systems and content design ops, check out my blog and a conversation I had with Larry Swanson on his Content Strategy Insights podcast, available on Apple and Spotify.
Before becoming a content designer, I was a Classics professor. An obsession with evaluating language drew me to the study of Ancient Greek and Latin, and I’m still as fascinated as ever with analyzing the ways that subtle changes to the words we use can affect readers and users.
Throughout my career I’ve been an advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as an instructor, speaker, content creator, and mentor. I've given talks on and designed courses and course modules on topics related to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, cultural appropriation, disability, and accessibility. In 2017 I was invited to participate in a panel organized by the University of Virginia in response to the violence in Charlottesville.
I love snorkeling, gardening, birdwatching, and cultivating shiitake mushrooms.