Hi, I'm Allie.

Obviously the first thing you notice about me is that I hate my natural hair color. Second, I hope you notice my big smile and outgoing personality. I’m the unofficial social chair of my work team, saying "hi" to everyone and planning our next event or happy hour. I bring that same energy and excitement to my work, ready to jump into a conversation with a user about their concerns or with a developer to get feedback on my designs.

My path to UX wasn’t the most direct. I majored in electrical engineering and quickly realized I wanted a more people-oriented career path that still used my technical skills. I joined a research project to usability test voting machines. This was my first intro to usability / UX and I loved it. In subsequent undergrad research projects, I helped with user interviews for an in-home robotic weight loss coach prototype and I evaluated the ergonomics of a car driven by hip and leg movement.

I changed my major to Humanities and Engineering with a concentration in Anthropology and Electrical Engineering. Anthropology taught me how people feel, act, and form cultures. EE gave me the technical background necessary to collaborate with engineering teams. My graduate degree in Human Factors and Applied Cognition Psychology taught me how people think and how to apply that to product design. I use my experience in these various disciplines to create useful, functional, and delightful designs to balance user needs and technical needs.

My passion outside of work is rescuing dogs. I’m a director with Freedom Ride Rescue, a local volunteer-run and donation-funded dog rescue that serves central NC. We give rural shelter dogs the love and training needed to turn from scared, injured, and unsocialized dogs into happy and healthy pets. I truly love seeing that transformation happen and giving both a dog and their new family a better life. My duties include managing the shelter and vet records database, sending out contracts and invoices to adopters, organizing adoption and fundraising events, and most importantly snuggling puppies.

Like every good dog rescuer, I eventually foster failed when this fuzzball stole my heart.