Hello there!

My name is Michelle.

My path to design was anything but linear or symmetrical.

About

My career path has taken me from cake decorating to French pastry to clinical care to advocacy work to dental branding to product design.

I’m an adaptive generalist, human-centered UX/UI Designer, traveling dental hygienist, and curious problem-solver with a big empathy engine.

Most orgs have tactical thinkers—but when everyone’s focused on today’s tasks, no one’s designing the future. That’s where I come in.

Group of people standing behind a table with framed certificates, at Ivy Tech Community College. Various national flags are partially visible.

A person crouching next to large "IVY TECH" letters with a certificate and a colorful bag, inside a building with a library entrance in the background.

I’m fueled by a drive to fix broken systems and make the world more accessible and inclusive for everyone. My neurodivergence helps me see what others may miss.

I believe that design is both a science and an act of care. My superpower is seeing the system and the soul inside it. And I’m here to build a world that feels more accessible, more connected, and more human—for all of us.

Collage of various people and events, including a Pride celebration, wedding couple, and dental service ad. People are wearing colorful clothing and accessories, with some holding rainbow flags. Background includes oversized mushrooms and black-and-white photos.

“If your portfolio is made up of the investments that you have made in the lives of people, you will have amassed a wealth so vast that all the portfolios that will ever float the trading floor on Wall Street would, by comparison, be reckoned as nothing. And if by chance we dared to live by this truth, we would in fact love like none other.”

— Craig D. Lounsbrough

The detailed less formal

“About Me”

Woman in green jacket and gray beanie posing at a scenic overlook with view of mountains and pine trees.

I’m a conceptual thinker, a self-taught creator, and a humanist to my core.

I feel the world deeply and question it constantly. When systems fail people, I don’t just notice—I feel it. That’s when my empathy engine kicks in and whispers: "You could design this better."

That drive to solve problems has always been there, especially when some problems were matters of the heart. For example, in 5th grade, I built a five-foot-two papier-mâché hula dancer to honor my sister Carmen, who was a Marine stationed in Hawaii—just because I missed her. I turned my sadness into something beautiful… at least to my sister and me. I’ve always created things that connect people.

That same impulse guides my work today, whether I’m building a healthcare staffing platform, planning Indy Design Week events, or creating connective branding for a dental office.

Before leaning into User Experience Design, I spent 17 years in dental healthcare and 9 in customer service. I know what it means to listen, care, and translate human needs into systems that actually serve people.

I returned to school in 2021 planning to become an Oral Pathologist. But all of that changed when I found myself deep in campus advocacy work after being elected President of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society.

A research project on disability and accessibility changed everything. A fellow PTK leader with vision loss had access to only five campus computers with screen readers. If one broke—or she couldn’t find one in time—she was out of luck.

So, we partnered with a JAWS screen reader rep (who also had vision loss) to negotiate a contract that would save the college money and expand access for anyone on campus who needed it. That experience aligned everything I already knew: people deserve better access, better care, and better experiences.

A pivotal moment came when I was diagnosed with ADHD at 35. It explained so much! All of my specialized interests, my fidgeting, my difficulty focusing in school. I’d been masking and adapting for years—quietly designing systems my own way. That diagnosis didn’t limit me—it revealed my unique way of thinking.

I believe design is both a science and an act of care.