I’ve been drawn to design ever since I immigrated to Los Angeles in 2000. Coming from a place where even clean water wasn’t easy to access, LA felt like a different world. It was intentionally built for people. Sidewalks, street signs, and automatic doors all felt secretly magical. Back then, I assumed it was just the result of science and engineering. I didn’t speak the language of design quite yet.

A decade later, my friend John handed me a copy of Steve Jobs’ biography. That book changed everything. I saw how design wasn’t just about how things looked, but how they worked. Design is about how products make people feel capable, in control, and understood. Apple’s obsession with product design gave me a framework for everything I’d been fascinated by since childhood.

That was the spark. I’ve been chasing it ever since.

Outside of design, I chase another spark: music. I’m a seasoned musician, even though I don’t play any instruments. I spend my nights composing experimental hip-hop and R&B. Did you know music follows the rhythms of human speech? It swells and softens, pauses and picks up. All to tell sonic stories the same way we do when we have conversations.