origin story
I grew up in Freehold, NJ, raised by a single immigrant mom who believed in education more than anyone I know. Along the way, I took gap years to see more of the world: backpacking through Europe and Southeast Asia (Vietnam and Thailand), volunteering, and living in Guatemala for three months teaching English. Those years taught me how much you can learn just by listening to people whose lives look different from yours.
student @ pomona
College was our shared mission, and what I’m proudest of is what came after: finally having resources, and turning around to give back. Today, I’m a TA and liaison for Pomona’s CS department, a researcher in the HCI lab, and a mentor for first-gen, low-income students whose stories look a lot like mine. This past summer, I was an Associate PM intern at Duolingo, figuring out how to help learners win back their streaks.
why people (and products)
→ data tells you where people stop. people tell you why.
→ the best feature is sometimes the one you cut.
→ always ask the follow-up question.
I got into cognitive science because I wanted to understand why people do what they do. The deeper I went, the more our minds looked like beautiful, complicated systems, which pulled me into computing. Human-computer interaction is where those two meet for me: using technology to understand people better, and to build things that actually fit them.
off the page
teaching english in Antigua, Guatemala circa 2021
bouldering, a summer hobby that stuck
filling journals
tea, and tea ceremonies
long walks and nature hikes
chapters so far
WORK & RESEARCH
COMMUNITY & BEYOND
Department Liaison, Pomona College CS Department