About Me
I’m Kristen. I’m a learning experience designer and educator. I use my passion for learning to guide my design processes.
My guiding principles are diverse perspectives, engaging and original content, story design, creativity, and accessibility.
As a process-driven designer, my very favorite part of any project is at the start - when you’re diving into something new, and there’s tons of writing and research to occur. Throughout development, I also just really enjoy collaborating with fellow designers and customers. It’s fun to see how very different ideas can combine.
I’ve also been a teacher and a writer. My background is in Elementary Education and Library Science, so I began my career in a classroom with pre-school children. I still love having the opportunity to engage with little people in classrooms as a volunteer storytime designer and leader. My current favorite storytime choice is any book written and illustrated by Rob Biddulph.
For the past decade, I’ve been privileged to write articles about food, travel, and theater, as well as Instructional Design & Learning Experience Design for a personal blog and other local online publications. My favorite topics to write about are whatever I’m most interested in at the moment. And as a researcher at heart, it doesn’t take much to get me interested.
I’ve lived my life in Maryland, but I love to spend my time traveling and eating my way around lovely places. While the big city hustle has my heart, I’ve recently been visiting more natural parks and spaces. I’ve never been called “outdoorsy” but I’ve enjoyed critter spotting throughout the parks, and taking in the wild scenery up close. Some of my favorite destinations are London, Charleston, Grand Tetons, Maine, and Victoria, British Columbia.
I’m an avid bookworm, with a never-ending To Be Read pile. Subscribing to “New Book Tuesday” emails was both the best and worst thing that I’ve ever done, as the To Be Read pile just keeps growing. My current favorite genres are romance, travel writing, cozy fantasy, and middle grade or young adult fiction.
I’m a big fan of the theater. Thanks to an incredible teacher in middle school, I discovered musicals and plays, and have never once looked back. The last few years have brought theater to life in new and creative ways, allowing people to enjoy productions with the click of the remote, however nothing will ever beat the thrill of a live performance. My all-time favorites include: Jesus Christ Superstar, Come From Away, Next to Normal, The Phantom of the Opera, Richard II, and Hamlet.
