Design is how I think. Psychology is how I listen. Building is how I prove it.
I was in every AP art class my high school offered. Then I talked myself out of it — convinced myself I'd burn out doing something I loved. Took me a while to figure out that's exactly backwards. Design is what gives me energy.
I studied psychology because I wanted to understand how people work. Somewhere in the middle of teaching myself design, I realized I'd found the thing I was always looking for — creative work, understanding people, and building something that functions as a business. Ask my friends. I will find a way to turn anything into a business.
I taught myself mostly alone. Client work, practice, failing, doing it again. A lot of years feeling like I had no idea what I was doing. I'm much more confident now — in my decisions, my instincts, my point of view. But I've never fully lost the imposter feeling, and I don't think I want to. There are designers I deeply admire who are better than me at things I care about. That's what keeps me sharp.
My five years at Chatbooks are where all of it came together. I stopped just executing and started shaping strategy, and watched design decisions connect directly to business outcomes. The work is in this portfolio. But what I'm most proud of is simpler: I care deeply about the craft, the results, and the product. It shows up in everything I make.
Education
2019
Career Foundry
UX/UI Certification
2013
University of Central Florida
B.S. Psychology
My Journey
I get asked a lot, Leigha — how do you ship so much?
I move clean and fast — ask the right questions early, cut what doesn't matter, and use AI to compress the work that used to slow everything down.
15-25
Freelance
UX/UI Designer
FREELANCE · REMOTE · MAR 2015 - DEC 2024
Grew from design imposter to trusted partner
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Designed and launched websites and web apps for clients across industries, taking most from zero to a functioning, SEO-optimized digital brand.
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Learned more from client work than any course could teach — real briefs, real constraints, real results.
2020
Reconnect
UX/UI Designer
FULL TIME + STARTUP · REMOTE · MAR - NOV 2020
Designed for both sides of the system.
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Led end-to-end redesign of a probation case management platform, improving task completion 30% through research-driven design for two underserved user groups.
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First B2B product, first vulnerable user base, first time research fully shaped every decision.
22-25
Career Foundry
UX Tutor + Mentor
CONTRACT · REMOTE · JAN 2022 - MAR 2025
Taught the thing I figured out alone — so the next designers didn't have to.
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Led end-to-end redesign of a probation case management platform, improving task completion 30% through research-driven design for two underserved user groups.
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First B2B product, first vulnerable user base, first time research fully shaped every decision.
21 ~
Chatbooks
UX Designer → Senior Product Designer
FULL TIME · REMOTE · APR 2021 - CURRENT
Where design stopped being execution and started being strategy.
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Designed the retention, subscription, and creation systems behind $40M ARR — from research through shipped product, across five years.
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Reduced churn by 50%, generated $7M in a single day, and currently designing a net-new product targeting $10M in incremental ARR.
Values I believe in
The way I work is shaped as much by values as it is by craft. These are the principles I come back to when things get messy, ambiguous, or high-stakes.
01
When in doubt, figure it out.
I don't wait for someone to hand me the answer. Ambiguity is just an invitation to dig in. I'd rather move toward a problem than away from it, and I've learned that most blockers dissolve the moment you decide to actually solve them.
02
Communication and collaboration are everything.
The best work I've ever done happened in rooms where people were honest, aligned, and genuinely trying to make something good together. I show up for my team, I say what I think, and I make sure nobody's working in the dark.
03
Be confident and true.
I know who I am as a designer and what I stand for. I'll advocate for the work, push back when something is off, and own my decisions. But confidence without honesty is just ego — so I stay real, stay grounded, and stay myself.
What I do outside of work
I could talk about food and travel for hours.
Not in a "favorite restaurants" way — in a "let me tell you exactly why that meal in Bangkok changed how I think about simplicity" way. Food and travel are how I pay attention to the world. They're also probably why I built a restaurant recommendation tool in Anthony Bourdain's writing style. If you're going somewhere good, ask me.
I build things in my free time.
When something doesn't exist the way I want it to, I build it. I'm currently building a travel app because nothing out there organized trips the way my brain does. AI has made the gap between idea and working product very small, and I take full advantage of that.
