A career with
a few plot twists.

Age 13 · Nebraska

First, a violin.
Then, a website.

I started working as a professional violinist at 13 in Nebraska. To book my own gigs, I taught myself to code and built my own website. Music and software were connected from the start.

Over the next ten years, I performed with Rod Stewart, Mannheim Steamroller, Josh Groban, Michael Bublé, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Mary J. Blige.

Performance credits · TEDxMelbourne ↗

2006–2011 · Boston → Omaha

Wait. You don’t
see music?

I studied Music Business and rock violin performance at Berklee College of Music (2006–2007), then attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha (2007–2011).

At UNO, discovering synesthesia gave a name to the colors I see when I hear music. I switched my major from music to neuroscience and graduated with a BS in Neuroscience in 2011.

Education · LinkedIn ↗

April 2013 · A parallel path

A place for all
the experiments.

Matt and I co-founded Hova Labs: a home for the ideas that cross between software, design, science, and music.

One of those ideas became Hovalin, our open-source, 3D-printable acoustic violin, launched in October 2015. It brought my first instrument and my love of building things full circle—and won a DEVIES award for Best Innovation in 3D Printing in January 2019.

Hova Labs & Hovalin · LinkedIn ↗

The Hovalin story ↗

2014 · Omaha → Software

From the lab
to the laptop.

After graduating, I worked in auditory physiology at Boys Town National Research Hospital (April 2012–January 2013). Then I quit my lab job to attend Omaha Code School and learn full-stack development.

I wanted to build the tool my research needed. In June 2014, we launched The Synesthesia Network, connecting synesthetes with one another and with researchers. That same month, our Synesthesia Light Show made the colors I hear visible to an audience.

June 2014 projects · LinkedIn ↗

The Synesthesia Network ↗

2014–2019 · People + patterns

Finding my way
to design systems.

Software work took me through Lumosity, 3D Robotics, Women Who Code, and Limbforge. I built interfaces, explored UX, and found the part I kept coming back to: the patterns that help people use a product.

At Women Who Code, I got deeply interested in design systems. Building the job board connected research, design, and engineering—and made consistency feel like a problem worth dedicating a career to.

Women Who Code · Case study ↗

3D Robotics / Waldo · Case study ↗

2016 · TEDMED

Let me show you
what I hear.

At TEDMED 2016, I brought music, neuroscience, and making onto the same stage. My talk, Seeing song through the ears of a synesthete, invited the audience into my experience of sound and color.

The thread running through it was the same one running through my software work: understanding that someone else’s experience can be very different from your own.

Watch the 2016 TEDMED talk ↗

2019 onward · Design systems → Fintech

Consistency
builds trust.

After JOIN, my work in design systems led me into fintech: Fast, Affirm, and JPMorgan Chase.

When someone is checking out or trusting a product with their money, the interface needs to feel dependable. At JPMorgan Chase, I grew from principal engineer to executive director, leading frontend, design, and UX research for Checkout, then a 60-person frontend organization and firmwide AI/ML learning and communications.

The work I led there went on to win a Celent 2026 Model Bank Award for Embedded Finance and Innovating with Digital Assets.

Roles & experience · LinkedIn ↗

Fast design system · Case study ↗

2024 onward · The next connection

Good systems.
More possibilities.

That same foundation now shapes my work in AI. Design systems give people a shared language and reusable pieces to help AI build consistently.

That work connects Hova Labs’ LMArena 2.0 project with my CTO roles at The A Team Project, Canopy, and Prod Buddy, and my advisory work at Apotrope. I’m still bringing different disciplines together to make things that help people—and still making music along the way.

LMArena / Arena · Case study ↗

Canopy · Meet the founders ↗