A bitabout me

I'm an educator turned designer. The years in teaching & instructional design taught me how to make complicated things approachable :)

Right now that means digital tools for teachers — people whose days are full before they even open a laptop. If something I design saves them ten minutes before the bell rings, that's the win.

Outside of work, I'm happiest as a beginner. I travel as often as I can, for the landscapes and for the small puzzles of working a new place out as I go. I'm a serious foodie, and food is usually how I plan a trip in the first place — which is how I ended up in a cooking class in Osaka, and how I've found the good coffee in every city I've landed in.

I'm also a self-taught marathon runner and running coach. I run to see the world, to find out what I'm capable of, and to come back a more resilient, deeper thinker. That same curiosity goes into whatever else I'm making — nail art, flower arrangements, photography — usually at a scale where the only stakeholder is me, and Ginny.

Susan and her dog Ginny in tall autumn grass at sunset
Wandering among the hoodoos on Peekaboo Loop Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park
Wandering among the hoodoos on Peekaboo Loop Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park
Saying hi to a variety of cacti at Saguaro National Park
Saying hi to a variety of cacti at Saguaro National Park
Being wowed by the otherworldly landscape at Petrified Forest National Park
Being wowed by the otherworldly landscape at Petrified Forest National Park
Kotor, from the switchbacks above the bay
Kotor, from the switchbacks above the bay
Stari Most — Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Stari Most — Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Climbing the wild Great Wall back home — a world wonder coiling over the ridges like a giant dragon
Climbing the wild Great Wall back home — a world wonder coiling over the ridges like a giant dragon
Immersed in thousands of years of Chinese history at the Forbidden City
Immersed in thousands of years of Chinese history at the Forbidden City
A little excursion in Yunnan — enchanted forest and the Lancang, the great river that flows on to become the Mekong
A little excursion in Yunnan — enchanted forest and the Lancang, the great river that flows on to become the Mekong
Struck by the majesty of the Dai Great Golden Pagoda on Jingmai Mountain
Struck by the majesty of the Dai Great Golden Pagoda on Jingmai Mountain
Dusk in a Dai village on Jingmai Mountain, kitchen smoke curling into the evening
Dusk in a Dai village on Jingmai Mountain, kitchen smoke curling into the evening
No better way to start a morning than a local coffee shop — Asheville, in the Great Smoky Mountains
No better way to start a morning than a local coffee shop — Asheville, in the Great Smoky Mountains
Learning to make it properly at a cooking class in Osaka — beginner's hands, very patient teacher
Learning to make it properly at a cooking class in Osaka — beginner's hands, very patient teacher
Always hunting down the local coffee in a new city — this one, San Francisco
Always hunting down the local coffee in a new city — this one, San Francisco
Into nail art, always wondering what's possible on such a small canvas
Into nail art, always wondering what's possible on such a small canvas
Sometimes the canvas is anything at hand — here, a pu-erh tea cake I pressed myself
Sometimes the canvas is anything at hand — here, a pu-erh tea cake I pressed myself
Lunar New Year flowers, arranged with intent
Lunar New Year flowers, arranged with intent
Obsessed with a good New York show — Little Shop of Horrors five times, including the run with Constance Wu and Corbin Bleu
Obsessed with a good New York show — Little Shop of Horrors five times, including the run with Constance Wu and Corbin Bleu
Had a blast at Suffs — the kind of Broadway show you leave humming, standing a little taller
Had a blast at Suffs — the kind of Broadway show you leave humming, standing a little taller
Ginny, honorary member of China's delegation at the NYC Marathon opening ceremony
Ginny, honorary member of China's delegation at the NYC Marathon opening ceremony