At the heart of every great game is good storytelling. Parker is a teddy bear with exactly zero technology inside — no batteries, no Bluetooth, no WiFi — who comes to life through a companion mobile app in augmented reality. Open the app, point it at your bear, and suddenly Parker has a temperature, the sniffles, and needs an X-ray. (Don't worry, he gets better.) I led Parker from a scrappy prototype to a worldwide launch in Apple Retail Stores in under a year, across multiple languages. The proudest moment wasn't pitching the prototype to Apple's retail team and getting a global green light — it was watching a 5-year-old in the store insist her mom let her give the bear "one more checkup." $2M+ in sales, 60K+ downloads, and reaching 'favorite stuffy' status for thousands of kids.
Maze hands the keys over to the kid: build a real maze with your hands, then load it into the app and play it in virtual reality. You're the game designer, the playtester, and the protagonist. We took early prototypes into LA classrooms and let 8-year-olds tell us — bluntly, as 8-year-olds do — what was working and what wasn't. The version that hit retail was theirs as much as ours. It sold at retail, got a spot on the Today Show, and grossed $1M+. The lesson I keep with me: the kid is the smartest person in the room.
Homer is a living, consumer-facing learn-to-read app for kids ages 2–8. I led the team gamifying the experience, designing levels, sharpening the visual language, and slipping in new interactions that kept kids coming back (voice recognition that lets a kid hear themselves read is, it turns out, hilarious to a 4-year-old). I also led a social-emotional learning app in partnership with Sesame Workshop — a master class in co-creating with an iconic IP holder where every word, every color, every character beat matters. I'm comfortable working in the details, helping with creative decisions and game mechanics, and I'm comfortable zooming out to manage the product as a business.
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The best products start with a deep understanding of who you're building for and what outcome matters most. Technology — whether it's AR, VR, or AI — should be in service to that outcome, never the other way around. When we built an augmented reality teddy bear for young kids, the breakthrough wasn't the tech. It was watching 5-year-olds immersed in playing doctor because AR allowed them to take an X-ray of their teddy bear. When creating games to help kids learn to read, we layered in voice recognition to help kids hear themselves (for fun!) and also so we could help coach them. LEGO owns the space where kids get to build with their hands. How can technology be in service to this creator mentality?
I thrive in the space between big idea and shipped product. Putting prototypes into the hands of real users will give you most of the answers you need to get unstuck. Creating a culture of building with users and iterating quickly is my mantra. I've also cultivated the skills to move fast and ship often. I create the systems that make this possible, outlining the plans that keep a team focused on what's essential for launch, with weekly recalibration on what can ship and what can wait.
I've built and managed small, cross-functional teams of UX and product managers, and the best ones felt more like a band than a hierarchy. I'll jot user stories, sketch flows, help run playtests, and pair on a tricky spec when that's what the team needs. Designers, engineers, art directors, marketers, and legal and business partners all row in the same direction because everyone can see the boat and trusts the person at the oar next to them.
I'm passionate about technology playing a positive role in our lives, and have felt an immense responsibility when creating tech for kids. What I love about this opportunity is thinking about the integrated worlds between physical building and digital play. When I'm not at a computer, I'm outside playing with my kids, reading a book, or asking Claude what to make for dinner. I'm based in Sun Valley, Idaho, a 2-hour direct flight from the Bay Area, LA, and Seattle, and a slightly longer one to Billund.