Hello, I'm Katherine!
My love for making things started at a young age with summer art classes and weekends at Michaels picking out supplies. I eventually ended up studying architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. After many hours in design studios, I realized my passion was not in designing buildings, but in designing for human needs and experiences. I’ve been fortunate enough to apply human-centered design to the worlds of healthcare and local government.
For five years, I was a part of Kaiser Permanente's Innovation Consultancy where I use human-centered design to tackle wicked healthcare and social problems. As a member of this internal innovation and design team, I worked on a diverse portfolio ranging from designing for better patient experiences to improving clinical workflows.
After Kaiser Permanente, I joined the City of Austin’s Office of Innovation where I practiced as a Design, Technology, and Innovation Fellow and served as the User Research Practice Lead. As a Fellow, I led research projects to uncover the needs and experiences of city occupants. I also brought design expertise to support the City in agile development of new ideas and solutions. As the User Research Practice Lead, I created standards and best practices for conducting user research, I advised on projects, and I mentored and managed other researchers and designers. During my two years at the City, I was fortunate enough to work on really meaningful projects including Recycling in Austin and Homelessness in Austin.
My husband and I recently left Austin and moved to Minneapolis for his job. I’m loving the Twin Cities so far and I’m spending most of my time meeting new people and finding the right next opportunity. Please drop me a line, I would love to connect about design, research, ice cream, swing dancing, improv, and tips for exploring the Twin Cities!