December 16th, 2016,

That is when I graduated from RED Academy's 5th cohort of User Experience Professionals. The majority of my work I have done has had some sort of connection back to RED. Either directly or by networking.

This was because not only did I make great friends with the staff, but I was always in the building working when I could. Free coffee, friendly faces, bean bag chairs, and massive networking opportunities how could you not stick around?

I'm very glad I did, for my nearly constant presence led to an offer to help create and run an open house for Vancouver Design week at RED. I and other chosen RED design alumni made a beginners guide to all things digital design for any patrons willing learn. Due to my performance and reviews of my work, I was realized by the RED staff as having potential for teaching.

Not too many weeks after the open house, I was offered a teaching assistant position at RED. At this time I was working with the current students on retrospective exercises while also lending my expertise where I could. My impact on students was greatly appreciated and I made lasting connections with those students I helped teach. It's true when they say the best way to learn something is to teach it yourself.

At this point, I was the alumni they just couldn't shake. So much so, when it came time to create a new redacademy.ca, I was phoned up to help. They needed a design focused mind that was available and familiar with RED Academy's modus operandi. Naturally, I said yes, for I'd be working in the renowned design studio Pound & Grain and with my mentors that have taught me my foundations.

During this time I was working in the Pound & Grain office vetting, correcting and proofing every last piece of content and copy for RED's new site with their professionals. This was all done through the backend of Wordpress and endless nights of typo, bug and image corrections. My passion for giving back to RED helped create RED's best web presence yet, aswell working in that environment was a dream come true.

In one year of my graduation, I had gone from student to friendly face, professional to facilitator, teacher to content strategist and contributor to future students tech. Until Its closing in april of 2020 I was teaching and participating in open houses giving back to the organization that gave me so much.