Updated: Spring 2025
I’m the person product teams call when users say “this makes no sense.”
I blend storytelling, design principles, and technical know-how to transform complex systems into intuitive experiences. I organize messy product vocabularies, train AI systems to match brand voice, and build content systems that scale without breaking. I hunt down complexity wherever it hides—because when systems are too complicated, users suffer.
Technical: SQL, Python, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, React, Technical Writing
Design: Wireframing, Prototyping, User Research, Design Systems
Tools: Adobe CS, Figma, Sketch, PowerPoint, Tableau
Leadership: Workshop Facilitation, Cross-functional Collaboration, Project Management
“Most content folks stay in their lane—they polish copy. V rebuilds systems from the ground up. What surprised me most was watching him dive into code alongside our engineers, speaking their language while simultaneously translating complex concepts for the rest of us.”–Product manager
“Content designers typically don’t think about platform architecture or care so much about technical ontologies. His fingerprints are on everything from voice and tone guidelines to how we name components in the code.”–Software engineer
“His greatest gift is making the complex feel straightforward. He somehow creates order from chaos—building bridges between what machines can do and what people can understand.”–Product designer
“V codified our company’s values into a communication system that scaled across every touchpoint. What impressed me was how he elevated content from a support function to a strategic driver. This helped position us as thought leaders while creating a voice that users instantly recognized as ours.”–Product marketing manager
I’m defining foundational concepts for Anthropic’s AI systems, with a focus on developer tools. I’m helping our design culture embrace radically new mental models for what AI can do while writing reams of product copy in a fast-paced, rapidly changing workspace. My role bridges highly conceptual thinking with practical implementation, helping users navigate virtually unlimited possibilities in our industry-leading AI.
The innovation team had a mandate to unify Zendesk’s constellation of products into one. It was a unique opportunity for content design to influence a product from the ground up. I played a key role in establishing our platform approach—enabling better integration with AI. I also worked directly with engineering to define a product ontology and facilitated workshops to synthesize our efforts as a team.
Zendesk makes customer support software. I focused on the integration of two flagship products, Support and Chat. I collaborated with localization, documentation, and product marketing to ensure language consistency and clarity. I was also a key contributor to the Garden design system and authored the section on content.
Ads Quality UX shaped the look and feel of the world’s most visited website. I defined content standards, helped train ML models, and made data-backed decisions about content strategy. Our team imagined new formats for nascent markets (like India) and surfaces like Assistant and Maps. I supported the growth of the UX community by speaking at the internal conference, UXU, and by representing Google at iXDA, Atlanta.
Asana is work-tracking for teams. As the lead copywriter, I was responsible for public-facing language: blog, email, social, and web. My Area of Responsibility (AOR) was voice and tone and I created a style guide to reflect Asana’s unique values. I consulted on content projects across the company and launched Asana’s thought-leadership publication, Wavelength. Though I rarely had time for it, I also crafted product and app update copy to delight our users.
At Yelp, I managed a global publishing operation that delivered 100+ weekly newsletters across 8 time zones. I upheld rigorous content standards while crafting engaging copy across multiple channels—landing pages, direct mail, and even Yelp’s first TV commercial. Under my leadership, our team evolved into an internal creative agency, providing strategic content support to PR, business marketing, and acquired brands like Seatme and Eat24.
I poured gasoline on Yelp’s brand in Toronto. I was a diplomat to business owners and a jungle leader to new users. I developed relationships with business owners while nurturing an engaged user base, running targeted marketing campaigns that tripled our subscriber list within a year. I wrote a newsletter weekly, reviews daily, and—most fun of all—hosted monthly events that strengthened local business partnerships.
I designed presentations, charts, infographics, and other just-in-time creative for investment bankers—while wearing a charcoal black suit. I interpreted raw data and financial reports to present complex data in meaningful ways. I relied on Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Excel, MS Access, and almighty PowerPoint.
A deep dive into SQL databases, automation with Python, building machine learning models, and advanced statistical techniques. My Tufte dreams come true.
16-week intensive bootcamp covering Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Django, React, Bash, and APIs. I built and deployed two web apps, learned scrum and agile methods, and learned that I don’t love MongoDB.
20-week UX Design immersive covering fundamentals of HCI and interaction design, research, wire framing, and prototyping. Learned theory from brilliant instructor John Hull. My team took first prize in the hackathon.
Bachelor of Arts. I was going to be an actuary before switching to Honors Economics & Philosophy with a focus on welfare economics and ethics. Double the major, double the fun.