Hi there, I’m Mika. ☺

I’m a UX designer born and based in Los Angeles. Previously, I’d worked in education, hospitality, and freelance photography. I proudly leverage each of these fields into my design practice today to create more intentional, people-first user experiences.

I am highly curious by nature and am always interested in working alongside others to help improve the conditions surrounding us, even if only in small ways.

When I’m not at my computer, I enjoy exploring my city by Metro, finding new places to eat, and experimenting with film photography.

Still want the full story? Read on ↓

Some of my earliest core memories involve design.

A true product of the 90s, I was raised on KidPix, Angelfire and MySpace. I taught myself HTML and Photoshop in high school and ran a handful of rather poorly-designed websites—mostly personal blogs & pop-punk fansites. I truly loved it.

While I did consider formally studying art and design, I ultimately saw college as a way to explore my many other interests.

As mentioned earlier, I’ve always been naturally curious about the world around me—this led to many college major changes throughout those first few years. At one point or another, I explored marine biology, english, photojournalism, statistics, graphic design, english (again), cultural geography… the list continues.

I struggled a bit with not only honing in on just one subject, but with the far greater task of choosing between the arts and the sciences. At the time, this felt impossible as I was equally drawn to both.

Fast forward a bit—I end up discovering ethnic studies and graduating with my Bachelor’s and the drive to teach high school students.

While in undergrad, I had taken up a part-time position aiding in high school classrooms and absolutely loved it. I wanted to continue mentoring students and fostering environments for critical discussions on topics often left out of the standard US curriculum.

I then went on to UCLA to earn my Master’s in Education, where I eventually dropped out after a year. While I strongly enjoyed designing curriculums and building relationships, I felt depleted and unfulfilled in other areas.

Arriving now at UX design truly feels like a homecoming.

After much self-reflection, I realized (or rather, remembered) that I would feel most fulfilled doing work that stimulates both my creative and analytical sides. Before, I felt forced to choose between the two. Having discovered UX design, I now realize that both can co-exist.

I am still the same curious and ever-eager young designer that I was as a kid, I am just simply now much more equipped with the tools and knowledge. My websites are also much more responsive. 😉