Design, HCI & Entrepreneurship
Alongside interdisciplinary music creation and psychology research, I’ve spent the last several years working as a human-centered designer and founder, building products at the intersection of UX, psychology, and music EdTech. Approaching design and entrepreneurship as another practice of creativity and empathy, I synthesize user research, interaction design, and rapid prototyping to create tools that reduce loneliness, support learning, and solve pain points with care and imagination. From launching edtech startups to prototyping MVPs and running a nonprofit, I strive to build accessible ecosystems that amplify creativity and wellbeing.
ConnectEd: Social computing for campus belonging
Co-founder · Product / UX Lead
At Northwestern’s Farley Center of Entrepreneurship, I co-founded ConnectEd, a social-computing platform to tackle campus loneliness amid the pandemic. I led user research with 220+ students (surveys, interviews, affinity mapping, etc.) to understand how students currently try (and struggle) to connect.
Designing for frictionless onboarding from existing course tools, intuitive user interfaces that amplify collaboration and privacy-sensitive messaging flows, we built an MVP that linked classmates into study groups and collaborative task boards.
Our team placed 2nd in Northwestern’s Lean Startup Pitch Competition. ConnectEd is where my interests in social algorithms, mental health, and HCI came together around a very concrete problem of how we can design systems that make it easier to reach out when we most want to withdraw.
DJai: Artificial Intelligence as a Creative Partner for DJ Learning
Co-founder · Product Lead · UX Researcher
It started with a curious question: What if learning to DJ felt as intuitive as making a playlist? With a team of diverse multicultural entrepreneurs and engineers, I co-led product, UX, and user research building an AI-powered tutoring platform for aspiring DJs. I ran interviews with beginners and working DJs, synthesized insights into personas, wireframes, product requirements and roadmaps.
From there, I designed the core experience: an adaptive onboarding flow, modular curriculum, AI “co-coach,” and progress dashboards that personalize practice based on skill level, goals, and musical taste. On the product side, I helped define MVP scope, success metrics (activation, retention, completion), and phased feature releases from core learning flows to social and live-feedback features.
DjAI sits at the intersection of my passions in design, music, and psychology, employing user research, interaction design, and product management to make a complex technical skill feel accessible and emotionally supportive for aspiring DJs.
Littl: Building Emotionally Intelligent Support Systems for Families
UX Design, Marketing & Content Strategy Intern
At Littl, a parenting-tech startup at Techstars San Francisco, I worked where developmental psychology, HCI, and product strategy meet. I led user and market research (interviews, concept tests, engagement funnels) and translated attachment theory metrics and family-systems psychology into actionable UX artifacts, turning developmental theory with practical behavioral designs and experience design.
Working directly with the CEO and CMO, I helped refine MVP scope, market research, SEO optimization, usability tests and engagement data. My work also directly improved key engagement metrics through email funnel and content redesigns, aiming to build trust and belonging in user experiences.
Littl deepened my passion for designing emotionally intelligent technology, turning HCI methods and evidence-based psychology into everyday tools that directly support health. I want to keep exploring wellbeing as an interface problem, to explore how interactive systems can deliver accessible support at scale.
Sunflower: Empowering Young Musicians Through music education
Co-Founder, Director of Curriculums and Learning Design
I co-founded Sunflower Education to reimagine how young people engage with music and with themselves. What began as a small class for middle schoolers in China has grown into a cross-cultural initiative serving students ages 7 to 18, including children with neurodiverse needs and those preparing for music conservatories.
Music Creation Course
Our first program was an experimental music composition course that brought together diverse groups of students: some navigating cultural shock after newly moving to the U.S., others intermediate musicians eager to develop their musical expression, and many who doubted whether their ideas “counted” as music. Through roundtable discussions, playful prompts, and tools like BandLab, GarageBand, MuseScore, Chrome Music Lab, Beepbox, Voclea Dubler (voice-to-MIDI) and Typatone, students explored structure as storytelling, harmony as emotional color, improvisation as play, sampling as cultural exchange... and what music can be and how sound carries emotion.
One student, after weeks of saying “I can’t compose,” shared a violin piece written for his brother, rooted in memories of listening to music together. He paused, then whispered: “This sounds like me.” Moments like these happened again and again. Students drew on childhood memories, K-pop influences, and their own artworks/poetry to tell their stories. We also partnered with my friend's startup that creates music learning games, making composition a game of discovery and showing how education and technology can spark playful, confidence-building systems.
Supporting Aspiring Music Majors
Sunflower’s work with older students grew out of a gap I knew firsthand: growing up around traditional music ed systems in China, I saw how training often prioritized technique and competition while leaving less room for curiosity and discovery.
With Sunflower, we sought to prototype a different model: one that combined rigorous musicianship with systems for creativity, reflection, and interdisciplinary play. We built theory and ear training curricula alongside brainstorming sessions and cross-disciplinary projects where students could experiment with identity, listen to their own dreams, and connect those inspirations to their music. The core mission is to design growth environments that give students the tools to direct their own artistry.
By the time they applied to conservatories, students were presenting work that showed technical skill alongside a sense of imagination and voice. Alumni have gone on to the Manhattan School of Music, University of Michigan SMTD, Bard Conservatory, Indiana Jacobs School of Music, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee. It felt so rewarding to see them step into auditions and presenting their work with confidence and authenticity. We hope that when educational systems make space for creativity and self-direction, students can discover clarity, belonging, and the courage to walk their own paths.
Summer Program
In 2023, Sunflower launched a summer program for children, weaving creativity with socioemotional learning. By tailoring music lessons to individual strengths, I helped students build confidence, develop emotional awareness, and experience music as both self-expression and connection. One highlight was our voice lessons, where kids who once believed they “couldn’t sing” recorded their favorite songs complete with production. Hearing their own voices transformed into music they loved was more than a technical achievement. The most rewarding part was when students and their families told us that for them, it was a breakthrough in confidence!
Across all its forms, Sunflower has been an endeavor of designing systems that build confidence, nurture creativity, and create belonging across cultural and developmental contexts.
The Heart of Cubs (Non-Profit): Building Community Systems for Youth
Co-Founder, Program Designer & Community Systems Builder
Eight years ago, I co-founded Heart of Cubs, a nonprofit supporting children with autism, ADHD, and other neurodiverse needs. What began as a small volunteer effort has grown into a sustained community initiative rooted in the belief that every child deserves connection, creativity, and care.
We’ve partnered with organizations such as Valley Children’s Hospital, One Foundation, and Promised Land Special Education Center to design programs that range from fundraiser concerts to community resource drives. During the pandemic, we built virtual spaces for music, art, and storytelling—reducing isolation and creating moments of joy and belonging for children and families navigating developmental challenges.
Impact Highlights:
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$2,000+ raised annually for youth and mental-health programs
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Dozens of cross-sector partnerships spanning healthcare, education, and the arts
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Hundreds of children and families supported through concerts, workshops, and community events
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10+ benefit concerts organized, fusing music sharing with social action and student-led philanthropy.
PUBLIC SPEAKING AND STORYTELLING
In my TEDx talk on creative exchange, I explore how platforms and narratives can either flatten or deepen cross-cultural understanding. A feature in VoyageLA's Rising Stars and Portraits of Hollywood highlights my cross-disciplinary work in composition, education, and entrepreneurship, and reflects on how psychology and a multicultural upbringing shape my perspectives on art and social activism.
As an interdisciplinary artist, I’ve been honored to engage in conversations around experimental lineage and archival futures. My interpretation of Frank Zappa’s The Black Page #1 led to an interview with Zappa’s archivist and recognition from filmmaker Alex Winter (director of the Zappa documentary). In parallel, a nearly decade-long mentorship with Ian (longtime Zappa and James Horner collaborator) has given me a lived education in how rigor, irreverence, and experimentation can coexist inside a single bar of music. Engaging deeply with this lineage, from practicing The Black Page to discussing its history with the people who helped bring it to life, has sharpened my commitment to extending radical traditions with technical precision, historical awareness, and genuine play.
Across interdisciplinary initiatives, I seek to translate research and lived experience into clear design requirements, prototype tools and environments that make connection and creativity safer and more accessible, and evaluate impact with both data and story. It’s the same orientation I bring to interactive opera, bio-responsive sound, and emotional technologies, using HCI, music, and psychology to build architectures where people can feel, play, and repair together.