About me
I came to UX through film, and I kept the habit of watching what people actually do.
Hi! I'm Alyssa, a UX researcher and designer based in Irvine, California. I'm working on my M.A. in Design & Innovation at Cal State Northridge, and by day I coordinate projects at Ramboll. What ties it together is real curiosity about people: why they do what they do, what they need, and how design can meet them there.
Before design, I studied Cinema & Television Arts, and that storytelling instinct still shows up in how I approach every project. I read and evaluated scripts for a film development team, which taught me to ask what an audience feels at each moment. I care about accessibility and about making sure design doesn't leave anyone out. Right now I'm especially drawn to beauty and entertainment, industries that shape culture and connect with people on a personal level.
I'm early in my career, and I'd rather show you what I've tested and what I haven't than pretend otherwise.
Experience
Administrative Project Coordinator, Ramboll
Irvine, CA. April 2024 to present.
This is not a UX job, but it's where I practice process design, systems thinking and accessibility at work.
- I'm leading a redesign of our internal communications system. I wrote the design brief, built a repeatable design system, and deployed Outlook-compatible email templates to 168+ staff.
- I remediate confidential client reports (50+ pages, around 50 data tables per site) to ADA and WCAG-compliant PDF standards.
- I coordinate billable client work from start to finish, from proposals and CRM setup to contracts and invoicing.
- I'm designing a SharePoint request and workflow system for my admin team. It's in progress.
- I co-chair a global Women of Color employee network group, planning speaker programming across regions.
Administrative Assistant, Business & Systems Operations, DePasquale, Kelley & Company
Irvine, CA. April 2022 to March 2024.
- I led the tax bill department: property taxes for 10 major clients across 100+ parcels nationwide.
- I spotted inefficiencies in our data management and helped restructure the workflow.
- I ran a usability analysis of the company website and presented the gaps and recommendations to leadership.
Script Editor and Reader (internship), Whitewater Films
Remote. August to December 2022.
- I evaluated 20+ film and TV scripts for narrative cohesion and audience engagement and wrote executive summaries with structured feedback for the development team.
Education
M.A. Design & Innovation
California State University, Northridge. Expected Fall 2027.
Focus: design strategy, UX research, brand systems and product thinking.
UX Design Certification
CareerFoundry. 2024.
UX theory, design thinking, research, personas, information architecture, wireframing, prototyping and usability testing.
B.A. Cinema & Television Arts
California State University, Fullerton. 2023.
I studied narrative structure and visual storytelling, a foundation that still shows up in how I approach design.
FAQ
What kind of roles are you looking for?
UX research and UX design internships and junior roles, plus product design and design strategy roles. I'm also open to creative operations or brand design coordinator roles. I'm especially drawn to beauty and entertainment/media, and I'm open to any team doing people-first work.
What tools do you work in?
Figma and the Adobe suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop) for design, plus Canva and Framer. For research I use Miro, Dovetail, Typeform and Notion. I also use Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Figma Make, and I check what they hand me.
What do you do outside of design?
I watch movies, shoot photos on a Sony a6100, love good coffee, write creatively, and love makeup and beauty.