It's Monday, the start of week two here in Florence, and my birthday. If these milestones are meant to be about renewal and a celebration of getting older, I'm feeling incredibly good about this one. Why? Because I actually did it. I set a big, audacious goal to make my life truer to my creative self, and here I am, doing it. And honestly, it feels pretty fabulous. ~ pats back and kisses muscles on each arm :)

You're a superfan of eyewear and think you have a pretty good idea of how it’s made. You work in tech, you understand complex systems, you're pretty good at looking at things and having some idea about how they are made... But then, you step into a new world, a new creative universe, and realize how much you simply didn't know. Today, that revelation came in the form of materials, specifically acetate. Mind. Blown.

Design is about solving problems. And while my UX past taught me to meticulously map out user journeys for other people, here in Florence, the problem I'm solving is far more faceted: how do I design me? It’s a welcome pivot, from optimizing digital flows to sculpting tangible objects for faces. And today, at Polimoda, the journey got intensely personal.

They say when you change your life, the universe conspires. But does it also conspire to throw you into a heatwave so intense, it makes even a California summer feel like a gentle breeze? Apparently, yes. Because today, my first official day at the Polimoda Fashion Institute in Florence, was a masterclass in contrasts – both elegant and resoundingly human.

My life, on paper, is the kind of stuff most people plot on vision boards. I’m a Canadian living in California and I’m a UX Designer working at Google. I’ve worked hard for my career. A fun title, working for several big tech companies and yes a nice paycheck too. By all accounts I’ve made it and I’m very grateful for my life. But lately, there has been a whiplash of changes in my industry and I’m not sure what the future looks like for UX design.