What drove me towards product management and product design?
One of the first moments that shaped how I think about product design was after I read a paper mapping how decision-making heuristics in the brain impact the accessibility of apps people build and use. It breaks down how biases like availability, default effects, and habit loops aren’t just “theory,” but hard-coded into our brains. I remember realizing that the interfaces I use every day were quietly built around these patterns (and suddenly feeling very exposed by my own screen time).
After that, I started paying attention differently. I noticed how my friends only check the first tab of an app, how we ignore features that require one extra click, and how we trust things that “feel familiar” even when they’re less efficient. I've also seen apps like BeReal, and more recently Tea, blow up overnight and then slowly fade when the novelty wears off (we all downloaded them and then forgot, but ngl, I LOVED these apps). It made me think a lot about what keeps people coming back.
With over 75k Spotify minutes in 2025 (unfortunately real), I saw this firsthand: how recap visuals, recommendation placement, and progress cues shaped my own habits. That directly informed Harmony Mode, where I designed around perceived compatibility and trust signals (basically: why something feels right matters as much as what it does).
I bring this behavioral-meets-technical perspective everywhere: designing with how people think, scroll, hesitate, and decide, not how we assume they should, so our products feel intuitive, memorable, and genuinely useful (and don’t get deleted after week 1).
What other activities have shaped your life?
Art, the internet, and cooking — in very different ways.
- The Internet (TikTok, Pinterest, everything):
I’ve grown up creating, experimenting, and observing online — from running multiple TikTok accounts with over 1M total likes (Timothee Chalamet (Glosser fein), Harry Potter (Draco Malfoy lover), Fetch Rewards (money hustler), Subway Surfers (2020 brainrot storytimes)) to building a Pinterest community around food. Watching trends rise and fall taught me how design, timing, and emotion shape what people engage with, like with CapCut, PicsArt, iMovie, and more.
2. Art:
Through the Memory Project, I create hand-drawn portraits for children around the world from underserved countries, so they can see themselves represented and celebrated. Spending hours on tiny details taught me patience, empathy, and how much thoughtful design can mean to someone on the other side. Note: I am not allowed to post the portraits because of privacy rules, but I included a draft of one of them.
3. Cooking:
Because of severe food allergies (no dairy, eggs, nuts, beef, shellfish, and sesame), I’ve been adapting “normal” recipes since I was little. What started as cooking with my mom turned into sharing allergen-friendly recipes online and proving that accessible food doesn’t have to be boring. It taught me how to design within constraints — and to love the process. And, I’d have to say my favorite foods are Penang curry (I <3 Thai and Malayasian), sushi, and apple pie!
Together, these experiences shaped how I think: creatively, empathetically, and with a constant focus on making things more inclusive, intuitive, and human.