At the time, I had no real understanding of what UX was or any idea what "Design Thinking" meant. Me comprehending these things was miles away at the time. I never had any intentions of becoming a UX designer. But this person saw something in me that I didn't even see in myself. Here's what happened.

On a random workday, the start-up CEO I was interning at walks into my office space. He very confidently looked at me and said, "Hey Richard, you know how to use photoshop, right!" I nodded and said, "yes." To which he followed with, a complete shock to me. "GOOD! Our app designer quite unexpectedly, and I need you to finish designing the new app!".

SHEAR PANIC CAME OVER ME….. I replied, "ok…." very cautiously….

Meet me in the conference room after lunch, and I'll brief you". Then he just walked back to his office.

I had been hired as a marketing intern because a friend had referred me to the hiring manager. It was a shoo-in because of the referral, and most of my time consisted of creating social media posts and sitting in on meetings. I was the lowest rung on the totem pole and only coming into the office part-time.

I didn't know how to design apps, and I definitely didn't know how to create marketing collateral. I was just good at making memes, funny posts, and talking to Instagram models.

Fast forward two weeks, and I was staying late at the office watching countless Youtube tutorials on app design, prototyping, and watching random intro course videos on UX. I designed everything in photoshop....ya I know! Trust me. I don't do that anymore! Fast forward another four weeks, and I was chugging coffee staying up late, and communicating with the overseas development team on new mockups.

Later on, I began doing usability interviews with our existing user base and going over app analytics with our marketing team. Three months later, I was doing presentations to our stakeholders and investors. As time passed by, you can imagine my social life was hanging on by a thread. I was working six days a week, ten plus hours a day. It was brutal, but I LEARNED ALOT, and I don't regret a single moment!

I will always be grateful for the people who have come into my life and seen more in me than I had ever seen in myself. After leaving Cty611, I decided to go back to school to get formal visual design training. All my college education focused on Advertising, and I felt that design was the new direction I wanted to take my life in.

At this point, I had gained the attention of some influential people from that tech job. Learning I had left Cty611 has begun offering me freelance jobs. Life was good. One thing leads to another, and I had over ten clients who kept me on retainer. But before I knew it and even had time to think, someone else saw something in me, and they offered me a fantastic opportunity!

One day my typography professor had shared one of my projects on the school's Instagram, which the internship director noticed. She quickly reached out to me for an internship role she was trying to fill.

I wasn't even looking for an internship at the time, and to be honest, I didn't think anything would come from it. I was content flipping sausages, working freelance gigs, and going to school. I got one interview (which was at Jonathan Oe Apparel), and after four rounds of intense interviews and multiple emails, they offered me a position I could not refuse!

The environment here was different than what I was used to; this wasn't a small business environment, and it was no longer a start-up-style culture. This was (in my opinion) the big leagues! Just on their woman's division alone, they grossed millions in revenue. I was given reports with so many commas and zeros that I would panic attacks just looking at them.

But once again, I had an incredible team who believed in me and allowed me to grow and arise to the occasion.