More About Me

About Me

I have always been creative and as I got older I realised that I could actually choose creativity as a career. After training to be a nurse and then working in administration and office management, I started my own eCommerce business that I built up from scratch.  It was a business where I created high end clothing for children and was responsible for every aspect of the designs and the business itself.

I was fortunate enough to run my business for six years and was privileged to work with people such as Chelsea Winter, Victoria Ransom and Sally Obermeder. I was also featured in Oh Baby Magazine, New Zealand Bride and Groom Magazine, Waikato Times Business Section and blogs around the world.

Due to my business being ecommerce I was involved in designing and building my Shopify website and through this found my talent and passion for web design. It was a natural step then to study full time at Yoobee School of Design to obtain my Diploma in UX and Web Design.

But I don't just design websites, I also enjoy SUP (stand up paddleboarding), going to live sports with my partner, playing around with photography and am an avid journaler. And as you can probably tell from a lot of the photographs, I also love to design, sew and knit clothing for kids when I have time.

My Resume

To learn more about my professional background please click on the "MY RESUME" button to view and download my resume. I have kept it brief, so feel free to contact me as I am happy to chat and answer any questions you might have. I'm super friendly, casual and like to laugh

What I Do

UX Web Design

My passion is designing websites.  Not just cool, funky, pretty, stylish and handsome websites, but websites that are very much UX focused.

A website must be deliverable of it’s goals and intent for both the user and the site owner.  I am thorough with all I have learnt in lean and agile UX methodologies to ensure that the experience of my design is both aesthetically pleasing and simple to use.

No guessing games around here…

Shopify

Due to having had my own eCommerce business for 6 years, I was fortunate enough to experience and have a Shopify website that I loved!

Through my own website at the time, I was picked up by eChic to join their wonderful team of experts in Web Design using the Shopify platform.  I loved it and in fact loved it so much it planted the seed for me to pursue web design as a career.

Shopify is my choice for eCommerce CMS.

Wordpress

WordPress is another wonderful CMS platform – and not just for blogs.  In fact this site is a WordPress site that I have built for from scratch.

There is nothing quite like having a website where you can control content to keep it fresh and up to date without ongoing costs of having a developer do it for you.  Something I learnt from experience with having my own eCommerce site.

WordPress allows for creativity from both you and I!

Personality Traits

Team Player

I enjoy working in a team - especially when it is about achieving goals in the most efficient and productive way with everybody contributing and adding value to a project with their skill set. I'm also excellent at working autonomously!

Client Focused

Due to running my own business for six years, I understand the importance of an excellent experience for the client. One where they feel valued, heard and appreciated. I am a people person so this comes naturally for me.

Friendly

I am friendly - not "in your face annoying friendly", but someone who loves to talk and laugh and who takes the time to get to know others. My relaxed friendliness is infectious and can bring even the most introverted IT nerd out of their shell. I'm always very genuine, sincere and professional with my kindness though.

Communication

I am an excellent communicator and I'm not meaning I will talk your ears off, but in the sense that I wont leave you guessing or making assumptions. This is invaluable in business as it is important to know of expected time frames and hold ups if any. Also with resolving issues if any might occur.

Experience Timeline

Great Lake Motor Distributors are a New Zealand owned and based company that import two main brands of vehicles.  These brands are SsangYong and LDV – one from Korea and the other from China.  This is a company that is growing quickly and steadily.
  • I have had the undertaking of bringing all of the company websites in house – both National and regional.
  • I have redesigned and rebuilt these websites as well as independent websites for the company as required.
  • The National sites I am currently still working on but will continue to ensure these are completed.
  • After three months of employment I was promoted with an increase in Salary due to my input and experience.  I was also trained to manage the online digital marketing.
  • My role included reaching out to Trade Me and forging a business relationship alongside an Account Manager at Trade Me for display advertising.  We have worked together with the Google Ads, the Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google My Business and SEO.
  • I was working alongside an Account Manager at Trade Me for display advertising.  Also the Google Ads, the Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google My Business and SEO.
  • I have had a monthly marketing budget of $120,000.00 that I have had to manage.  Through this I have enabled there to be an increase in enquiries and customer engagement.  There has been more traffic to the company websites and this has been evident through Google Analytics.
  • Designing and implementing MailChimp email campaigns.
  • Conceptualising, designing and implementing competitions to be run at Fieldays, through email campaigns and Social Media.

 

 

Full-time student studying a one year diploma in website and UX design. Topics covered:
  • HTML5
  • CSS3
  • Lean UX
  • Scrum – Sprint
  • Agile and Iterative Development
  • Javascript – JQuery
  • CMS – WordPress
  • Git Hub
  • Data Visualisation using API’s
  • Command Line
  • Use Cases

Sole Trader of own eCommerce Business Designer, creator and owner of a Child’s high-end clothing brand – Return To Eden Children’s Boutique
  • Management and maintenance of a high end eCommerce website designed by Zeald.
  • This included photographing and loading stock items, written information, placement of pages, images and layout.
  • Designing email campaigns using Mailchimp and executing these
  • Setting up a Shopify site – the overall design, working on the graphics, product loading and descriptions, all copywriting, working with apps that are built for the Shopify framework, some coding
  • Managing Google Analytics
  • Marketing the business through Social Media via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
  • Developed Photography and Photoshop skills
  • Photography work
  • Customer Care
  • Processing orders
  • Researching product and supply information
  • Seeking business support through people such as designers Yvonne Bennetti and Trelise Cooper
  • Collaborating with other businesses – organising photoshoots, pattern drafters, machinists etc
  • Management of accounts and bookwork
  • A supporter of the Upside Downs Trust

Full training with completion of a certificate in Suicide Prevention and Awareness. This was a volunteer position.

I was a freelance designer for an Australian based business. All work was on the Shopify Platform.  My role was second point of contact with the client after they had initially filled out a brief with the manager.
An online team management system was used by the eChic team where we could communicate and work through the to do lists.  We were a great team and had a fabulous leader – we helped one another as necessary and our fantastic ability to work as a team was often noticed by the clients.  I learnt a lot in my position with eChic and only ceased my work with them so that I had the time to focus purely on my study at Yoobee.
My workflow and the things I learnt are as follows:
  • I would introduce myself to the client
  • Go over the brief with the client
  • Create prototypes for the client based on brief and direct communication
  • Availability to the client to avoid Manager having to micro manage
  • If necessary I would communicate with the manager any out of scope concerns
  • A review session with the client (via Skype due to the business being International)
  • Revisions made quickly and then reviewed by the client
  • Any hard coding required that was out of my scope would be handed over to those whose area this was
  • Full design created, reviewed and then sent to the manager for sign off
  • Fundamentals of UX and web design
  • Further client contact in the web design area
  • Working in a team
  • The Shopify platform
  • Basic HTML and CSS coding
  • Development of my passion for web design and creating web sites that delight the client and deliver their desired outcome

Office and accounts manager for a private company dealing with up to 60 contractors and 7 management staff.