I was born in Brazil, went to college in Italy, spent some time in Manchester, and now I've been living ย in Dublin, Ireland ๐ฎ๐ช for almost 10 years.
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About a year ago, while working with design systems, I wanted to do a course to expand my knowledge on how to build a system that scaled properly. I started my search, and having landed on Memorisely, I knew this was the course for me.
I absolutely loved the bootcamp and the process of learning with other designers across the world. After the course, I found out about the Memorisely Tribe, which is such a cool community for designers to share knowledge, get support, take part in meet-ups, events, design challenges and so much more.
I was really active in the Tribe, loving every bit of it, and then only a few months ago Zander announced that they were looking for new teachers to join the team. This was such an exciting opportunity and one that I absolutely wanted to be considered for. Lucky for me, I was accepted to join the new team of teachers and can't wait to teach my first class this October.
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I've been working as designer for over 10 years and in the UX/UI space for the last 8.
A number of years ago, one project changed it all for me. While working with a large government client in Ireland, I recognised how important accessibility was and it's been a focus area in everything I've worked on since since. It was actually on the same project, where I started my work in design systems and I've never looked back.
Given the nature of my personality, I love to share knowledge as I learn and I feel this character trait along with my passion for design will, hopefully, lend itself to my role as a teacher with Memorisely.
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I absolutely love it! It's like working with your friends โ well, we're more like a little family. The MemFam ๐ค
The remote aspect is great, there are no boundaries. I can have a call with Luke, who's in Edinburgh, then jump on a chat with LA, who's in Utah and despite our time differences it all works smoothly.
With all of us being in different countries also means that our weekly catchups are super interesting. I love to hear what adventures the team is up to in their part of the world.
Startup culture is definitely fast paced and comes with new and exciting challenges every day. I love it!
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Besides being part of the MemFam, I also work as a Principal Designer for Ireland's leading digital agency, All human. My days are pretty action packed. I generally start by making a strong cup of coffee (no milk, please) and noting my 'to-do' list for the day. I then check emails, slack messages and say a friendly good morning to the team.
On Thursdays, the Memorisely team gets to catchup on Zoom, find out what everyone is up to, share any exciting news and brainstorm great things for the future. We also have our amazing Yoga sessions with Liza โฅ๏ธ. In the evening, I plan and record short videos for Memorisely's Instagram and Tiktok accounts.
Fridays are for onboarding sessions with Zander, study and preparation time for the upcoming bootcamps.
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At the moment, the most exciting thing is the preparation and seeing all the incredible work that goes on behind the scenes in an Education startup (it's a lot!). The energy and enthusiasm from everyone is sooo inspiring.
The part of my day, which is definitely unique, is thinking up of and creating new transition ideas for my reels on Instagram (They're tougher than you'd think. Maybe that should be our next bootcamp ๐ค ๐คฃ)
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This is the best advice I've received and it helps to overcome challenges both professionally and personally: Thoughts are not facts. The types of thoughts that you have are influenced by the way you feel at the time. Once you learn that your thoughts aren't always reality, you realise that they only have power over you if you buy into them. So, if a thought is causing you insecurity or distress, it makes sense to check out whether is a true reflection of reality or not. You can do that with a friend, ask for feedback at work from your peers or managers, or learn to do it yourself.
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The ones I use daily are most definitely Figma โฅ๏ธ, Notion, Slack & Spotify.
Below are some of the mobile apps I use most frequently. Are you even a designer if you don't organise your apps by colour? ๐คฃ
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Well, I could spend days talking about Figma and how amazing the tool is, but we all know that at this stage ๐
I recently spent 3 weeks in Lisbon and I had the BEST time exploring the city by scooter ๐ด. All you need to do is download an app, look for nearest scooter, scan the QR code and off ye go!! I know they're not a new thing, but I'd never used them before. It was so much fun ๐ฅณ
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When you need focus time, block out time on your calendar (you can title it 'no meetings' from 1- 4pm, for instance), mute your notifications and make sure your phone is out of sight.
When I need really deep focus, I also use a binaural beats playlist. It really works ๐
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I read about studies stating that in North America and Europe, we spend 90% of our time indoors ๐คฏ We all need to make a better effort to spend more time out in nature!
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Travel has to be at the top of the list. I love seeing new cities and finding hidden gems. Something I really miss and love to do is going to gigs. Hopefully I get to see more live music as things return to normal.
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