Tess is currently based in Boulder, CO and is a designer at Talus Analytics. 

Tess dove into human-centered design during her year of study at CMCI Studio, a project-based, experience design master’s program at CU Boulder. Classes focused on all steps of the design process; in addition to user experience design, classes included entrepreneurship, design leadership, branding, and critical making.

Tess studied English at Northwestern University because of her belief in the power of the written word and her conviction that storytelling can elevate and transform communities. She then worked for several years in education in Boston, where during her time on the development team at Beacon Academy she had the opportunity to spearhead a database redesign project. This project exemplified the power of functional, iterative products to transform an organization’s operational ability. The challenge clarified Tess’s interest in product strategy, system design, and usability, and motivated her decision to switch careers. 

​

Tess enjoys biking up mountain roads, doodling geometric shapes in unlined journals, listening to Radiolab, admiring interactive data visualizations, reading magical realism, and testing her geography knowledge through online map quizzes.