From Dead People to Web Strategy
How I went from history to HTML
Growing up, I thought I’d be a lawyer, but after enjoying my history degree in undergrad, I went on to earn a master’s instead. During grad school, I landed an internship at the U.S. Department of State.
After graduating, I joined my current office as a web editor. Four years later, I became the team lead and product owner of state.gov — a 47,000-page site with 79 million annual visitors. I led daily operations until 2026, when my role evolved into design and strategy lead.
As a historian, I’m trained to take messy, scattered material and find the story inside it. Turns out that’s exactly what web strategy requires. But it’s more than that.
When I got married, I tried to build our wedding website on Zola. Every template felt like a cage. I couldn’t bring my vision to life because I couldn’t break the mold. That frustration stuck with me — and it’s why I reject templates for my clients. Your story deserves to take center stage. Not someone else’s design.
When I got married, I tried to build our wedding website on Zola. It was supposed to be easy — but every template felt like a cage. I couldn’t bring my vision to life because I couldn’t break the mold.