The journey into the world of technology often follows a conventional script. A degree in computer science, internships, maybe a stint at a tech company, and then a gradual climb up the engineering ladder. But for some, like the subject of this spotlight, the road isn’t just less traveled—it’s completely reimagined.
Growing up, she had a deep-rooted passion for both creativity and technology. That duality expressed itself early: an eye for aesthetics, design, and fashion, paired with a quiet curiosity about how things worked behind the screen.
Studying Fashion Design in NYC
Moving to New York City to study fashion design wasn’t just a logistical decision—it was a statement of purpose. She arrived with a suitcase full of sketchbooks, a head full of ambition, and a dream to create clothing that blended artistry with structure. From the moment she stepped into the Fashion Institute of Design, she knew she had entered a space where creativity was the currency and personal style was an identity.
New York’s relentless energy became a backdrop to her studies. It wasn’t just about classes; it was about immersion. Every street in Manhattan, every vintage shop in Brooklyn, every gallery in Chelsea became part of her education. She’d sketch silhouettes while riding the subway. She’d study streetwear trends just by sitting in Union Square. Her environment was alive with visual ideas, and that made it the perfect ecosystem for a young designer trying to find her voice.
Rigorous Craft: The Discipline Behind the Art
Studying knitwear design wasn’t all glamour and imagination. The coursework was technically intense and creatively exhausting. Learning how to draft patterns, cut fabric precisely, operate industrial knitting machines, and manipulate fibers into wearable forms required not only skill but patience. Every misaligned stitch was a lesson. Every ruined swatch was feedback. Through late nights in the studio and critiques that cut to the bone, she developed more than a portfolio—she developed resilience.
There was a quiet rigor to fashion school that few outside the industry understood. It wasn’t simply about “making clothes”—it was engineering through texture and thread. She learned to think in three dimensions, to visualize how fabric would behave on the human body, and to design for both aesthetics and function. Knitwear especially required a particular kind of precision, because yarns stretched, curled, and unraveled without warning. It was dynamic. It was temperamental. And that made it endlessly fascinating.
She became fluent in technical terminology—gauge, tension, plaiting—and developed muscle memory for hand-finishing seams or casting on stitches in a specific way. The school’s studio was a second home, often buzzing with the low whir of machines and the quiet intensity of students chasing perfection. There was little time for self-doubt. If a piece didn’t work, you ripped it out and started again.
Finding Her Aesthetic Voice
One of the most transformative parts of studying fashion in New York was the opportunity to discover her design philosophy. At first, she tried to mimic what she saw on runways or in magazines. But over time, she realized the most compelling work didn’t come from imitation—it came from synthesis. From blending inspirations with technical execution. From knowing what she wanted to say, and choosing fabrics and forms to say it with clarity.
Her aesthetic began to emerge as a blend of clean structure and soft detail. She was drawn to garments that revealed craftsmanship subtly—an invisible seam, a perfectly shaped neckline, a surprising choice of material. Knitwear, with its ability to hug or hang, to stretch or support, became her medium of choice. She fell in love with its versatility, its warmth, and its intimacy. There was something deeply human about clothing that was both made by hand and made to be worn against the skin.
Through her courses, she explored the cultural history of fashion, analyzed global textile trends, and experimented with sustainable materials. She also began to think about fashion as more than visual—it was social, it was political, and it could be incredibly personal. Clothing wasn’t just a statement; it was a story.
Collaboration and Critique
Fashion school was competitive, but also surprisingly collaborative. Classmates became both rivals and allies. In critiques, everyone’s work was laid bare, and feedback came swiftly. There was no room for ego—only for iteration. She learned to separate herself from her work, to accept that a garment could be deeply personal and still benefit from outside eyes. That kind of humility, learned under the harsh fluorescent lights of critique day, stayed with her long after.
Collaboration extended beyond classmates. She worked with textile students, model makers, and even graphic designers to bring her visions to life. Group projects tested her ability to merge styles, compromise on creative differences, and manage real production schedules. It was an early lesson in the messy, rewarding nature of team-based creation—an experience that would later mirror her work in engineering.
She also interned at local design studios during summers and breaks. These experiences taught her the realities of the fashion industry—the long hours, the last-minute changes, the pressure to predict trends and deliver designs that balanced artistic vision with market demand. There were days spent organizing swatches, measuring samples, and sewing buttons onto test garments. But even in the minutiae, there was value. Every task taught her something about quality, about pacing, about what it meant to work in fashion.
Creative Burnout and Quiet Shifts
Despite her passion, by the time she neared graduation, she started feeling the weight of the industry’s expectations. The constant push to produce, the hyper-focus on image, and the unspoken competition started to take a toll. She loved design, but she didn’t always love the world surrounding it. Long hours spent chasing fleeting trends began to feel misaligned with her deeper values. She found herself wondering if creativity had to come at the cost of balance and fulfillment.
During these moments of doubt, she leaned into one of her other lifelong interests: technology. She had always been curious about computers, digital tools, and the logic of systems. In downtime between assignments, she would tinker with design software, build small websites, and explore creative coding. At first, it was a hobby. But eventually, she realized it was something more. Tech offered a kind of creativity that felt structured, exploratory, and—most importantly—scalable. It sparked something in her that fashion, at that moment, no longer could.
This quiet shift wasn’t a rejection of design—it was an expansion. She began to imagine a future where creativity didn’t have to look like sketches and runway shows. Where her design instincts could live inside interfaces, interactions, and user flows. She started thinking about how people experienced digital tools in the same way they experienced clothing: with attention to detail, emotional connection, and physical response. This realization planted the seed for what would eventually become a full pivot to software engineering.
Lasting Lessons
Although she ultimately chose to leave the fashion industry, her education in New York City shaped every part of who she became. Fashion school taught her how to think creatively under pressure, how to communicate visually, and how to iterate relentlessly until something felt right. It taught her to listen deeply to feedback, to value the craft as much as the concept, and to hold herself to a high standard—even when no one was watching.
Most of all, it taught her the value of multidimensionality. She learned that identities can evolve, and that creative people don’t have to stay in one lane forever. Design wasn’t a detour in her journey—it was a foundation. A training ground for problem-solving, empathy, and craftsmanship. Those lessons stayed with her as she entered tech, helping her build not just functional tools, but thoughtful experiences.
Looking back, her time studying fashion in New York was not just about making garments. It was about making meaning out of fabric, out of culture, and ultimately, out of the path she chose to follow.
Facing a Crossroads: Realizing Fashion Wasn’t the Long-Term Fit
After a year in the high-stress, ultra-competitive environment of fashion, something clicked. The creative expression was there, but the intellectual and problem-solving aspects she craved were missing. She realized the path she was on, while aligned with one side of her personality, didn’t tap into the other—the part that thrived on logic, systems, and challenges with tangible solutions.
And so, she did what many might shy away from: she quit.
Flatiron School: A Transformational Leap
Taking a leap of faith, she enrolled in a coding bootcamp—Flatiron School—known for its immersive, high-intensity programs designed to transform beginners into job-ready software developers. This decision marked a monumental pivot, not just in career path, but in personal identity.
For someone who had been immersed in fashion, where tangible products, style, and material design ruled, stepping into the abstract world of code and logic was as jarring as it was exhilarating.
Learning to Think Like an Engineer
The bootcamp experience was transformational. Over 15 grueling weeks, she learned to speak a new language—multiple. From HTML and CSS to JavaScript and Ruby on Rails, she immersed herself in the foundations of software engineering.
But beyond just syntax and frameworks, she learned how to think like an engineer. She learned to debug, to iterate, to test, and most importantly, to persist. The experience didn’t just teach her code; it taught her a new way of thinking.
First Job: Blending Fashion and Tech at Grailed
Her journey into software engineering began in earnest the moment she stepped into Grailed’s office. After graduating from a coding bootcamp, she was eager—but admittedly nervous—about transitioning into her first engineering role. Grailed represented a unique opportunity: a fashion-forward company deeply embedded in the menswear resale space, but powered by modern technology. For someone who had spent years immersed in the creative world of knitwear and recently retrained as a developer, it felt like fate to begin her engineering career in a place that straddled both fashion and tech.
The company’s product—an online marketplace for curated men’s fashion—appealed to her not just for its relevance to her past, but because it was solving a real, tangible problem. It connected style-conscious users, collectors, and enthusiasts, many of whom were seeking rare or high-end pieces. She immediately saw how engineering could directly influence user behavior, satisfaction, and engagement, and it gave her early insight into how software could shape culture, not just enable commerce.
Learning in a Fast-Paced Startup
As a young engineer on a small team, she was thrust into a world where learning was constant and the stakes were real. Startups, unlike large corporations, often offer little insulation for newcomers. Code gets deployed quickly. Feedback loops are short. There’s no buffer between you and production. At first, that felt overwhelming. But soon, it became the most valuable part of her early career.
She learned the mechanics of building and shipping quickly—how to work in sprints, how to manage git workflows, how to participate in code reviews. Every pull request was a chance to sharpen her understanding. More experienced engineers gave her thoughtful, actionable feedback that helped her improve incrementally. There was an unspoken expectation that everyone on the team would rise to the occasion, and she took that seriously.
She worked on everything from bug fixes and user interface updates to more complex backend logic. It wasn’t just about delivering tasks—it was about gaining confidence. She began understanding the importance of writing clean, testable code and how even the smallest design decisions could impact performance or scalability. Over time, what once felt unfamiliar became second nature.
Bringing Fashion Experience to Tech
What made her experience at Grailed uniquely fulfilling was how naturally her fashion background complemented her new role. While she was still growing her engineering skills, she often found herself contributing to conversations about aesthetics and user interface. Her design instincts helped her advocate for visual simplicity and thoughtful layout choices. She understood the psychology of browsing fashion: the allure of a well-photographed listing, the importance of clean lines, and the subtle influence of typography.
She realized that fashion and engineering weren’t opposite ends of a spectrum—they were deeply interconnected. Both disciplines demanded an eye for detail, an appreciation of structure, and an understanding of user experience. While one worked with fabric and silhouette, the other dealt with logic and systems. But in both cases, success depended on how something made the user feel. That insight gave her confidence in rooms where she might have otherwise felt out of place.
At times, her unique background made her a bridge between departments. She could understand the technical concerns of engineering while also appreciating the branding and cultural nuances important to marketing and design. That interdisciplinary fluency made her valuable in conversations about product direction, helping the team shape features that were not only functional but also resonant with the community.
Understanding the User Through Data and Feedback
At Grailed, the team had access to rich behavioral data and user feedback. It quickly became clear to her that building features wasn’t just about execution—it was about empathy. She learned how to read product metrics, interpret engagement patterns, and understand which parts of the experience were causing friction. This data-informed approach influenced how she thought about development. Rather than coding in a vacuum, she began to frame her decisions around user goals and challenges.
This was especially important in a community-driven product like Grailed. The users weren’t passive shoppers—they were connoisseurs of niche brands and rare releases. That meant the bar was high for usability, clarity, and speed. Listings needed to load quickly. Filters needed to be intuitive. The checkout flow had to be seamless. With every sprint, she learned to think more like a product engineer—someone who codes not just for the system, but for the people using it.
Building Resilience and Finding Her Voice
In those early months, mistakes were inevitable. She deployed code that caused bugs. She underestimated timelines. She once pushed a front-end change that broke styling across a major section of the site. But instead of being met with blame, she was met with guidance. These moments, though uncomfortable, became pivotal in her growth. They taught her resilience, problem-solving under pressure, and the importance of humility.
As she gained experience, she also found her voice. In team meetings and planning sessions, she started asking more questions, offering suggestions, and advocating for thoughtful solutions. She learned when to push back and when to listen. Her confidence grew not because she had all the answers, but because she learned how to ask better questions and trust her instincts.
She also began mentoring other bootcamp graduates who joined the company. Drawing from her journey, she offered encouragement and advice, paying forward the support she had received. This marked the beginning of her transition from being just a learner to becoming a contributor—someone who not only delivered code but helped build culture.
Looking Back at a Defining Chapter
Reflecting on her time at Grailed, she sees it as a defining chapter in her career. It wasn’t just a first job—it was a proving ground. It allowed her to validate everything she had worked so hard to learn and to integrate parts of herself that she thought she had left behind when she left the fashion world. In many ways, Grailed reminded her that careers don’t have to be linear to be meaningful.
She also came to appreciate that the best engineering environments aren’t just technically excellent—they’re collaborative, creative, and curious. They value diversity of thought, welcome people from non-traditional paths, and create space for individuals to evolve. For her, Grailed wasn’t just a place to work. It was where she learned how to think like an engineer while staying grounded in her design roots.
Finding Alignment at DataCamp
Eventually, her path led her to a new challenge: joining a mission-driven company that aligned with her belief in education, access, and transformation. That company was DataCamp.
Here, her story came full circle. She had transformed herself through an unconventional route and now worked for a company that championed alternative pathways into tech. She knew firsthand how powerful non-traditional education could be, and she believed deeply in lowering barriers for others.
This phase of her career is not just about building products—it’s about building bridges. Her journey from the tactile world of fashion to the abstract beauty of engineering illustrates how diverse experiences, when combined with courage and curiosity, can create truly remarkable paths.
Growth Engineering and the Power of Iteration
Working on the Growth Engineering team presented a unique blend of engineering challenges and strategic thinking. It wasn’t just about writing clean, efficient code—it was about building experiences that could scale and convert. Her team focused heavily on the logged-out user experience, meaning everything they created was often a user’s very first touchpoint with the platform.
This part of the funnel is critically important. It determines whether visitors become learners, whether interest becomes action. Every engineering decision, from how fast a page loads to where a button is placed, could directly influence user behavior. The team worked closely with stakeholders across product, design, and marketing to fine-tune each detail, knowing that a small improvement in sign-up rate could translate into substantial long-term growth.
Metrics, Data, and Learning Through Impact
Working in this environment required fluency in metrics. Beyond just shipping code, she had to understand how to evaluate its performance. What did success look like? Which KPIs mattered? How did one version of a page perform against another in an A/B test?
This emphasis on data-driven decision-making mirrored the company’s broader values. It wasn’t about going with gut feelings or aesthetics alone—it was about validating every assumption. This approach to experimentation made her a sharper, more deliberate developer. It taught her to test early, learn quickly, and optimize continuously.
This mindset also echoed her journey into tech. Just as she had once leaped coding without knowing where it would land, she now took calculated risks with her work, using data to validate or redirect those paths. Each project became an experiment in both code and growth strategy.
Small Team, Big Autonomy
As part of a small NYC-based team, she had a high degree of ownership over her work. Decisions weren’t filtered through layers of hierarchy. If something needed fixing, she could fix it. If a new idea had merit, the team could test it by next week. This nimbleness was empowering.
It also came with a healthy dose of accountability. Autonomy meant taking full responsibility—not just for code quality, but for timelines, outcomes, and even team culture. Within this fast-paced environment, she learned to manage ambiguity, prioritize ruthlessly, and keep the user experience front and center.
Celebrating Wins and Staying Motivated
One of the lighter, yet most memorable, parts of her team culture was how they celebrated success. Whether it was shipping a major feature or beating a goal in an A/B test, they often marked it with milkshakes. It was a small gesture, but a meaningful one. These moments helped create a sense of momentum and camaraderie.
Engineering can be intense, and growth work in particular can be a rollercoaster of quick iterations, failed tests, and sudden breakthroughs. But the team’s ability to celebrate and reflect helped maintain energy and perspective. It kept things human, especially in a field that can often feel abstract.
Solving Real Problems at the Intersection of Tech and Business
One of the most intellectually satisfying aspects of her role was how it merged technical problem-solving with business challenges. When something wasn’t working—say, a drop in sign-up conversions—it wasn’t always a matter of code. Sometimes it was messaging. Sometimes it was designed. Other times, it was something entirely behavioral or environmental.
She learned to approach these problems holistically. Rather than narrowing her focus to a technical fix, she expanded her lens to consider the entire system. It wasn’t enough to deploy a solution that worked—she needed to understand why it worked, and how it fit into the broader user experience.
This type of thinking elevated her from being just a builder to being a product-minded engineer, someone who didn’t just implement tasks but helped define the problem itself.
Professional Growth and Continuous Learning
Joining a company focused on education naturally reinforced the idea that learning doesn’t stop with formal schooling or a job offer. For her, growth wasn’t something reserved for quarterly reviews—it was part of her daily mindset. One of the most rewarding aspects of her time at the company was the encouragement to never stop evolving, technically and personally.
This was more than a philosophy; it was backed by tangible support. The organization offered a learning stipend, which she made full use of. Whether it was attending conferences, enrolling in design courses, or exploring new frameworks, there was a constant stream of opportunities to expand her skill set. This open investment in professional development made a significant difference—not just in what she learned, but in how she saw herself grow.
Exposure to Cutting-Edge Technologies
In her role, she encountered and worked with a wide variety of tools and systems that were shaping the modern development landscape. It wasn’t about staying within a comfort zone. If there was a better or newer way to solve a problem, the team was encouraged to explore it. This willingness to adopt and test new technologies kept the work exciting and forward-looking.
These experiences didn’t just make her more technically proficient—they made her more adaptable. She learned how to evaluate technologies critically, to experiment without fear, and to weigh trade-offs that went beyond code quality. Questions like scalability, maintainability, and team experience became just as important as implementation details.
Attending Conferences and Broadening Perspective
One of the most memorable experiences she had was attending a tech conference in Hawaii. It wasn’t just the location that made it stand out—it was the exposure to a broader community of developers, thinkers, and innovators. Listening to talks from people who were solving entirely different kinds of problems gave her a refreshed view of the industry.
Conferences allowed her to zoom out and consider not just what she was building, but why it mattered. They also sparked curiosity and encouraged her to bring new ideas back to her team. That cross-pollination of knowledge made her more engaged and thoughtful in how she approached her day-to-day work.
Learning from Failures and Challenges
No path is without its setbacks. Some projects didn’t pan out as expected. Some features underperformed. But instead of viewing these as failures, the culture encouraged learning from them. Retrospectives became a tool for understanding—not just what went wrong, but how to prevent similar issues in the future.
This attitude helped her develop resilience. It taught her that failure, when embraced honestly, was one of the most effective learning tools. It also made her more open to asking for help, knowing that the goal was progress, not perfection.
Collaborating Across Disciplines
As the company grew, so did the complexity of its operations. Working with cross-functional teams became more common—designers, marketers, data scientists, and product managers were all part of the ecosystem. Learning how to collaborate across these roles was an education in itself.
Each role brought its perspective, language, and goals. Learning to bridge those gaps taught her to communicate more clearly, prioritize more effectively, and think more empathetically. Over time, she became not just a stronger engineer but a better teammate.
Finding Confidence Through Contribution
One of the most powerful aspects of her journey was how it helped her build confidence, ot just in her technical skills, but in her voice. Early in her career, especially coming from a non-traditional background, she sometimes felt impostor syndrome creeping in. But as she contributed to projects, presented ideas, and saw her work make a difference, that self-doubt began to shrink.
With every experiment launched, every pull request reviewed, and every problem solved, she began to feel not just like someone working in tech, but like someone truly belonging in tech.
Culture, Values, and the Road Ahead
One of the most consistently appreciated aspects of her experience was the company culture, especially its emphasis on trust. Unlike environments where micromanagement is the norm, her,e there was an understanding that people worked best when they were empowered. Deadlines were taken seriously, but so were autonomy, self-direction, and transparency.
In her team, this culture of trust came to life in many ways. When a project didn’t hit its intended goals, the response wasn’t finger-pointing. Instead, it was an honest discussion about what could be improved and how the process might evolve next time. The idea wasn’t to protect egos but to grow through reflection. This created an atmosphere where experimentation was encouraged and ownership felt natural.
The Value of Time and Clear Boundaries
It might seem like a small detail, but one cultural trait that stood out was the way the organization respected time. Meetings started and ended as scheduled. Time wasn’t wasted. There was a shared understanding that everyone’s calendar—and attention span—mattered.
This clarity extended to other work habits, too. People were expected to focus, to dive deep when needed, and to set healthy boundaries. The flexible remote work options weren’t just performative—they were trusted tools for work-life balance. For her, that respect for people’s time and energy translated into greater focus and lower stress. It was a work culture built for sustainable excellence, not burnout.
Living the Values: Data-Driven and Accountable
Two company values that particularly resonated with her were the commitment to data-driven decisions and personal accountability. These weren’t just buzzwords. On her team, they shaped how product discussions unfolded, how tests were run, and how success was defined.
When an idea was proposed, it wasn’t enough to say, “I think this will work.” There needed to be a rationale, a hypothesis, and a plan to measure results. At the same time, because teams were small and lean, people were expected to own their work end-to-end. That meant being ready to advocate for an idea, execute on it, and analyze the outcome.
She found this structure empowering. It created a balance of freedom and responsibility. It also taught her how to be more intentional, more thoughtful, and more willing to revise her approach when the data suggested a better way.
Reflections on Non-Traditional Backgrounds
Throughout her journey, she often reflected on what it meant to come into tech from a non-traditional path. At times, it felt like a disadvantage—especially early on, when others around her had computer science degrees or years of prior experience.
But with time and perspective, she came to view it differently. Her background in fashion taught her creativity, design thinking, and the importance of aesthetics. Her experience with bootcamp learning gave her resilience, speed, and adaptability. These were not weaknesses—they were differentiators.
She became a vocal supporter of alternative education models and non-linear career paths. In team discussions and hiring decisions, she often advocated for looking beyond resumes. She knew from personal experience that talent isn’t always packaged in expected ways.
Looking Ahead: The Role of Tech and Education
As she looked to the future, she saw enormous potential—not just for her growth, but for the entire field. Data fluency was becoming as fundamental as reading and writing. More people from diverse backgrounds were entering tech, and platforms like the one she worked on were helping to make that possible.
She was especially excited by the potential of expanding access, of building products that didn’t just serve experts, but welcomed beginners. This mission felt personal. She knew what it was like to start from zero, to be intimidated by a login screen, to wonder if you belonged. Now, she was part of the team making that journey easier for others.
Redefining What a Tech Career Can Look Like
In the end, her path wasn’t typical—and that was the point. It showed that passion, persistence, and curiosity could be as powerful as credentials. That a tech career didn’t have to start in a computer lab. It could start with a sewing machine, a design studio, a piano, or a single online course.
Her story is a reminder that the future of engineering is not limited to a single narrative. It’s being shaped by people with diverse stories, unexpected backgrounds, and the courage to follow their route. And in that diversity, the industry is not just stronger—it’s more human.
Final Thoughts
Her journey from fashion design to software engineering isn’t just a personal success story—it’s a reflection of how the tech industry is evolving. It challenges long-held assumptions about who gets to be an engineer, what kind of background is considered “valid,” and how careers are built in the modern world. By embracing a path shaped by self-teaching, bootcamp learning, and a deep curiosity, she has shown that there’s no single formula for entering tech.
Her experience also highlights the power of intentional culture. In an industry often marked by rapid change and high pressure, she found a workplace that values trust, accountability, and continuous growth. It gave her space not just to write code, but to contribute meaningfully to business outcomes, to collaborate across disciplines, and to learn without fear of failure.
Most importantly, her story reinforces the idea that skills can be taught, but passion and perseverance come from within. The technical landscape is always shifting—frameworks come and go, languages rise and fall—but the mindset to adapt, to learn, and to contribute is timeless. She didn’t just become a software engineer. She became a problem-solver, a builder, a mentor, and an advocate for opening doors to others like her.
In the end, it’s not just about switching careers or learning to code. It’s about finding work that feels aligned, building systems that make a difference, and helping shape an industry that welcomes every kind of thinker. Her path may have been unconventional, but it was entirely her own. And that’s exactly what made it powerful.