12+ years in design,
from web to product.

I spent over 8 years leading UX for Rakuten Music, contributing to 15x membership growth. At Rakuten, I worked with product, engineering, marketing, and legal teams, often balancing different priorities across a large organization. I also managed and mentored junior designers. That experience taught me how to move projects forward when decisions involve multiple teams, business requirements, and technical constraints.

I like getting involved early, when there's still room to question assumptions and shape the direction of a product. I prefer to understand the problem before jumping into solutions, and I'm comfortable challenging ideas, including my own, when research or data points in a different direction. I also care about what happens after launch and whether the product is meeting the business goals we set.

I'm naturally curious about how things work, and I often want to try building them myself. That's what got me interested in AI-assisted development. I've been using AI to experiment with new ways of designing and building products, including my own project, MaiLLY. I enjoy learning new tools, figuring things out through trial and error, and seeing something I've imagined actually work.