I’ve always struggled to celebrate my accomplishments, since my default mode is to fret over what’s ahead of me, but I’m learning the value in looking back. I know we’re already into 2026 ( it’s still January, at least) but wanted to reflect on successes and efforts in 2025. Maybe this could be a new tradition, and a way of actually remembering to update my website!
2025 was a year of taking calculated risks, persistence and finding clarity.
Design
The biggest risk was to leave my in-house, full-time job at Aledade and join my mentor and friend Anna Abovyan at Yaluna Design. I’ve known Anna since 2017 when she hired me at M*Modal, and about 5 years ago she launched her own design consultancy.
She’d been encouraging me to join her for a while, would throw me small freelance side projects, and in the Fall of 2024 she asked me to become a managing director of Yaluna. In February of 2025 I gave notice and began freelancing, leading research and strategy for our client in the hospitality software space. It was a fantastic decision, because in spite of some very difficult months, I realized that having to learn and grow every day makes me happier at work. Whether it’s learning how expert users do their work, or understanding contract law, or pricing and pitching to a new client, I like being challenged. I’m really grateful to work with Anna and our awesome team of freelance designers and researchers, and I’m looking forward to what’s coming next in 2026.
In 2025 I also continued volunteering with the Parking Reform Network, applying my skills in graphic design to their first-ever Shoup Awards ceremony presentation. I attended Config (Figma’s design conference) in April thanks to an invite from my friend Rehan, and got to tour Pixar’s HQ in Emeryville in the same trip! Dreamy!
Comics
In the realm of comics, this year brought some exciting movement and some ongoing slog. Exciting: The LA Times publishing a piece I created with Emily Menez. Having a gag cartoon published in Narrative Magazine.
A big moment in 2025 was saying yes to tabling at the Small Press Expo for the first time since 2016. I found out I was accepted via lottery in mid-Summer and decided to attempt making an all-new zine before September. And you know what, I finished it. I created a new comics series making fun of working in Tech called Lowered Techspectations. It’s a zine! It’s an email newsletter! There’s even an advice column in it, written by my friend Zen Paycheck! I’m having a blast making it and chatting about it with fellow techbros (who knew jargon like “challenging macro environments” was so universal?). It’s a topic I’ve wanted to draw for years but it took time to find the right format and ‘look’ for it. I decided to go with a really simple style and drew it on paper to help me be less precious about it. I’ve got so many ideas for where the story will go next. It’s only going to get weirder.
In the realm of ongoing slog, I have been committed to my WIP graphic novel, Celebrity Garbage Patch. After receiving some literary agent feedback early in the year, have been translating the written script into rough sketches of the entire book. Previously I had only drawn several chapters as a sample. It’s been a long, time-consuming process, but I’m within a few pages of being done! Whose idea was it to to create a full-length graphic novel about sea creatures, none of which I knew how to draw? Argh! I’m learning all kinds of trivia, though, about ocean life, like that a cousin of the lowly pill bug lives underwater and is GIANT. Once I’m finished with these pages, I’ll scan them and be back to querying literary agents in the hope of finding someone to represent me.
Other life milestones
There’s more to life than work, of course. In 2025 my husband and I ended a nomadic period and settled into a new apartment, finally! It’s been so nice to have some stability, plus we’re incredibly close to the ocean and two protected bike paths. I’ve realized that any day where you get to see the ocean is a good day, and I’m so lucky to get to walk to the beach whenever I want. This year I also had a breakthrough in the treatment of one of my chronic health issues, which has been game changing. I’m not the type to go into it, but I just want to encourage anyone struggling to get the medical care they need: don’t give up on yourself. Even though it can feel like a full-time job to manage doctors’ visits and all the associated admin, you deserve to be taken seriously and to get the best care that current science has to offer.
Also, I started tap dancing classes, which 10 out of 10 I highly recommend.
Thanks for reading and here’s to a fulfilling 2026!