From Pixels to People: The Best Part Is Still Ahead

When Sentia turned 20 in March, I found myself doing two things I hadn't done in a long time — updating my LinkedIn profile for the first time in over a decade, and sitting down to write my very first blog post.

It took longer than I expected — because I had to figure out how to describe what I'd become. I started as a freelance UI/UX designer. These days I'm the most senior person in our Sydney office, leading design, product and operations. The work spans more than I ever mapped out — design, scoping, client relationships, team, budget, problem-solving. It's messy and varied and I love it.

Looking back, I think the one thing that kept pulling me forward was simple: caring deeper.

Design was where it all began. There's something deeply satisfying about shaping how a product feels — the flow, the logic, the small details a user barely notices but would miss if they were gone. Some of those client relationships have stayed with me long after the projects ended. That means more than any brief or deliverable.

But at some point I started paying attention to what happened after I handed things over — where products drifted from the original vision, where better communication could have changed everything. So I closed the distance. Learned enough to stay in the conversation across disciplines, to hold the thread even when things moved outside my lane. The gaps never fully close — you can't know everything. But you can learn to see across them, and that turns out to be its own kind of skill.

The shift into a broader role happened gradually. The line between leading design and managing the product had been blurring for years — those worlds overlap more than most people expect. When our last project manager left, stepping up felt less like a decision and more like the obvious next thing. And with that came something I hadn't fully anticipated — the weight of being the one who makes the call. Balancing what a client wants with what's technically feasible, protecting the user experience when budgets are tight, holding competing priorities without letting anything important collapse. It's not always comfortable. But it's where I've grown the most.

What carries through all of it is empathy — the same instinct that makes a good designer also makes a good collaborator and a good listener. Clients come to me for solutions. Colleagues come to me when something is tangled. Being that person — the one they can count on — is something I don't take for granted. It's a responsibility I feel genuinely. I'm not the most technical person in the room, and I don't need to be — I have brilliant people for that. But I understand enough to ask the right questions and keep the user experience at the centre of every decision.

We work with clients from startups to enterprise across all kinds of industries, and the problems are always different. The best moments are working through something complex with a talented team and arriving somewhere none of us would have found alone.

Right now I'm in the middle of building — tools, processes, ways of working that I'm still exploring and refining. That's the part I find most exciting. Making something real, even when it's not finished, changes how you think.

I'm proud to be part of Sentia and proud of what we've built together. That feeling hasn't faded — if anything it's grown.

There's a lot more to come. And a big part of what made all of this possible is the freedom my boss Michael gave me — to lead, to explore, to take up space and make it my own. That kind of trust is rare, and I don't take it lightly.