Introducing myself

I use my UI/UX design skills to help product-based brands to grow & scale their businesses with the power of an e-commerce website. I love working with brands that inspire their fans to become the best versions of themselves.

Four years ago, 
I thought I’d be a software engineer, but my crappy-looking final year project changed those plans. I took a short design course to make my website project look better, and ended up loving design (playing with colors at the time) far more than coding.

So I skipped my Masters entrance exam & enrolled into a 10-month online design program, then joined a local creative startup as a curious & extremely excited intern. Since then, I’ve made huge wins, had some terrible failures & learned valuable lessons while working with my team at Creative Consillium.

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What I do

I love working with businesses/business owners who are focused on solving a problem, put their customers’ needs first, and treat business relationships as a partnership. This means defining what success looks like for a client, aligning their website’s look and feel with their  brand, and helping them to eventually automate their online business.

Right now, I lead the creative process at Creative Consillium, a forward-thinking design firm in Nairobi, Kenya. My responsibility is to help clients focus on what's important for their success, based on the goals we set at the start of the project.

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Some surprising facts

• I get some creative juice from mountain biking every other day.
• I love karting & competing with my friends. The adrenaline on track helps me think clearly.
• I’m an introvert. 
I love people, but need to pull myself away to recharge.
• I have a ridiculous obsession with marshmallows.

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Biggest struggles to get where I am

In my first three years as a designer, the biggest conflict with myself was doing what a client wanted instead of what was needed for their business. It could get tough to show how solution “X” would solve a problem when justifying it was already difficult.

This happened more in my intern days when I thought of the potential impact my beginner mistakes could have on a project’s finances.

Simply, analysis paralysis. I would take longer to make critical decisions and, in the end, clients would not feel very confident in the choices I would make.

Since then, I’ve learned to prevent these situations by:

• Communicating with a client about all considerations, timelines and costs early on in a project
• Discuss tricky scenarios with my team to get a different perspective
• Assure myself that I have done the best I can at the time to help my client

This helps to defuse worries about a potential problem before they happen.

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Investments I’ve made in my journey

I wouldn’t be where I am today without taking a few gambles, and teaming up with some amazing people. These steps have left solid footprints in my journey:

• A business & technology degree at Strathmore University
• A UX/UX design certification at DesignLab’s UX academy
• ‍I also listen to Courier’s podcast, which provides a dose of insight and inspiration for those looking to launch or grow their own modern business. This helps me understand how product & service-based business owners think.

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Most valuable advice I’ve ever got

Steph, you’re not defined by your clients’ success. You only help them get there.