Acknowledgements

The people who've made me

No one gets anywhere on their own; every person owes their personal and professional success to dozens, maybe hundreds, of people. The list below is far from complete, but it points to some of the key people who led me where I am today.

  • My parents, who got me Microsoft Frontpage when I was 10. The rest is history.
  • NeoPets, MySpace, and GeoCities, for teaching me how to code.
  • Greg Farshtey, whose worldbuilding in LEGO Bionicle inspired my first website designs.
  • Mike Fisher, who provided space and resources at my High School to design and code—and who forgave me after I dropped our High School’s entire MySQL database
  • Jesjit Birak, who mentored me in web design in High School (and went on to become the director of Engineering at Reddit! Freakin' go)
  • Dallin, Pmo, and Jake—you know who you are. Friends through thick and thin!
  • Nathan Crowther, who helped start the BYU UX Club, and helped me when I accidentally became President of the same club! A good designer and a better friend
  • Ben Peck, who has done so much for the design community in Utah through organizing Front and Product Hive, and who’s always been willing to be a friend
  • Bradley Gregory, who introduced me to RAIN and whose passion for sustainability and living intentionally has continued to inspire me
  • Dan Hatch, who invited me to teach as an adjunct at UVU, fueling a passion for teaching and giving me the chance to teach and work with amazing people
  • Tom McFarland, who started UVU’s Digital Media problem—and who later became my uncle-in-law!—for his ridiculous enthusiasm for teaching, Hype, AI, Donny Osmond, and playing the harmonica
  • Morgan and Char Coleman, for giving me the random but wonderful opportunity to lead chocolate tastings in Provo for three years (and making me into a chocolate snob in the process)
  • Nick Godfrey, who gave me a chance to live and work in New York City for three years—changing my whole perspective on life (and pizza!)
  • Greg Hedges, who mentored me in my design projects at RAIN and helped me whenever I got stuck on a hard UX or conversational UI problem.
  • Garth and Jamie Braithwaite, for bonding over our shared love of Gravity Falls and Brandon Sanderson, and for being great mentors and friends

There are a lot more people I could have listed, not to mention people who have helped me through books, writing, and talks. The world is amazing and full of good people.