About
I got into accessibility in 2018, at Bottle Rocket, when WCAG 2.1 landed with real cognitive criteria.
IAAP CPACC certified.
The measurable side - low vision, contrast - made sense to me already. The cognitive side was the part I couldn't put down: ADHD, dyscalculia, age-related decline, aphasia. The guidelines were describing how real minds actually work, and almost nobody was building for it.
The trajectory
- Bottle Rocket - designed the accessibility program from scratch, including an Accessibility Council. It didn't outlive me, and that changed how I work. The full story.
- Alto - no formal program, no mandate. Accessibility built into the everyday work with engineering, design, QA, and business teams. The full story.
- Cariloop - brought in to introduce product management as a practice. Served as product owner for the caregiver-matching platform; accessibility became a company pillar. The full story.
- Hilton - led accessibility across the global digital portfolio: 7,500 sites, 17 languages, a 24-person team. My title was Lead Accessibility Analyst; the scope was the program. That happens a lot in this field, and it's part of why I work independently now. The full story.
- Inclusive Design LLC - my own practice since 2019, running alongside the in-house years and now the main thing.
How I work
I start with the ownership model, not the audit - a practice that lives in one person ends when that person leaves. I scope to the problem, and I'll tell you early if I'm not the right person for it. Fractional is welcome: a practice doesn't need me full-time once it's running.
What I want
Scale and continuity: a team stronger than me in the areas I'm not, and a product I keep iterating on after launch - because the interesting accessibility work doesn't happen at launch.
Outside the work
Dallas. I make short videos about the operator's view of accessibility - real fixes, the business case, no jargon. I also paint and teach painting classes.