Young woman with long black hair standing in front of a black chalkboard with white chalk illustrations of various objects and hands.

A visit to the studio of one of my absolute favorite artists, Hung Liu 🥠

Originally from the SF Bay Area, I’m currently studying Art & Cognitive Science @ UCLA ☀️ (Class of ‘26!)

🎨 I love art, business, technology, & the ways that they can work together to create something extraordinary. I also love eating 100% dark chocolate, getting excited about beautifully designed stationery, and listening to audiobooks on long drives.

💡 I believe thoughtful design makes life more intuitive (& beautiful!). I want to bring more of it into the world—whether through my creations or the communities I’m helping to build. I like to think of it as my ikigai: the constant pursuit of an intersection between passion, profession, and personal mission. ⚡️

🐕 3 words to describe me: Golden Retriever Energy. (even on the bad days)

📍Welcome to my little corner of the internet — happy exploring! 🗺️ ✨

Hi, I’m Michelle!

Previous Work

Figma

Abstract logo with five colorful shapes resembling a lowercase 'f' in red, purple, blue, green, and light blue on a white background

Campus Leader @ UCLA, 2024-Present

Apple

Apple logo with a black apple and a white background

Product Design Intern, 2025

Roblox

Close-up of a white surface with a small, gray square and a tilted, larger square with a shadow, on a circular background.

Product Design Intern, 2024

Adobe

Adobe logo with red stylized 'A' and the word 'Adobe' below it.

Product Consultant (Contract), 2024

NASA JPL

NASA logo with blue circle, white stars, red vector, and white text on a white background.

Design Intern, 2023-2024

Product Consultant (Contract), 2023

Amazon logo with a black letter a and orange arrow forming a smile underneath.

Amazon

Unimage of a distorted, noisy, black and white pixelated pattern

Problems

I Care Deeply About

Icon of two people with a dotted line indicating communication or connection between them

Human Connection

Building tools to help people share, communicate, & collaborate.

Digital clock icon with a cursor pointing at the 3 o'clock mark

Sparking Creativity

Crafting software to nurture new ideas & share them with the world.

White circular background with three pink and blue star-shaped sparkles in the center, creating a glowing or shiny effect.

Delightful Interaction

Making technology that is useful—without forgetting to make it beautiful.

Feel the same way? Let's talk.

My Communities 🤝 / The people who make it all worth it

A purple and pink geometric logo with a hexagon and stylized letter 'F' on a light gray background.

UCLA Product Space

As Co-President, I help lead the biggest product & tech club on campus. We provide students the mentorship, workshops, & tools they need to break into tech! (& cultivate a supportive, welcoming community along the way)

Figma logo with four colored shapes on a white background

Figma @ UCLA

As one of 3 Campus Leaders, I host design events at UCLA to teach students Figma and help make design accessible to everyone. (The best part: handing out lots + lots of awesome free design merch!!)

Close-up of a metallic smiley face ring on a white surface.

sundays in la

I help host sundays, a coworking session for creatives in LA! sundays is a node of Socratica ⁂, a global community for makers, artists, builders, and others to work on their passions.

My Favorite Quotes 💡 / a.k.a. My Design (+ Life) Philosophy

🪡

Love your craft.

Work is love made visible.
- Kahlil Gibran

📍

Execute the vision.

Knowing exactly where I wanted to end up freed me totally to improvise how to get there.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

🌓

Less is more.

Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.
- Steve Jobs

💧

Stay liquid.

Revert to a feeling of inferiority. If we feel like we know something, our minds close off to other possibilities. This sense of inferiority gives us a hunger to learn.
- Robert Greene

My Favorites / Shelves

📖

Book cover of 'Man's Search for Meaning' by Viktor E. Frankl, featuring a black background, gold and white text, and a lit matchstick at the bottom, with a gold circular badge indicating over 12 million copies sold worldwide.
A book cover titled 'East of Eden' by John Steinbeck, with a historical reference 'Steinbeck Centennial 1902-2002', featuring an illustration of a large, gnarled tree with branches spreading out, and a small drawing of two horses and a tree in the distance.
Book cover of 'The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh' edited by Mark Roskill, featuring a portrait of Vincent Van Gogh with a beard and mustache, in an impressionist style, with a red banner at the bottom containing the title and editor's name.
Close-up of a book cover titled "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami, featuring a person's face with glasses, and a circular window showing a landscape with clouds.
Book cover for 'The Goldfinch' by Donna Tartt, featuring a torn paper revealing a painted goldfinch and a yellow circle with 'Winner of the Pulitzer Prize' text.
Book cover of 'Born to Die' by Lana Del Rey featuring a woman with red hair in a white shirt against a background of a blue sky and a car.

🎼

A man in a suit sitting on a chair in front of a large window showing a view of stars and galaxies, with a worn, scratched texture overlay.
Photograph of a woman holding a sign with the number 1987 and the initials T.S. and D.H.X. written below.
Close-up of a woman with styled hair, dark lipstick, and a small heart tattoo below her right eye. Text on the image reads: "Marina and the Diamonds - Electra Heart."
A black peace symbol on a red background, with the words "COUP D'ÉTAT" written below.

🎬

Poster for the movie 'Mulholland Drive' showing a close-up of a woman's face with blonde hair, dark makeup, and red lipstick, divided by the film title and credits.
Poster for Studio Ghibli's film 'Kiki's Delivery Service' featuring a young girl with a red bow, a black cat, seagulls, and a cityscape background.
Movie poster for 'Fallen Angels' showing two young adults, one male and one female, with the female resting her head on the male's shoulder, both with serious expressions, with a green-toned background and title text.
A woman with short dark hair sitting on a camping chair on a patterned rug outside at sunset, holding a green mug in her right hand, with a van and mountain landscape in the background.
A movie poster for the film "Parasite" by Bong Joon Ho, featuring people with black bars over their eyes, standing and lounging outside a modern house with a garden, on a sunny day with blue skies. 
 “Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”
-  FRANZ KAFKA  -