March 2025 – Present

Product Packaging Design Specialist |
Gerber | Meals & Drinks

Nestlé Nutrition R&D, Fremont, MI

  • Drive the front-end innovation process by leveraging commercial and technical knowledge to develop consumer concepts for products, packaging, and services.

  • Plan and facilitate strategic workshops, utilizing appropriate approaches and tools to achieve defined success criteria.

  • Support breakthrough innovation through insights into trends, consumer motivations, and rapid prototyping.

  • Actively seek and integrate new trends, consumer insights, and technologies into consumer-facing solutions aligned with business strategy.

  • Product development from conceptualization to early prototyping.

  • Assist teams in evaluating early concepts for consumer desirability and technical feasibility.

  • Build and share innovation best practices within internal and external networks.

  • Coach project teams on the innovation process, including problem identification and solution development techniques.

  • Guide Packaging & Design Technicians and external agencies in prototyping and design.

Jan. 2021 – March 2025

Fabricator🔗

Freelance | Dansville, MI

  • Fabricating custom furniture, DIY installations, and commissioned furniture restorations to create visual assets for Home Improvement brands editorial and social media campaigns

  • Experience working with variety of materials such as wood, paint, stain, epoxies, urethanes, and upholstery

  • Experience working with Model Shop equipment such as saws, drill press, sanders and hand tools

  • Asset creation, social media insights and analytics

Sept. 2018 – April 2024

Industrial Designer | Global Innovation

Dart Container Corp. | Mason, MI

  • Leading Global Innovation Concept Design - developing and launching sustainable lines including reusable food/bev. packaging, backyard/home compostable cutlery, and PFAS- Free molded fiber dinnerware

  • Working closely with major national food, beverage, and restaurant brands providing consumer insights, concept development, and product design recommendations to ensure the final output aligns with client sustainability goals, user experience, and market demands

  • Engaging with internal and external resources including model makers, model shop manager, vendors, suppliers, designers, engineers, plant personnel, and program manager among others

  • Developing concept parts, prototypes, and life-like displays for proper evaluation and/or presentation

  • Managing Industrial Design 2023/24 Co-Op program

 

Aug. 2016 – Sept. 2018

Associate Industrial Designer |
New Product Development

Dart Container Corp. | Mason, MI

Hired contract Aug. 2016
Hired salary Nov. 2016

  • Collaborating with engineering, marketing, and lab technicians to meet or exceed product development criteria - ensuring successful integration of new product ideas into the Foodservice and Consumer Products market channels

  • Assisting in the fabrication of concept parts and prototypes for evaluation and presentation

  • Knowledge of Rapid-Prototyping and Rapid-Tooling industry and experience working with a variety of materials such as clay, plastics, paint, stain, epoxies, and urethanes

  • Responsible for working on multiple projects at a time

  • Managing Industrial Design Intern Summer 2018

Nov. 2015 – July 2016

Industrial Design Intern |
Turnstone Brand

Steelcase Inc. | Grand Rapids, MI

  • Assisting the design team in developing new office furniture concepts via ideation, sketching, CAD, and fabricating physical scale prototypes contributing to the refinement of several Turnstone products

  • Basic knowledge and experience working with a variety of materials such as model board, textiles, wood, sheet metal, metal castings, and electrical

  • Patent granted for internship project, Paper Clip, featured at NeoCon 2016; U.S. Patent Number D832,611 S

 

May 2015 – Aug. 2015

Industrial Design Intern |
Packaging R&D

Amway | Ada, MI

  • Conducting user research and identifying unmet-needs within the Home & Wellness product category

  • Generating package design concepts across multiple business lines through ideation, sketching, rough mock-ups, CAD, digital renderings, and 3D printed prototypes to improve product usability and efficiency

  • Building prototypes based on technical drawings from engineering interns for concept testing and evaluation

Competencies

Research

3D printing

KeyShot

Design thinking

Adobe Creative Suite

Collaboration

Ideation facilitation

Microsoft Office + Teams

Design visualization

Autodesk Sketchbook

Concept development

Prototype fabrication

Autodesk Fusion

Vendor management

Furniture restoration

Presentations

Google Workspace

Sew , embroider, crochet

Education

Industrial Design BFA

Kendall College of Art & Design
Spring 2016 with Honors

IDSA Student Chapter President

Industrial Designers Society of America
2015 - 2016

1st Place | Early Startup

MWest Challenge
April 2016

Certifications

Leading For Creativity

IDEO U
Spring 2020

Human-Centered Design Practitioner

LUMA Institute
Certified Fall 2018

 

Continued Development

KeyShot Material Masterclass

Will Gibbons
In-progress

KeyShot Rendering Masterclass

Will Gillons
In-progress

Visual Comm. III

College for Creative Studies | guest student
Completed Spring 2022 Semester