I financially supported the development of the residential project at 910 W. Elizabeth Street through project funding and limited early-stage design feedback. My involvement was intentionally restrained, focused on initial conversations around layout, material sensibility, and overall spatial direction before stepping back to allow the Joseph Design Build team to lead the work.

Casa Kirimodoki (“kee-ree-moh-doh-kee”) is a personal architectural project born from my admiration for Japanese design principles and Mexican craftsmanship. Designed during the pandemic and completed in 2023, the house blends natural materials, clean lines, and open spaces to create a tranquil living experience.

Every element, from the artisanal tilework and hand-forged doors to the carefully planned terrace with sweeping views of the cultural heartbeat of this world renowned town, is an intentional expression of aesthetic restraint and cultural interplay. It serves as both a quiet retreat and an ongoing creative exploration in space-making.

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The Ikigai Retreat was a 14-day immersive experience in Japan blending traditional Japanese culture, wellness practices, and introspective workshops. Guests explored themes of purpose and presence through tea ceremonies, forest walks, and group dialogue.

My role encompassed concept development, experience curation, and onsite facilitation. The project brought together people from different walks of life to an environment that invited clarity, inspiration and self-inquiry.

SushiGuru served as a digital encyclopedia for sushi lovers, offering beautifully photographed items, pronunciation guides, and cultural context. It became a go-to reference for travelers, foodies, and curious beginners navigating Japanese menus with confidence. It was even featured in the New York Times as one of the best Sushi apps available.

I developed the data of the app end-to-end: writing descriptions, organizing taxonomy, working with voice actors, photographers, and designing a UI that made exploring the sushi world feel intuitive, informative, and fun.

As VP of Marketing & Digital Strategy, I led the cross-functional initiative to define, scope, and launch the Thrive mobile app. The goal was to empower customers with self-service tools, simplify appointment booking, and create a unified digital experience across hundreds of clinics.

Working closely with development, operations, and customer experience teams, I crafted a feature set aligned with customer needs and business goals—resulting in a tool that increased engagement, reduced call volume, and strengthened the Thrive brand in a competitive market. Our rapid growth, user engagement and 9000 reviews with an average of 4.9 stars created a sticky userbase.

The Final Matryoshka is an introspective journey through the layered complexities of who we are and who we become. Written across continents during a time of personal reflection, it weaves together stories of my childhood, grief, and discovery, each chapter shedding an outer shell of understanding.

A poignant memoir about the search for belonging, The Final Matryoshka explores the journey of forging deep human connections across distance, culture, and time. Through the struggles of identity and the fear of rejection, it reveals how resilience, trust, and unexpected friendships can create a sense of family in the most unlikely places.

After nearly two years of working with ceramics, hand-building techniques, and sculpture busts in Mexico, I attended an intensive sculpture program at the Academy of Art in Barcelona to deepen my understanding of the human form. This immersive experience helped refine both technical execution and anatomical precision.

My first major work was a bust of a Geisha Catrina—an homage to both Japanese and Mexican cultural motifs. It featured a traditional kimono and hairstyle adorned with monarch butterflies, spikes, and Mexican embroidery patterns. I later created a Mayan warrior clad in stylized samurai armor, continuing the theme of cultural synthesis.

My final piece, titled Aries, began with an AI-generated concept exploring the humanized form of the zodiac sign. The result was a sculptural embodiment of boldness, duality, and transformation—closing the loop between tradition and futuristic inspiration.

My relationship with calligraphy began in high school, winning a Calligraphy Art Award in 1997. Since then, it has remained a throughline across languages, countries, and disciplines.

I studied Japanese calligraphy while living in Tokyo at International Christian University (2000–2001), followed by deep dives into Uncial and Hebrew scripts through the San Francisco and Austin Calligraphy Guilds. In 2013, I returned to Japanese calligraphy through classes with JASGA (Japan America Society of Greater Austin), continuing my practice of combining traditional forms with personal expression.

Recent years brought immersive experiences: a calligraphy intensive in Lecce, Italy with Massimo Polello (2024), and a workshop on mark-making with Monica Dengo in Kyushu, Japan (2025). These advanced studies expanded my interest in non-linear, expressive writing and visual storytelling across cultures.

My work today explores the liminal space between writing and art, honoring the cultural origins of each script while pushing their expressive potential into contemporary form.

Storefront Social enabled SMB retailers to showcase products, manage catalogs, and drive purchases inside Facebook meeting customers where they spent time. The app featured flexible product layouts, promo modules, and analytics to track engagement and sales.

I led product strategy, UX, and go-to-market: designing the SaaS, building the brand, and scaling self-serve onboarding. The product achieved recurring revenue, sustained growth without funding, and was acquired in April 2015.

一期一会 : The Geometry of a Moment

This piece is a 16×16 typographic design built from 256 Japanese characters. Yojijukugo (四字熟語) are idiomatic expressions written in exactly four kanji, a format rooted in classical Chinese literary syntax. Using their fixed length, these became ideal building blocks for my structural, grid-based composition.

At the center, is the idiom 一期一会 (ichi-go ichi-e) meaning, “one time, one meeting”. It's a reminder that every encounter is singular and unrepeatable, a once in a lifetime type expression.

Surrounding the core is a series of interlocking 4×4 idiom blocks, each following a shared character at the beginning and ending. These blocks of 16 then expand into a lattice of various idiomatic expressions.

The outer ring features unique 2×2 idiom tiles, each chosen for themes of clarity, renewal, harmony, and presence. No idioms repeat; every selection is intentional.

This work merges my love of the Japanese linguistic tradition, with geometric precision, resulting in a meditative visual field. It reflects an impermanence, interconnectedness, and the beauty of moments that happen only once.

I screenprinted by hand a final version in various inks and papers as a limited run of prints as gifts.