just archiving some of the cringeworthy content that used to live in “More on Me” here.

Learning in non-private

[edit: I no longer update this!]

Learning (outside of school) has always been a pretty private, siloed experience for me. Trying a new experiment: learning in “public”!

For now, it’s going to be mostly crypto-centric. The intention is to be more authentic and transparent with my progress, and I’m starting by publicizing some of my own messy, non-linear notes. I’m not editing for the public eye, so there’s no guarantee for grammar, orderliness, or even correctness.

Notice that I got something wrong? Commenting functionality is on, so please do feel free to leave feedback!

On art & colors, on tech, and on my journey

From when I was five to when I graduated high school, I lived every single weekend in a small, unassuming art studio. I wanted to become a professional oil painter and to go to art school. Growing up, most of my garments were splattered with paint.

So I’m a pretty visual learner and thinker. Unironically, I love asking about people’s favorite colors! Coral-red #ff9980, for example, is my favorite color—it’s bright, energetic, and powerfully feminine. My friends call it “Kristie red” :)

In addition to the fine arts, I dabbled in writing. Won a couple writing contests in elementary + middle school. In seventh grade, I got to 25k/50k words in NaNoWriMo. In high school, I was editor-in-chief of the creative magazine for two years, growing readership by 20x.

Then I tried debating in Model UN for two years. Then I nearly became an international relations / economics major (thank you, YYGS!).

So I never thought I’d be a ~tech~ person.

But when I tried my hand at UI design, I loved being able to create prototypes of things I could actually use. Then, I wanted to go from prototypes to real, functioning apps. I spent the summer after tenth grade learning to code at Make School—where I shipped my first two real apps.

It’s been a whirlwind since then.

Support systems

Thank you to Rewriting the Code + NCWIT + Built By Girls + Tech Ladies for being THE reason why I’m in tech today. I literally would not be in tech if it wasn’t for these online support systems. I give back my time frequently to younger girls breaking into tech + helping with college apps, because I know how absolutely essential it was for me.

Also forever grateful to my friends, current & ex-boyfriends, mentors, and family for shaping me into who I am today. You know who you are.

The proof

A couple favorite essays

Miscellaneous

  • I have idiopathic scoliosis! Wore a plastic back brace for 23 hours a day from 4th to 9th grade to avoid open-back surgery. I was a hardy fourth grader—literally :’) When I was 14, I started a Change.org petition to the CA governor to mandate scoliosis screenings in elementary schools. It gathered hundreds of comments & 10k signatures. Nothing came out of it though, unfortunately.
  • In 7-9th grade, I ran a studyblr with 10k followers :)
  • I’m an ESTJ, and very Type A… Can you tell?
  • Swift was the very first programming language I learned… even before Python :’)
  • Love dried fruits too much for my own good
  • big on lowercasing whenever possible

If you’ve read this far, please, please say hi.