About Me
Hi! I'm Arielle, an idealist at heart. I majored in environmental studies, a call I made after an exhaustive summer inhaling Netflix documentaries (peak Supersize Me and Food, Inc. era). That pulled me into environmental planning, where I worked on everything from national park improvements to large-scale highway projects. My days were spent analyzing and synthesizing dense data, and I noticed I lit up anytime a task turned remotely creative. So in 2020, amid the collective existential spiral, I followed that spark to design; between my problem-solving streak and my convergent/divergent brain, it was love at first sight.
In 2022, I went all in and enrolled in a year-long immersive at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D), a program built around using design to tackle messy social problems. It was the first place my idealism had somewhere to go since college. I learned to sit in the ambiguity: running qualitative research, synthesizing what people actually need, and shaping it into storyboards, service blueprints, and ideas worth building.
After a short freelance stretch, I brought all of it to EverBright, a NextEra clean-energy company that makes home solar easier to design and finance. There, I designed end-to-end for the tools solar installers rely on to sell systems, owning problems from messy research all the way to shipped UI. I got especially good at turning dense, technical workflows into something people can actually move through.
Hi! I'm Arielle, an idealist at heart. I majored in environmental studies, a call I made after an exhaustive summer inhaling Netflix documentaries (peak Supersize Me and Food, Inc. era). That pulled me into environmental planning, where I worked on everything from national park improvements to large-scale highway projects. My days were spent analyzing and synthesizing dense data, and I noticed I lit up anytime a task turned remotely creative. So in 2020, amid the collective existential spiral, I followed that spark to design; between my problem-solving streak and my convergent/divergent brain, it was love at first sight.
In 2022, I went all in and enrolled in a year-long immersive at the Austin Center for Design (AC4D), a program built around using design to tackle messy social problems. It was the first place my idealism had somewhere to go since college. I learned to sit in the ambiguity: running qualitative research, synthesizing what people actually need, and shaping it into storyboards, service blueprints, and ideas worth building.
After a short freelance stretch, I brought all of it to EverBright, a NextEra clean-energy company that makes home solar easier to design and finance. There, I designed end-to-end for the tools solar installers rely on to sell systems, owning problems from messy research all the way to shipped UI. I got especially good at turning dense, technical workflows into something people can actually move through.
Getting hands-on experience at AC4D
Though I'm Austin born-and-raised, I've got a strong pull toward adventure. About a decade ago, after trying (and failing) to survive Colorado winters, I took off on what became a 2.5-year run of solo backpacking, volunteering, and working across Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. And last year when my lease was up, I decided to throw everything in storage and hit the road for a 5-month trip along the West Coast with my senior pup riding shotgun.
Though I'm Austin born-and-raised, I've got a strong pull toward adventure. About a decade ago, after trying (and failing) to survive Colorado winters, I took off on what became a 2.5-year run of solo backpacking, volunteering, and working across Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. And last year when my lease was up, I decided to throw everything in storage and hit the road for a 5-month trip along the West Coast with my senior pup riding shotgun.
My spunky road trip pal, Ria (aka Riri/Rihanna)
When I'm home in Austin between adventures, I'm outside as much as possible—gardening, paddle boarding, or taking advantage of those few mosquito-free months when sleeping outside actually sounds appealing. Beyond design, my creative outlets include: fingerpicking guitar and clawhammer banjo, throwing pots at a local studio, and shooting film on my step-mom's ancient Canon.
When I'm home in Austin between adventures, I'm outside as much as possible—gardening, paddle boarding, or taking advantage of those few mosquito-free months when sleeping outside actually sounds appealing. Beyond design, my creative outlets include: fingerpicking guitar and clawhammer banjo, throwing pots at a local studio, and shooting film on my step-mom's ancient Canon.
A couple of my latest attempts *ahem, pieces* from pottery class
A photo I took in 2025 in one of my favorite places, West Texas
Experience
EverBright
Mid-Level Product Designer
September 2024–March 2026
EverBright
Associate Product Designer
August 2023–September 2024
What She Said
Freelance Product Designer
February 2023–August 2023
Hicks & Company
Environmental Planner
February 2019–June 2021