What’s it like having hundreds of photos taken of you in just a few short minutes?

Goofy. And surprisingly not scary. I think we had fun with it! I wish I had untucked that pocket on my right side, though. 

Where do you live? Where are you from?

I've lived in Chicago for over a decade, though I was born, raised, educated, etc. in metro Detroit. 

My Logan Square apartment is sunny and filled with plants people dump on me when they move out of state (all my friends keep leaving??). 

I, too, had a phase in my life when it seemed all of my friends were moving away from Chicago and I wondered a lot about if I should go somewhere myself. I never left because it never seemed like a good idea to leave! What about you? Do you dream of living elsewhere? And if not, what about Chicago keeps you here?

I love how relatively affordable Chicago is for the amenities it offers: public transportation (for now), great parks, incredible restaurants and bars, world class museums, etc. But I do find myself craving more density and walkability, which makes me want to move to New York City. Or I find myself fed up with the U.S. and want to move to a European city. I was lucky enough to spend six weeks living in Paris last fall, and I think that got it out of my system for a little while. 

What makes you excited to be alive?

Realizing that there are no rules once you're a grownup. Eat spaghetti for breakfast! Hang a T-Rex sculpture in your hall! Take Wednesday off work to go ice skating with your best friend! 

It's not revolutionary, but it's far from the strict way that I grew up, where there were many unspoken and spoken rules about the "right" and "wrong" way to do all things. 

Is there an artist you call your favorite? Why?

I briefly met Ryvka Adda last fall while she was selling her work at Le Bon Marche. She creates magnetic "paper" dolls that hit my nostalgic and sustainable brain just right. It also doesn't hurt that she makes one that looks pretty similar to me! 

I'll also say that my dream creative duo is Taylor Swift and Bo Burnham. Together, they would be an unstoppable millennial force. 

Tell me about your career and/or what are your career goals?

By day, I'm an experience design content strategist at Digitas. Basically, I make websites better for users. By the way, I really like your website. (Editor’s note: blushes)

Something I get paid significantly less for is advocating for a more walkable Chicago with my newsletter, tiny lil actions chicago. It was born from my genuine and strongly held belief that small things add up to make a big impact. Each month, I send out an aggregated list of action-oriented links (like petitions, easy ways to email your reps, etc.) that are related to making the city more walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented, and generally focused on people and planet. 

Regarding your newsletter: I love this! As someone who nearly got probably-killed by a driver flying through an intersection a few years back, I've become extremely pro-walkability. I'm wondering how excited you are for the redevelopment of Logan Square? 

Unfortunately, most of us have stories of being nearly probably-killed by a driver in some manner. I'm glad you made it out okay!

I think the redesign is overall much better than what previously existed, but there's still room for improvement. I'm thrilled that Logan Square and the Comfort Station will no longer have a road dividing them and cutting the park in two. Whose idea was that, anyway??? Ugh. All the new crosswalks make me happy, too. We should always prioritize pedestrian access to green spaces! I'm also excited that La Placita will offer new public space in the neighborhood.

But the fact that a park is still encircled by car traffic is a bummer. And the lack of protected bike lanes on Milwaukee Ave north of the square is a huge miss. My ideal Milwaukee Ave would be completely free of private vehicles. After all, it has a bus route, a train line that runs nearly parallel, is a major bike thoroughfare, and sees a ton of pedestrian traffic. There's no reason to drive on Milwaukee! And I think most drivers hate being stuck in traffic on it, anyway. 

Go-to restaurant and what’s your order?

Lula Cafe. Two people. Pasta Yiayia, roast chicken, Caesar salad and 1-2 seasonal dishes. And cocktails, probably. 

I started this project partially in response to ai — do you think ai will be a net positive for society? Negative? Why? 

Author Joanna Maciejewska has a quote that I largely agree with: "You know what the biggest problem with pushing all-things-ai is? Wrong direction. I want ai to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for ai to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes."

However, I do wonder if doing laundry and dishes is important for building character or something...

Tell me a quick story of joke???

A couple years ago, I found out that I had been inadvertently gaslighting men about their height when out on dates with them. Apparently, my astigmatism makes me perceive myself to be taller than I am (5'6), so when a man tells me he's 6', I'd yell at him for lying because I perceived us to be at eye level. Egos were bruised. An honest mistake!