Samus is an exotic animal enthusiast with a passion for illustration, design, development, and above all UX. Samus is a non-binary representative of the development world, using They/She pronouns interchangeably. Currently, they work for the AbleGamers Charity as a Senior UX Researcher in the User Research pillar, helping studios and companies create accessible solutions for their games and hardware.
Samus graduated from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire with a BFA in Illustration and a BA in German. They went on to serve as a full-time AmeriCorps member for a Runaway and Youth services program. During this time, Samus became a certified web developer through an online bootcamp, which kicked off their interest in usability and functionality in tech. Samus has performed research, testing, design, and development on several projects for both client-facing and enterprise applications. They have a fierce passion for accessibility, and are an advocate for accessible software in every industry. Using their Master’s of User Experience Design (from MICA), Samus is going to continue honing in on accessible UX and educating those who create it on how to best do that!
Samus has a lot of pets; snakes, lizards, rats, a horse, and a cat. They love animal husbandry and behavior, and you can often find them riding their once-feral mustang (Nero, named after DMC5’s protagonist) or doting on their pet rats! They also love mentoring and lecturing on UX (most recently as a Springboard mentor and a mentor through Women In Games International) and their various animal interests, and gave a Ted Talk on snakes in 2021!
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