About Me
Thanks for stopping by. I'm Ty, a Seattle-based Senior UX Researcher specializing in qualitative and survey research for high-stakes, multi-sided platforms.
Growing up, I spent nine years living overseas in Shanghai, China. Living abroad uniquely prepared me for a career in UX. As a foreigner in a new country, you have to analyze and understand new systems quickly, convey ideas across language and mental-model gaps, and build real empathy for people whose experiences are entirely different from your own. Those early lessons followed me into every research role I've held since.
After graduating with a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington, I spent six years across startups, agencies, and small businesses in recruiting, marketing, and operations roles. That interdisciplinary background gave me broad exposure to how businesses actually operate and to the needs of the consumers and employees they serve.
In 2020, I transitioned into UX research as a strategy consultant at Smashing Ideas (a Luxoft company) while completing my M.S. in Human Centered Design & Engineering at UW. I joined Reddit in 2022 as a Senior UX Researcher, where I led research across 4 Trust & Safety teams — including the AI/ML moderation work behind Reddit's LLM-powered moderation suite — before moving to Reddit's Growth org, where I now lead research across 5 product teams (Notifications, Paid User Acquisition, Machine Translation, SEO, and Youth Experiences).
Outside of work
Music. I play four instruments — currently obsessed with the bass ukulele.
Travel. 25+ countries so far; Spain, Greece, and Mongolia are recent favorites.
Karaoke. Standing monthly reservation at Rockbox in Seattle (you're welcome to join).
