About
Dear Friend,
A hiring manager once asked me, "Why human-centered design? What do you like about it?" It was the first time someone had asked me.
I paused and considered. I thought about Danny, my friend with a disability who uses a mobile assistance chair. I thought about when he let me interview him for a class project during my university years. I thought about what he said when I asked him what places he was most likely to question their accessibility. "All of those. Any place. Can we get in there? Are there stairs? Is there an elevator that can take us to different floors? Especially the old buildings. Can we get to where we need to go?" I thought about how most people don't have to ask these same questions that Danny does.
After a few moments, I replied to the hiring manager. "Design is one of the best ways to honor people's challenges. To listen and recognize there is a problem in the first place.”
Whether it’s designing virtual experiences or in-person ones, people are at the heart of my Why. What or who is at the heart of yours?
The best is yet to come,
There are 128 hours outside of the 40-hour work week. Here’s how I spend them.
At any point in time, you can bet that I’m investing my time in more than one avenue - diversifying my skillset, leaning into hobbies, and doing activities that bring me joy.
Gaming
Video games have always been a part of my life - from the hours I would spend playing Runescape with my brothers as a kid, to being a ball hog in NBA 2k11, to now picking up the Gaia’s Vengeance Vandal skin in Valorant every time my duelist teammate dies. In the past two years however, games have become much more than a fun past time for me; I’ve grown to see them as amazing works of art and collaboration.
Over the past year, I’ve reached out to employees at companies such as Riot, Sony, and EA to ask them about their experience and learn about the industry. Though the gaming community is rather quiet in Chicago, I’ve attended the meetups that pop up once in a while. With each passing day, as I continue to keep a pulse on all that’s going on in the industry, I find myself wanting to be in on the action more and more.
The following gif is me going nuts while watching the VCT 2023: Game Changers Championship. INSANE.
Photo & Video
Production
On weeknights and weekends, you can find me photographing weddings, portraits, and events. Through my freelance business, Sarah Chang Photo & Film, I’ve had the opportunity to work with clients and vendors that each have their own unique story.
I’m currently filming a documentary of an amateur boxer in Chicago as she trains for her boxing debut at Chicago Golden Gloves. It’s gonna be epic!
Startup Grind
Chicago
Startup Grind Chicago was founded in 2012 with the mission to educate, inspire & connect the entrepreneurs in the Chicagoland area.
After attending only two events, I was hooked. I had to get invovled, and now I’m a volunteer working on a small but mighty team of three. Together, we organize incredible events (one of my favorites was a fireside chat with Keisha Howard who talked about underrepresented groups in esports and gaming). For our most recent event, we heard from some of the hottest up and coming AI startups in the city.
The driven and purposeful people that Startup Grind attracts is why I love it so much.