My name is Stephanie, though most people end up calling me Steph, and many know me by my social media handle, seaotta.

When I went to university for web design, I never imagined the journey my career would take me on. I spent the first part of my career designing for brands like Microsoft, Windows, T-Mobile and MBARI while doing freelance design on the side for local Seattle entrepreneurs. In 2016, I joined the Microsoft Edge Developer Experiences team and I combined my design skills with product management and developer relations into one role. At Microsoft, I felt empowered and found my voice, establishing myself as a design and developer experience expert, delivering over 25 talks on web platform technologies and design.

In May 2022, I left to work for a startup called RapidAPI where I continued to focus on building great developer tooling for developers. I lived in Washington state from about 1990 up until January 2023, when I relocated to Berlin for RapidAPI (exciting!) and then lost my job with 85% of the company a few months later (exciting in different ways).

My expertise in visual design and product means I possess a versatile skill set to analyze complex problems from multiple angles. I’m able to generate innovative and practical solutions, optimize product features, and address user pain points effectively while keeping user experience and empathy at the forefront of my strategy.