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About me

Hello World, I'm Karina Chow.
Currently, I am pursuing a Masters in Professional Studies in Interactive Telecommunications at New York University to study the intersection of art and technology through examining and learning about emerging technologies like mixed reality, e-textiles, algo/AI art, projection mapping, and so on. My undergraduate degree was a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University.
Prior to starting graduate school, I spent a decade as a software engineer in the San Francisco tech scene. I've worked in social networking at Yammer, non-medical home care at Honor, and the creator economy space at Patreon. I've spoken both at tech conferences about frontend infrastructure and design systems as well as at conferences about disabilities, accessibility, and mental health.
My work has ranged from software engineering to UX research to design, specifically graphic design and illustration, pitch deck preparation, and animation work. I've also worked as a consultant, contractor, and freelancer in these areas of expertise under my own business, KACHOW! LLC.
For the last few years, I've worked primarily with pre-seed round startups, utilizing all my skills to help them get off the ground. Today, I have a couple subcontractors to help me better serve my clients.
If you find me elsewhere online, you'll often see the tagline "Screw the rules, I have green hair", which is both a meme and a nod to a certain content creator. This has become my motto and life's philosophy:
As time marches on, rules are often meant to be broken to make way for new rules and realities.

Interdisciplinary thinker

Starting something? Chances are, I can help.

  • creating wireframe UI designs
  • making interactive prototype demos
  • consulting with startups on their UX
  • auditing products for UX improvements
  • conducting UX research with potential users
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Designer
  • building webapps from scratch
  • making delightful CSS animations
  • leading frontend infrastructure teams
  • communicating technical concepts to the layman
  • mentoring budding junior engineers
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Developer

Me

KACHOW! Digest

Sometimes I write things, and no, I don't use AI (yet?). I write about mental health, web accessibility, technical recruiting, and about the tech industry in general. Sometimes I even write about random topics, too.

You can view all my articles and follow me on Medium.

MoMD

Museum of Modern Dribbbles

Designs I'm currently working on or have finished recently. If you'd like to see the graphic design work I've done for clients in the past, this is the place to look.

View on Dribbble or Instagram
“Screw the rules, I have green hair