UX Fest SLO

Co-Founder | Events & Experience Lead
What is UX Fest SLO?
UX Fest SLO is an annual designathon at Cal Poly that empowers students of all backgrounds to explore UX and design through workshops, panels, and hands-on challenges. By connecting students with industry professionals and like-minded indiciduals, it builds a supportive, inclusive community and elevates the presence of UX on campus.
UX Fest SLO
Co-Founder | Events & Experience Lead
Jan 2023 - Jan 2025

UX Fest SLO allowed me the experience of co-founding and scaling a community-driven event from the ground up. I joined as a founding member during the pandemic and helped shape the vision, structure, and execution of what became an annual designathon centered on inclusivity, creativity, and underrepresented voices in tech and design.

Events & Experience Lead

I led the Events & Experience vertical, building and managing a 6-person team responsible for programming, community engagement, and the overall attendee journey. My work required balancing creative vision with operational execution in a fully remote environment.

Key contributions include:

  • Built out event programming and attendee experience strategy from scratch
  • Curated and coordinated 40+ industry speakers and mentors across educational panels and workshops
  • Orchestrated a two-day virtual conference infrastructure across Zoom, Twitch, and Discord
  • Designed systems to create a cohesive, high-energy digital experience for a distributed audience
  • Drove student engagement, resulting in 200+ applications in under two weeks

Leadership & Community Building

Beyond my core role, I contributed to foundational organizational systems and strategic initiatives:

  • Co-led the founding team of six brown womxn, shaping the event's mission and values
  • Secured funding and coordinated logistics for a first-time, fully virtual event
  • Partnered with university stakeholders to increase visibility of UX at Cal Poly
  • Developed scalable processes and documentation to support future iterations

Impact & Growth

  • Thrived in an ambiguous, high-ownership environment with no existing playbook
  • Helped establish UX Fest SLO as a lasting annual institution
  • Created an inclusive alternative to traditional engineering-centric hackathons, centering creatives, beginners, women, and underrepresented groups
  • Contributed to institutional change, influencing the creation of Cal Poly's UX Minor

Overall, my experience co-founding UX Fest SLO deepened my ability to build community-centered experiences in uncertain conditions. I'm especially drawn to roles that blend organizational leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and creating spaces where diverse voices can thrive.

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The Entire Timeline

During the height of the pandemic, I was in the latter half of my college career, navigating multiple major changes and questioning where I truly belonged. Like many students at the time, I lacked clarity about my future, but I knew I wanted to build something meaningful. That’s when my peer, Shandeigh (Shane) Palabrica, approached me with an idea.

We had both noticed that hackathons on campus were heavily technical and engineering-focused. For students who didn’t primarily identify as engineers, as well as women, people of color, and those new to the space, the barrier to entry felt high. Even if the interest and capability were there. We wanted to create an inclusive alternative: a space for creatives, designers, beginners, and underrepresented voices to explore problem-solving without intimidation.

We came to the unanimous decision to address these gaps. That conversation marked the beginning of UX Fest SLO.
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In the Beginning
June 2020 — July 2020
It didn’t take long to find a passionate core team ready to bring the vision to life. At the helm was a group of six brown womxn, united by a shared commitment to accessibility, representation, and community. Together, we organized, delegated, and successfully secured funding for our inaugural event.

I stepped into the role of Events & Experience Lead, and soon built a team of six dedicated individuals ready to take on the unknown. Each person brought unique ideas for fostering community before the event, driving momentum toward launch, and delivering educational, thoughtfully curated panels and workshops.

One of the most inspiring moments came when over 40 industry professionals agreed to participate as speakers and mentors. Even more astonishing was the response from students: within less than two weeks, UX Fest SLO received over 200 applications to attend our first-ever event.
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Rounding Up The Troops
August 2020 — October 2020
After months of planning, UX Fest SLO went live.

Over two, fully virtual, event-filled days during the pandemic, our team orchestrated a complex digital experience: coordinating industry speakers across Zoom rooms, live-streaming content via Twitch, engaging attendees in real time through chat, and maintaining an active Discord server to support collaboration and connection.

Despite the challenges of a remote format, the energy, curiosity, and sense of belonging were undeniable.
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D(esignathon) Day
October 2020
UX Fest SLO didn’t end after its inaugural year- it became a lasting institution. The event continues annually at Cal Poly, with industry leaders proudly sharing their participation and support across platforms like LinkedIn.

What began as a response to exclusion evolved into a catalyst for change. UX Fest SLO helped elevate the visibility of UI/UX at Cal Poly, fostered a welcoming and motivating community for learners at all levels, and even influenced the development of the university’s UX Minor.

Seeing the ripple effects of something that started as a simple idea remains one of the most meaningful experiences of my career.
The Aftermath
Present
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