👋😊Bonjour !
Hi, I'm Kayla : a New Zealand designer living in Paris, France. After a freelance career as a classical singer, music teacher, and digital creator, I began a career reconversion project in 2024, bringing my creativity and strategic thinking as I honed my skills in UX/UI design.
My experiences - including building my own music/music education brands, crafting no-code websites, developing digital products, and creating social media content and visual strategies - sparked a passion for something that is also central to UX design: helping people to connect with the content they need in the way that they need it.
Relevant to UX Design:
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2024 - Accepted by Wild Code School and Open Classrooms for a "formation en alternance" in UX/UI Design
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2024 - UX Design Professional Certificate - Google/Coursera
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2020 - Certificate in Creating A Business Start-Up - Learning Curve Group
Short UX Design courses (Actively filling knowledge gaps 💪):
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2024 - Formademia: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator (54 hours online, 5 hours contact time with educator)
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2024 - Designlab: Figma 101; UX Writing Hub: A Taste of UX Writing; Google/Coursera: AI Essentials; OpenClassrooms: Build Your First Web Pages With HTML and CSS.
🎓Education
Might be interesting:
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2017 - Master of Music in Classical Voice - The University of Auckland (New Zealand)
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2015 - Bachelor of Music in Classical Performance (Voice), Postgraduate Certificate in Theatre Studies - The University of Waikato (New Zealand)
Relevant to UX Design:
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2024 - Be my first employer💖!
💼Work Experience
Might be interesting:
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2020-2024 - Freelance classical singer, music educator (1:1, workshops, group classes, retreats), creator (Paris, France)
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2017-2020 - Au pair, Nanny, Private PA (Paris, France; London, England; travel)
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2016-2017 - Member of the New Zealand Opera chorus (New Zealand)
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2012-2020 - Freelance classical singer and voice teacher (New Zealand, France, UK)
Fun facts:
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I'm a published poet (three books - two available online)!
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I have a beautiful Neva Masquerade cat named Luna.
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I never read or watched Harry Potter.
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I'm a fast reader and learned to read at age 3.
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My singing voice type: contralto.
I'm fortunate to have built a career largely based on my interests (music/arts, culture/history, languages and writing, digital creation)!
Some other things I enjoy:
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Travel - Alone (fast-paced) or with loved ones (for relaxation)
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Visiting museums, art galleries, theatres, opera houses...
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Games - The Sims 4 (PC) and King's Choice (mobile) primarily.
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Sitting in cafés - reading, writing, listening to music, people watching!
⚡Hobbies and Interests
Scholarships (selected):
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2016 - Anne Bellam Scholarship (Postgraduate Music Studies)
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2015 - John Arthur Langdon Scholarship (Postgraduate Studies in Fine Arts)
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2015 - Freemasons University Scholarship (assisting able students who are actively involved in their community)
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2013 - University of Waikato Research Scholarship (3 month position as a research assistant to a professor)
Awards (selected):
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Lifetime member (admitted in 2012) of the Golden Key Society (top 15% of university students internationally).
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Blues Awards for Arts (2016 - University of Auckland), Performance (2012, 2014 - University of Waikato)
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Prizewinner and finalist in multiple national singing competitions around New Zealand.
Tools and platforms:
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Design Tools: Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, InDesign)
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Site Building Platforms: Wix Studio, no-code platforms
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Content Creation: CapCut, Canva
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Document & File Management: Google Workspace, Dropbox
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Project Organisation and Communication: Trello, Asana, Milanote, Discord, Slack
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I'm a fast learner!
🛠️Skills
Languages:
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English (Native)
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French (B2/C1)
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Some knowledge (can read and pronounce, understand, communicate a little) of Spanish, Greek, German, Italian...
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A general love for languages!
Hard skills:
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Wireframing/Mockups
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Prototyping
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Writing - UX, content
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User research - Surveys, testing, interviews, secondary research
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User journey
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Basics of HTML/CSS
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No-code
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Digital content creation (including images, videos, audio, ebooks and templates, blogs, memes)
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Trying to keep up with AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, integrated AI tools, images...) and ethical use!
Soft skills:
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Creativity
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Adaptability
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Understanding of user and client needs (empathy)
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Proactivity
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Curiosity
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Analytic abilities
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Attention to detail and flexibility
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Entrepreneurial spirit
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Digital native