creative Change-Maker disrupting the status quo

Hey there, I’m Keith, a Florida native of Caribbean decent, interested in designing change with people who care.

I’m a patented product designer actively engaged with internal and external stakeholders to translate business and user goals into user-centric, production-ready designs.

As an alum of Carnegie Mellon University's Industrial Design program, I've used design thinking and strategy to synthesize human-centered research into poetically thoughtful products and services. My work includes hard-goods, soft-goods, and digital interfaces that support symbiotic relationships between people, their cultures, their businesses, and the natural world around them. 

When I'm not at work, I'm busy being an idealistic Pisces rising to a higher expression of myself through creative outlets like yoga, dancing, drawing, traveling, and cooking to my heart's content.

I’m also a plant-based foodie promoting a lifestyle of compassion with edible art that makes the introduction to veganism more approachable for people less familiar with its benefits.

Plating food began as a creative outlet for me, but the response it garnered from friends and family made me realize the potential power that lies within a simple hobby.

My intention now is to raise humanity’s collective consciousness by challenging the status quo of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle.

I hope that my images will inspire minds and shepherd the human experience away from reactionary bandaids toward preventative solutions that connect the dots between healthy food and “wicked problems” like water scarcity, air pollution, and systemic discrimination to name a few.

Bhangra is a traditional dance form that originated in Punjab, India as a way to celebrate the ancient harvest. Because of this, the traditional movements tell a story based on elements in nature like flowers blooming and wheat swaying in the wind. Today, it is performed all around the world as a fusion art that blends traditional Punjabi music with modern hip-hop. 

Around Junior year of college, I embraced the idea that growth only lives in discomfort. As a result, I promised myself to do at least one thing outside of my personal comfort zone every year from then on. Being a naturally quiet person, this of course meant doing something where all eyes would be on me. I figured if I was going to be uncomfortable, then the activity should have an element I could relate to and so my passion for understanding other cultures guided me to CMU's renowned Bhangra team. I didn't make the cut the first time I tried out, but I went back the following year and my persistence paid off. 

I learned to take direction, harmonize with other personalities, practice persistence, lead by example, and overcome stage fright. This growth gave me more confidence in front of crowds, which I later leveraged during stakeholder presentations at IBM Design. 

That decision to challenge my own status quo by consciously stepping out of my comfort zone, not only improved my self-esteem, but also taught me soft skills that I could apply to other areas of my life. As a bonus, it didn't hurt that I became more fit in the process haha. Well, it actually did hurt--a sprained foot and relentlessly-sore-muscles kind of hurt--but the kind of hurt that was well-worth the investment at any rate.

As a result, disrupting the status quo in moments like this has made me an adaptable person and given me the tools to become a more empathetic designer in the process.