“You’re always looking for ways to make advertising better for people. Have you heard of this thing called user experience?” That conversation changed everything. Now, as Sightglass’s newest Principal, Angelina brings a background that spans journalism, product design, and strategic research—all united by her focus on solving the right problems, not just the ones immediately in front of you.

“I hadn’t realized until I started having conversations with everybody just how much I missed a real passion and dedication and firmness in doing the right thing,” she reflects on joining Sightglass. “Not the most right thing that we could do given the constraints, but the actual right thing.”

Angelina’s journey from journalism to design strategy wasn’t planned, but it makes perfect sense. Both fields require the same core skill: understanding people’s perspectives and identifying the stories that matter. When a colleague at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel introduced her to user experience design, she found her calling: a way to make people’s lives better through thoughtful problem-solving.

Her approach is refreshingly straightforward. Every project starts with fundamental questions: Why are we doing this? What problem are we solving? How will we make people’s lives better? And, If we’re ridiculously successful, how will we know?

After years in corporate environments where the focus often shifted to just “getting things across the line,” Angelina aligns with Sightglass’s commitment to starting projects with real clarity and purpose. She’s particularly excited about collaborative problem-solving, working as part of a team where the contract of the relationship requires constant communication and shared thinking.

As someone who describes herself as an external processor, she’s looking forward to stretching her brain and tackling complex problems alongside founders and innovators.