A little about me
Solqui – UI/UX Designer
My name is Sol, but I prefer to be called Solqui. I was born and raised in Merida, Venezuela, a small city surrounded by mountains. Because of this, I love spending time in nature, camping and traveling. (I do it every chance I get!)
I have two beautiful cats and a dog, so I’m definitely a pet lover. I’m also into collage art and yoga. I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina when I was 19 for an internship. I loved the country, food, and the freedom of being in a new place where I didn’t know anyone. Everything felt new and exciting so I stayed.
After I graduated from college, I had that “immigrant phase” of doing whatever I could for work – I went from being a full-time nanny to selling furniture. Each job gave me new skills that were different from what I learned in my Industrial Design program.
One year after my graduation, I started to work as a graphic and packaging designer. Eventually, I became more interested in web design, full-stack and UX/UI. I loved to work closely with startups, product leads and freelance work at that time, which provided me with new soft skills, as well as organization, independence and leadership opportunities.
Why I joined UpdateAI
Well, I was looking for a change, so I created a portfolio to showcase my skillset and updated my LinkedIn profile – It had been 7 years since my last update, so it was definitely due!
Shortly after, I received an invite from Josh to talk. This was last October. Right away, I found it incredibly interesting to see how the UpdateAI product was working at the time. I was also intrigued by how new the project was; my experience had only been with product designs that were further along, so it was interesting to see a product in its early stages. Eventually, after a few smaller projects for UpdateAI, we finalized our deal and I joined the team in March.
Admittedly, I was a bit nervous, because I liked working with my team at my previous job. This was a change, where I was the only designer and I was working with a smaller team. Any nerves quickly faded away, though – it’s been great working at UpdateAI. It’s like a family. I felt welcome from the beginning.
What I do at UpdateAI
I work in all aspects of brand and marketing: UI and visuals for the website, end-to-end user experience (from the website to the app), helping with creation of video storytelling, brand vision, as well as crafting the aesthetic and tone of our brand. I’m also part of the product design team. I work with UX research and conduct interviews and user testing, along with UI prototyping for developers.
I also work closely with our CEO Josh Schachter on planning new releases and styles, our product vision for the future, and brainstorming ways to improve UpdateAI for our users.
Why I'm so excited about UpdateAI
I’m excited about UpdateAI because I think that it will make an impact immediately for users. We are doing something new – we don’t have any direct competition with what we’re doing.
During our early research stages, we discovered that what is being offered to CS professionals does not fulfill many needs, and there is nothing that directly collects action items, important next steps, and the overall post-meeting experience like UpdateAI has to offer. I’m looking forward to bringing this tool to the CS world and seeing how our customers use it.
Which core company value I align with the most
“Diversity matters.” That’s because even though we are all different, every voice is heard. From quality assurance to data science, if anyone has a comment, everyone is all ears. The whole team is so responsive and I really appreciate it. We all complement each other well with our different cultures and schedules – we find a way to connect and work with each other in the smartest and most complementary ways. I’m so glad and grateful to be part of UpdateAI’s core team.