Hi there! My name is Alisa Matthews, and I was born and raised in Honolulu, HI (this is where people usually ask how I ended up in Houston, TX). For years, I trained in ballet, first in Denver, CO, then in Washington DC, pursuing my dream of becoming a professional ballerina. I trained hard with some of the best (and strictest) Russian ballet teachers, and eventually had to take a break from an injury. This injury led me to trying my first yoga class... I eventually made the decision to attend a yoga teacher training, and moved to Los Angeles, CA, where I taught classes as a senior instructor for 5 years. In 2009, I was offered a teaching and coaching position in Austin, TX, and after deciding that I loved Houston more, moved in 2010. So here I am, enjoying life with my 2 blue cats ;)
From a young age, I showed hints of being a good fit for the design world. I remember being taken to Home Depot many times (my uncle was a realtor who also re-built/re-modeled homes to be sold). I quickly learned that the paint section was my favorite. I'd go there, eyes wide open in amazement, at all the colors shown on the color palette samples on display. Every trip to Home Depot ended with me taking home big stacks of these color samples. Thankfully, they were free! I was completely fascinated by all the color palettes in front of me!
Confession: I never liked school. Except for art classes, which I loved and excelled at. I didn't like homework, and I didn't like reading the material required to do homework. But, there was one thing I loved reading, and would not stop reading...Nancy Drew books. Everywhere I went, I would have a Nancy Drew book in front of my face, figuring out the problem, and trying to piece together solutions to solve the mystery before Nancy and her friends could. I would be found reading during car rides, sitting in restaurants waiting for food, and even while walking through dirty and smelly China Town every weekend (which I hated as a kid).
In addition to being a Designer, I'm also an avid (board) gamer. I enjoy playing a wide variety of games including Euro, city building, tile placement, and deduction games. Some of my favorites are heavy, strategic games, because they activate my "UX brain" into thinking of all the possible user flows the Game Designer utilized to create those games. User flows are very interesting to me, and I've actually experimented and created my own player roles in versions of Werewolf (a social deduction game played with big groups of people). I'm very interested in learning game design, and maybe that's something I'll get to try in the future ;)
