My name is Bradford but my friends just call me Brad. I am do app designs. I just want to share a little of my life with your people. My hope is to give someone hope through my experience. I want to let them know that there is always a chance to success because I never thought I would be in this position right now but I am.
I was on a Zoom call last week with a client from Berlin. She was going over design specs for a wellness app her team is building. Midway through the meeting, she said, “I’m always amazed by how polished your work is. You must’ve gone to one of those design schools in New York or London, right?”
I smiled. All I said was Not quite.
What I didn’t say, because it didn’t fit neatly into our project timeline, was that three years ago, I was brushing my teeth in a gas station sink and Googling “how to become a UX designer” using the station’s spotty Wi-Fi.
Things that Happened
It comes back in flashes—like the first night I slept in my car, the way the rain pelted the windshield like it was angry at me. I had just been evicted. I had no degree, no job, and nothing to show for the dreams I once had. I remember sitting in the driver’s seat trying to convince myself it was just “temporary.”
I remember the smell of old fries in the backseat. The time I got ticketed for parking overnight in a retail lot. The kind of exhaustion you feel not from lack of sleep, but from constant survival mode.
And yet—I also remember the moment something shifted.
The Click That Changed Everything
It wasn’t some motivational speech or a dramatic rescue. It was a late-night YouTube rabbit hole on “how websites are made.” I had always been curious about tech and design, but it never seemed realistic. Still, I figured I had nothing to lose.
I borrowed books from the public library. I watched free tutorials. I downloaded Figma and started redesigning the apps I used every day, pixel by pixel. I gave myself fake assignments. I made a fake agency name. I designed every single day—not because someone was paying me, but because it gave me purpose.
People Who Made the Difference
There was Daniel, who let me shower at his place and sneak leftovers from his fridge. There was Jasmine Liu, an industry pro I met through Twitter. She saw one of my mockups and offered to mentor me for free. She never made me feel less-than. She gave me feedback that stung but helped me grow faster than any course ever could.
And there was Sarah Bell, the startup founder who took a chance on an unproven designer with zero formal experience. “I don’t care about your background,” she said. “I care about what you can create.” That one $500 project was the domino that knocked everything else into motion.
Today, I design user interfaces for companies across four continents. I’ve worked with mental health apps, fintech platforms, and B2B software tools I never imagined I’d even understand. I make more in a month than I used to in an entire year.
But the money isn’t the point.
The point is—I built a life I didn’t think was possible. Not because I had connections or credentials, but because I showed up for myself when no one else could.
My Advice to You
Please hear me when I say this: your path doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. You don’t need to go for multiple degrees to have talent. You don’t even need a perfect plan to begin. And you definitely don’t need to wait for permission to change your own life.
Start where you are. Use what you have. Find your people.
Because sometimes, the most unlikely stories become the most powerful ones.
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