Hi! Thanks for taking the time to stop by my little corner of the internet.

My name is Emma Woerle. I am originally from outside Reading, PA (southeastern Pennsylvania), but have lived in Rochester, NY for the past six years. Rochester Institute of Technology brought me here, but the people made me stay. It is bittersweet to know that my time in Rochester is coming to an end.

Art was one of my first loves. From painting with my sister to doing ceramics in school to learning to sew with my grandmother, art was all around me. Besides a brief moment between high school and college where I thought I wanted to work in international politics (I have Model UN to thank for that), I have always wanted to do something “artsy” with my life. In college I didn’t think I was good enough to get a degree in design, so I chose Advertising and Public Relations, somewhere I could be creative in my strategy and problem solving; however, after working in social media and marketing roles during and after graduation, I found myself feeling unsatisfied with my career. I was craving something more hands-on.

That feeling is what led me to make the (shocking) decision to quit my job and go back to school for my Master of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design. Not only had I made it clear to everyone around me that I would never go back to school after graduating early from my B.S., but I was making a what felt like a huge leap of faith. Faith in myself, faith in my career choice, and faith in the stability of the design industry. It was terrifying.

Thank God I was willing to make the jump. The past couple of years have answered the questions I have been asking myself for so long. Yes, I am good enough to be here. Yes, I do have cool ideas. Yes, I can still be strategic and “marketing-minded” as a designer. Yes, I can get a cool job. Yes, being a designer is what I am passionate about. And most of all, yes, grad school was so worth it. Education is empowering, and while sure, some people are great at being self-taught, I do really well in a hands-on learning environment. I do well with one-on-one feedback. I do well with peer-to-peer encouragement. Grad school was perfect for me.

As a designer (still can’t get over the fact that I get to call myself that), I find inspiration in the physical: ceramics, drawing, painting, and sewing. Having a background in advertising, public relations. and marketing equipped me with a strategy-first approach to design, something I am extremely passionate about. I think that is why I see UX Design as a subset of Brand Design, both of which I am passionate about. Other passions of mine are food, travel, interior design, family, faith, music, reading, hiking, cooking, hosting, reading, scrapbooking, working out, and fashion.

The last thing I want to share is about my hearing loss. I lost most of the hearing in my right ear when I was seven from a cholesteatoma. I won’t bore you with the details of three surgeries or years of trial and error in finding a hearing aid that worked for me. What I will tell you about is what almost two decades of self-advocacy, confidence-building, and problem-solving have done for me. From the time I first lost my hearing, I have had to speak up for myself to get the support I needed in school. While my hearing loss is considered moderate and I didn’t use real access services until college (shout out NTID and RIT), I still had to ask to sit on the right side of the classroom, for teachers to repeat themselves, for the volume to be turned up, you name it. That is a lot to ask of a seven-year-old.

I am so proud of that little girl. She never let it phase her. My “bouncibility,” as my mom would call it, was born out of necessity. I had to find confidence in myself even when I felt “damaged.” I had to learn how to navigate the world at a lower volume. Now, nearly 20 years later, most people are surprised when I tell them I am hard of hearing. They say, “I never would have known!” Well, no, how would you? So many disabilities are invisible but are so very real. Making the world more accessible is at the heart of how I now go about my daily and professional life. I strive to make my designs accessible, never to assume I know what people are capable of, and to always have grace for those around me. Being hard of hearing is not my identity; it is simply part of my story. I urge you to take time to listen (no pun intended) before you judge.