The Person Behind the Pixels

I grew up watching my mom cook recipes her mother taught her in a small town in the Philippines called Mainit. She never measured anything. She just knew. That intuition — knowing what works without needing a manual — is something I carried into everything I've done.

I spent over five years in corporate risk management at Amazon and PayPal. I investigated fraud, built compliance processes, led teams, and learned how to think ten steps ahead. It was intense, high-stakes work, and I was good at it.

But I kept building things on the side. Websites. Brand kits. Business documents. Tools. I'd help friends, then friends of friends, then strangers who found me online. At some point I realized — the thing I did on the side was the thing I was supposed to do.

HeyLayla is the result. It's a studio built on the belief that great work shouldn't require a massive budget or a 6-week timeline. I combine sharp strategy with modern tools to deliver work that looks and feels like it came from a team of ten.

I'm also building Lola's Recipe with my mom — bringing our family's Filipino recipes to tables across Arizona. Because the best things in life are built with the people you love.