Staff Spotlight: Erina Suzuki

I joined ComputerTalk during peak-pandemic times- when banana bread was a national pastime and Zoom backgrounds were judged harder than actual office decor. My job? Marketing! Specifically, lots of copywriting. Thought leadership blogs. Punchy taglines. And optimizing content so it could charm search engines and humans (the real challenge, if we’re being honest). But something funny happened on the way to the word count: I fell in love with design.

What started as casual curiosity turned into creative obsession. I began dipping my toes into web design, and before I knew it, I was knee-deep in pixels, color palettes, and layout grids, asking myself if that button really needed to be blue or if a hover animation could change someone’s life (spoiler: sometimes, it can 😊). 

That said, I never really left marketing behind. In fact, my background in copywriting and SEO continues to inform the work I do today. I now focus more on the website management side; overseeing landing pages, ensuring content is optimized for search, and constantly improving the overall user experience.  

One of my favorite parts? The data. I regularly dive into Google Analytics to track performance, uncover insights, and make data-driven decisions that shape how our website evolves. Whether it's identifying a high-exit page or spotting an unexpected traffic spike, I find it incredibly rewarding to connect the dots between numbers and design. It’s like solving little UX mysteries with clues hidden in numbers and charts. 

The team that made it all possible 

Of course, the projects have been exciting, but what’s truly kept me here is the people. This team? Absolute gems. Whether it was navigating new challenges or exploring a new idea, I’ve always had the encouragement to keep learning, ask questions, and push my work further. That kind of environment makes all the difference - and it’s a big part of why I’ve stayed and continued to grow here. 

And speaking of learning ... let’s just say “on-the-job education” has been a recurring theme. From figuring out how to wrangle templates in Sitefinity (RIP to the version we used to use) to testing font combinations because “this one feels more like us,” my time here has been anything but boring. 

Too many core memories 

Let’s not forget the fun stuff. When someone asks me to pick a favorite memory, and every time, I kind of panic. Because how do you choose between: 

• That time we pulled off two conferences in under two weeks (madness, but magical). 
• The quiet pride of seeing a web page go live, knowing the hours of design tweaks, content edits, and “Can we make this button just a bit more clickable?” conversations that went into it. 
• Our annual Christmas party, where we go full-on festive mode. Think ugly sweaters, unexpected dance moves, and a gift exchange that, on one particular occasion, got weirdly competitive (someone really wanted that mini gumball machine). 

Looking back and ahead 

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that growth isn’t always a straight line - sometimes it zigzags through roles, skills, and side projects until you find the thing that makes you go, “Yep, this is it.” For me, that thing was SEO and web design. It let me bring all my skills together — writing, coding, visual storytelling — in a way that feels both expressive and strategic. It’s where I thrive. 

But none of this would’ve happened without a workplace that let me explore those paths. I wasn’t boxed into one role or told to stay in my lane. Instead, I was handed the keys and told, “Go make something great.” So I did.  

And I keep doing it because every day brings something new: a fresh challenge, a clever idea, a better way to connect with our audience.