Celebrating Vicky Teinaki

I met Vicky in 2010, at the Interaction Design Association's annual conference in Savannah, Georgia, USA. I was *amazed* that she had come all the way from New Zealand for that, and impressed that she was making plans to do a PhD in the UK. When I was exploring my own UK options for doing a PhD I looked into Northumbria, and when I visited Newcastle to look it over she very generously put me up in her flat and showed me around. I ended up choosing Northumbria, and the two of us remained very congenial during my four and a half years in Newcastle. Our large age gap meant that we didn't socialise much (when I moved to Newcastle I was 60 and she was 28) — but we always enjoyed catching up, and we even shared a flat for a few months when she needed a space in a hurry.

Here's one of my favourite memories, if you'll indulge me: A couple of years into my PhD programme, I took a few days in London. When I returned, the conversation went like this:

Me: "You know, Newcastle is growing on me, but I'd still rather live in London."

Vicky: "But Newcastle is so SAFE!"

Me: "I'm from WASHINGTON DC!"

Vicky: "Ah, right, fair enough."

:-)

Vicky also helped me navigate UK immigration rules, and her leadership of Northern UX Newcastle led to my meeting the commercial director of the company for which I've worked for more than eight years now. She was ahead of me on the immigration journey, and she mentored me along that path.

Vicky and I didn't see much of each other after I moved to Cambridge, but whenever we ran into each other at a conference we enjoyed catching up; and we had the occasional brief conversation on LinkedIn. I will always cherish the memory of our last contact: she reposted a LinkedIn article I had written about design research, saying how important and excellent it was. That meant a tremendous amount to me, especially given the breadth and depth of her contributions to the design community.

Vicky Teinaki was instrumental in my choosing Northumbria University, finding a life in Newcastle, understanding what lay ahead of me on the UK immigration front, and making contact with the company that ended up hiring me. My life in the UK (and I'm a citizen now) owes a great deal to her. I will always be grateful.

Thank you, Vicky, from the bottom of my heart. I miss you.