Welcome & Introductions

👋 Hi everyone!

My name is Mrigna, and I’m based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. I work as a Learning & Development Specialist (Instructional Design) at Bayshore HomeCare Solutions. I design practical, human-centered learning experiences—like scenario-based eLearning, workshops, and job aids—for frontline and client service teams. I spend a lot of time translating complex ideas into practical, human-centered learning that people can immediately apply on the job.

🌱 Why I joined this Certification Cohort

I joined this certification cohort because I’m excited to deepen my practice, learn alongside other practitioners, and sharpen both my thinking and my craft. I’m especially hoping to gain new frameworks, tools, and perspectives that I can bring back into my design work, while also having space to reflect, experiment, and grow as a learning professional.

🌿 Bonus: Not a pet… but a plant!

I don’t have a pet at home, but I do have a very well-loved plant that keeps me company while I work. It’s thriving (most days!), adds some calm to my workspace, and reminds me to slow down and take care of things—myself included.

Looking forward to learning with all of you!

Hello everyone, I'm Chris Martin, based in Maine. I've been with Liberty Mutual for the past 4 years, working as a Senior Instructional Designer in the L&D space. Prior to that, I worked in instructional design within the hospitality industry. I've been using Articulate for 4 years and am looking forward to exploring how AI can enhance our design and development processes.

I look forward to learning alongside all of you in this workshop.

Hi everyone! I'm Taylor Sakinsky, and I work from the comfort of my home in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. I'm a Senior Instructional Designer with I-CAR (shoutout to my fellow teammates in this cohort!👋), and I just hit my 2nd anniversary on February 12th, so I am fairly new to instructional design, but I have loved every second of it!

Our organization develops training for the collision repair industry, so we work closely with various vehicle manufacturers and subject matter experts to get quality information out to the industry. We use Storyline for all new courses and we're dipping our toes into Rise for the future as well, so I'm excited to see how the various AI features can help us even further!

My husband and I are a typical millennial household with two dogs who rule our world. We just bought a house, mostly so they can have a backyard 🤣 It's their world, and we're just living in it! 

Kiki is our brindle baby on the left. She's 2 and utterly obsessed with bananas and her big brother. Duke is our sweet boy on the right, and he just turned 5. He loves getting cozy under blankets and loves to play fetch with his ball (although he doesn't quite get the whole "drop it" concept, so he holds onto it like a pacifier). 

Hello all,
My Name is Alexander, I'm based in Worms, Germany and working with Storyline now round about 10 years. I'm a Knowledge-Transfer Engineer and working for more than 20 years for BorgWarner, an automotive supplier company.

Why I joined this Certification Cohort?
I have been using the AI functions since beginning of 2025 and would like to find out if I am taking full advantage of all their capabilities.

 Looking forward for the Cohort, Alex👋

Hi everybody, I'm Trey McNabb. I work for the state of Florida in the Florida Department of Revenue, and I'm located in Tallahassee. I am a course designer and LMS administrator. I go all the way back to Storyline V1. I've been in Learning and Development for almost 20 years, and with my agency for 31 years. I'm excited to learn more about how we can leverage AI for some of our course creation workflow and content creation for both Rise and Storyline.

Hi y'all! I'm Rachael and I sit on the Community team inside Articulate; so you'll see me kinda...everywhere! But so excited to be on this learning journey with y'all and around E-Learning Heroes (ELH). 

I live in Western Maine with my husband who owns what I think is the cutest used bookstore to ever exist, and our two dogs Stewart and Sam. Stewart is our resuce lab and professional bread-eater (he's eaten at least 3 loaves of freshly made sourdough) and Samatha is a retired bookstore dog who is silently judging everything (pictured mid-judging). 

Hello Everyone, 

My name is Nichole Mather and I'm an Instructional Developer at Learning Care.  I love the work I do especially the part about getting to create and learn new things.  I too am in this cohort with some of my fellow teammates, (hello there 👋) but am also excited to meet new friendly faces.  

I live in Clarkston MI with my husband, daughter, and our grumpy grandpa cat Sprocket (his full name is His Majesty Admiral Sprocket).  He is 17 years old and pretty set in his ways but he's also pretty spry for an old guy.  He will be 18 next month and I'm sure my daughter, Phoebe will make me bake a cake for him again, mostly so she can eat it.  🎂

Outside of work my passions are yoga 🧘‍♀️and cooking 👩‍🍳

Looking forward to learning with you all during this cohort.

Nichole Mather

Hi everyone! My name is Mai Houa; you can call me Mai (pronounced ‘My’). I live in Virginia and currently work as an instructional design consultant for a local healthcare organization. Until now, I have primarily used AI Assistant for editing text and converting blocks. I am aware that this barely scratches the surface of what AI Assistant can do, so I appreciate the opportunity to be here and learn more about its many features.

Buoy

Mavis

Hello, everyone! I'm Anne and I'm located in the metro Detroit area in Michigan. I'm a Senior Instructional Developer and have been in instructional design for 11 years now. I design and develop learning experiences that support our teams across the organization—everything from analyzing learning needs and creating engaging training content to partnering with subject-matter experts and exploring new tools that improve how we learn and work.

I've been conducting AI research for my team to increase our efficiencies. I joined this Certification Cohort because I'd like to deepen my skills, learn alongside others who are passionate about growth, and bring back practical strategies I can apply directly to my work. I’m especially looking forward to expanding my knowledge on AI, sharpening my approach on how to use it in learning design, and gaining new perspectives that will help me create even more effective and impactful training experiences.

And, this is Cheeto. She enjoys making herself blanket cocoons to nap in.

Hi All!

I’m Emerald B, joining from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. I work in healthcare as a Program Manager of Learning, supporting Epic training initiatives. Day-to-day, I partner with SMEs, collaborate with project teams, and help translate complex clinical workflows into practical, engaging learning experiences by designing and building eLearning courses in Articulate Rise and Storyline 360.

I joined this AI Assistant Certification Cohort because I’m excited to learn how to leverage AI assistant features to work smarter, not just faster. I’m hoping to learn how to thoughtfully integrate AI into my instructional design process, especially for microlearning and system upgrade education.

Looking forward to learning and growing with you all!

Bonus: No pets at home, but I will adore yours from afar! 😁