Hi!
I'm Kamilé
I build tools where technology meets craft.
About
I'm drawn to specialized domains where the tooling falls short. My work feels most impactful when I build new workflows for experts who were otherwise working around limitations. I enjoy the opportunity to get close to the work itself, learning the ins and outs of a craft in order to build tools that truly fit how experts operate. I work across the full stack, from low-level systems to modern web applications, to bring these workflows to life.
I started my career as a font developer, and have worked across the entire font tooling pipeline ever since. I supported typeface designers during their workflows, and engineered their designs into working software. I've maintained font tooling that required deep expertise in technical specifications like the OpenType standard. After witnessing a noticeable gap in our business team's collaborative workflow with foundry partners, I built a portal to address it.
Currently, I'm focused on helping users discover fonts by maintaining tools that collect and annotate font metadata. I represent Adobe in the Unicode Technical Committee, and participate in the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee — a personal passion as much as a professional one.
I'm shaped as much by my experiences beyond engineering as I am by the work itself.
My Journey
01
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Where it began
Where I was born and spent my summers walking along the artist's square, taking painting classes, and looking up at the striking mountains.
02
Bodrum, Turkey
Growing up
Where I spent most of my early childhood, running through the chamomile fields I was named after and swimming in the glimmering Mediterranean sea.
03
New York City
Finding my feet
After-school theater rehearsals, summer art critique programs, and tech events had me all over the city — and I frequented Kazakh and Turkish restaurants for a taste of nostalgia.
04
Bay Area, California
Starting my career
A warm embrace that opened up my career and introduced me to the best colleagues, mentors, and peers. Conferences, farmers market runs, hikes, and board game nights turned colleagues into friends.
Experience
01
I dive deep into specifications
I started my career maintaining a 25+ year old codebase — a suite of command line tools for font development. Implementing new features often meant reading deep into specifications and standards to understand what to build. That skill has stayed with me across desktop development, web services, and the full font creation and usage pipeline.
02
I find gaps and build solutions
When I noticed the friction in the font intake process — both for external foundry partners and our internal teams — I proposed we build a portal to automate font testing, validation, and submission. Leading and developing that effort taught me to build resilient systems from the ground up, design for different users, and prioritize ruthlessly to get a project across the finish line.
03
I build with users, not just for them
I build an internal platform that powers font discovery and recommendations across Adobe Creative Cloud. Every week I enjoy watching how annotators navigate the tools and implementing features to make their work easier — from quality of life improvements to larger bets like ML-assisted annotation. My most fulfilling work is when I can feel the difference it makes for the people using it.
04
I participate in industry standards
My involvement in standards began with emoji — reviewing, discussing, and voting on submissions in the Unicode Emoji Working Group. That work expanded into a broader role: I now serve as Adobe's primary representative to the Unicode Technical Committee, participating in quarterly meetings on character encoding and text standards.
To learn more, see my resume.
Community
I speak publicly
- Adobe MAX 2023 Delivered an hour-long session on variable fonts for designers.
- TypeCon 2024, TypeCon 2023, ATypI Tech Talk 2022 Presented on emoji and Unicode.
- Fortune, Adobe Blog, WGN Radio Featured discussing emoji and Unicode.
I invest in my community
- Co-Lead, Adobe San Jose Women in Engineering Network Organize monthly networking lunches, skill workshops, and fireside chats with senior Adobe leaders.
- Co-Led the Adobe Open Source Office Helped Adobe teams launch open source projects and guided new contributors through the review process.
Contact
- Email kamile.kaydee@gmail.com
- LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/kamiledemirkaydeearts
- GitHub github.com/kaydeearts