I love when the brand and the app feel like one thing.
For Hearing Buddy, I designed everything from the little buddies and color palette to the app interface and App Store screenshots. Every detail is part of the same story.
Portland, OR
Hello, I'm Lilly. My career has been an adventure throughmobile apps, electrical engineering, andmarketing, with a few summits along the way.
2026Editors' Choice on the App Store
- 2016B.S. Electrical Engineering
- 2023Apple Entrepreneur Camp
- 2025Shipaton Peace Prize, 2nd place
- 2026Apple Design Award Finalist
- 2026Editors' Choice on the App Store
- 2016 B.S. Electrical Engineering
- 2023 Apple Entrepreneur Camp
- 2025 Shipaton Peace Prize, 2nd place
- 2026 Apple Design Award Finalist
- 2026 Editors' Choice on the App Store
Services
Things I love working on
I make apps that feel like nobody else's.
I love simple, thoughtful interfaces with a little personality. Hearing Buddy is a good example. It became an Apple Design Award Finalist.
I make content, too. And I test it on myself first.
I've grown my own social accounts to over 113K followers, so I know what it takes to make someone stop scrolling. I experiment with my own content before bringing those lessons to other projects.
Read a case study →I love building things from the circuit board up.
I started out as an electrical engineer, and I've always loved making software talk to hardware. These days, that means everything from mobile apps to AI-powered experiences.
I love mentoring engineers.
I spend time mentoring women in computer science and helping them land their first jobs in tech. At Hyster-Yale, I hired 20 engineers and built a six-month training program to help each of them grow.
Projects
Apps I've shipped
Live captions that help Deaf and hard of hearing people hear.
I'm hard of hearing, so I co-founded the app I needed: live captions that run on-device on every Apple platform. It was an Apple Design Award Finalist in Inclusivity, and the App Store has featured it 7 times this year.
See your hiking goals as a picture, not a chart.
I built this one on my own. The hikes you're chasing become a passport: each goal is a mountain, milestone signs line the trail below it, and you stamp the peak when you summit.
Fun activities for your mental health.
I made Tappily when my anxiety got really bad. It's short, fun activities for your mental health on iOS and Android, and it got me into Apple Entrepreneur Camp in 2023 for its simple design and full-screen animations.
Build your first app in seven days.
I wrote seven-day courses that take beginners to their first app, plus resume templates for new app developers.
Erupt 2017
One of my first apps. A social app for iOS and Android with profiles, a feed, and photo and video editing built in.
Guess a Number 2021
A two-player Bluetooth game I made for iPhone and iPad. It works fully offline.
App Store
Where I've been featured
The graphics I designed, and the posts I shared the day each one happened
Selected by App Store Editors
Featured on the App StoreGreat on iPadOS 27
Hearing Buddy · September 2026
Hearing Buddy got featured yesterday for my new iPad Liquid Glass designs! The app now looks great in any window size or orientation.
Editorial featureApps We Love
Hearing Buddy · August 2026
Hearing Buddy is getting featured today for Apps We Love. I'm on a camping trip with no service, and there's no better time to get this news.
Featured on the App StoreCaption sharing launch
Hearing Buddy · August 2026
Two months of hard work to launch our newest feature, caption sharing. Now you can get accurate captions even if you're far away from the speaker.
- Press feature
Two Portland apps recognized by Apple Design Awards 2026
Silicon Florist
Apple Design Awards week
Hearing Buddy · July 2026
Hearing Buddy got featured this week. There were multiple Apple Design Award Finalists from Portland, Oregon this year.
Featured by AppleApple Design Award Finalist
Hearing Buddy · May 2026
This is a dream I've had for the last decade of designing apps. What's most special to me is that Hearing Buddy is a Finalist in Inclusivity.
Featured on the App StoreDeaf Awareness Week
Hearing Buddy · May 2026
It was so much fun to design an ASL-themed hearing buddy that's inclusive to the Deaf community. This was also my first time designing promotional graphics for the App Store.
Editorial featureBest New Apps and Updates
Hearing Buddy · March 2026
Hearing Buddy was included in the Best New Apps and Updates section on the App Store this weekend. Sending a huge thank you to the App Store Editorial team and my partnership manager at Apple.
Recent adventures
Where I've been, and when
Co-founder, Designer, and iOS EngineerHearing BuddySelf-employed2026 to Now
I'm the co-founder and designer of the Hearing Buddy app and brand. Hearing Buddy helps Deaf and hard of hearing people hear with on-device live captions. It's an Apple Design Award Finalist in Inclusivity and has been featured on the App Store 7 times this year.
Founder and CEOLilly Seay & CoSelf-employedMay 2019 to Now
I help app startups design, build, and market their apps.
- I design and build native iOS and Android apps for startups. My specialty is IoT apps that talk to hardware and apps with AI features.
- I help apps get featured on the App Store with in-app events, marketing screens, and creative pitches to Apple.
- I run social media marketing for apps: short-form video, influencer campaigns, UGC, and ad creative that converts.
- I have grown my own accounts past 113,000 followers and done more than 30 brand collaborations.
Engineering ManagerHyster-Yale GroupFull-timeJuly 2023 to March 2025
I hired and trained new engineers at Hyster-Yale.
- I hired 20 engineers across several disciplines.
- I designed a six-month technical training program and led every new hire through it. It covered CAN, Embedded C, Simulink, hydraulics, and the electrical systems on a forklift.
- I built a simple, effective hiring process. Ten engineers and five managers met after each interview, scored the candidate together, and made the decision as a group.
Founder and CEODalton TechnologiesSelf-employed2017 to 2023
I created multiple native apps of my own and worked as an independent contractor with startups and software development firms on native app projects. I specialized in native Android and iOS Bluetooth, IoT, and machine learning apps.
Electrical EngineerHoneywell FM&TFull-time2016 to 2017
As an electrical engineer at Honeywell FM&T, I focused on FPGA design, FPGA development, hardware design, Windows application development, and maintaining complex IoT systems.
Senior Design ProjectFederal Aviation AdministrationPart-time2015 to 2016
I did my senior design project with the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma, working alongside full-time engineers and engineering management to create a high-speed RS-232/RS-422 to TCP/IP converter. My team successfully created a prototype that was one fourth the cost of the technologies available at the time.
Student of Electrical EngineeringUniversity of Central OklahomaFull-time Student2012 to 2016
I earned my bachelor's in electrical engineering with a 3.67 GPA in May 2016. I was president of the IEEE club during my senior year, organizing a staff of officers, coordinating meetings, presenting budgets to the local chapter, and raising funding. As the printed circuit board machine technician, I created PCBs for other engineering students and maintained the machine, using NI Multisim, Ultiboard, and BoardMaster to simulate circuits. I was also a STEM peer mentor and engineering tutor, and a research assistant who designed a data acquisition system on an Arduino, converting analog sensor signals into usable data and milling my own circuit boards.
Speaking
Talks I've given on stage
I talk about accessibility, Swift on hardware, and what it takes to ship an app with a tiny team
June 2026Hearing Buddy pitch
WWDC26 Apple Design Award Finalist showcase · The Observatory, Apple ParkI got to demo Hearing Buddy and pitch it to Apple and the other finalists during Apple Design Awards week.
February 2025Why Swift is the Next Big Thing for IoT
FOSDEM 2025, Swift devroom · Brussels, BelgiumI talked about bringing Swift to embedded devices, Bluetooth, and wearables. It's where my electrical engineering and my app work meet.
March 2024A Force Together: Women in App Development
Apple's International Women's Day event · Big Sur theater, Apple Developer Center, CupertinoI shared the stage with founders Aurelia Edwards and Bria Sullivan. We talked about technology, starting a company, and finding community in app development.
Community involvement
- WWDC
WWDC attendee
I've been to WWDC at Apple Park three years in a row. In 2026 I went as an Apple Design Award Finalist.
2024 to 2026 - SWE
Society of Women Engineers
I volunteer at SWE resume workshops and review resumes for college students heading into engineering.
Member - UP
University of Portland
I sit on the board of advisors for the Computer Science department.
Advisor - IEEE
IEEE student chapter president
I led the chapter at the University of Central Oklahoma my senior year. I ran the officers, meetings, budgets, and fundraising.
2015 to 2016
About
How I got here, and why I stayed
Hi, I'm Lilly. The adventure isn't just the career. I've travelled all over looking for the most beautiful places outside, and when I got to the Pacific Northwest in 2020 I knew right away I was home.
I've spent ten years building native apps and the hardware they talk to. Then I built the one I needed. I'm hard of hearing, and Hearing Buddy ended up a 2026 Apple Design Award Finalist.
Now I help startups design, build, and market their apps. The rest of the time I'm on a paddleboard or a trail with my two black labs, Jet and Nova.
Writing
From the blog
September 7, 2026 · 6 min readApple Design Award Finalist: my WWDC26
Hearing Buddy was a 2026 Apple Design Award Finalist for Inclusivity. The story of that week in Cupertino, from the announcement to demoing in the Observatory at Apple Park.
- September 7, 2026 · 10 min read
How being a technical founder saved my company $2,000,000
My talk from Apple's International Women's Day event in Cupertino: building Erupt and Tappily with zero funding, Apple Entrepreneur Camp, contract work, and the numbers behind seven years of doing it myself.
September 7, 2026 · 5 min readWhy Swift is the next big thing for IoT
My FOSDEM 2025 talk, word for word, with the demo video and the code: a motion-activated smart light built with Embedded Swift, an ESP32-C6, and Matter.
September 4, 2026 · 9 min readMy 10 most popular LinkedIn posts, and what they say about how I work
A deep dive on the posts that reached the most people: Apple Design Awards, WWDC, App Store features, embedded Swift, and the decision to go all in on my own app.
Social media
Accounts I've grown
I grew these accounts myself, to more than 113,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Everything I do for other founders, I tried here first: carousels, short-form video, influencer campaigns, and UGC and ad creative.
37,172followers
Lilly Seay
My personal account. Building in public as a founder, engineer, and dog mom in the Pacific Northwest.
74,353followers
Jet & Nova
My two black labs and their adventures. I grew this channel from zero with short-form video.
2,304followers
Hearing Buddy
Where I post about hearing loss and accessibility, plus the launches behind each App Store feature.
2,900followers
Tappily
Mental health posts and carousels I make for Tappily.
1,500followers
JavaSwift Academy
Tips for new app developers, and my course launches.
Read a case study