Michelle Ayala
Studying Software Engineering
Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, Mexico, Class of 2024
The characters in my apps are like family to me, each of them with their own stories and personalities. With Mac and iPad, I have the tools and confidence to bring them to life.
For software engineering student Michelle Ayala, app development is a way to bring her creativity into the world and foster connections between people.
“Creating apps isn’t just technical for me — it’s an art form where creativity and logic intertwine. There’s a special magic in seeing an idea come to life and watching it positively impact someone,” she says.
Her unique, art-first approach to app design led her to create Be Kind, a character-driven game that highlights empathy and encourages kids to find ways to help others through acts of service and generosity. The premise was drawn from Michelle’s childhood. As an only child growing up in the small city of Tapachula, Mexico, she saw firsthand how the kindness of others can foster connection. She also spent a lot of time drawing and dreaming up imaginary worlds. Creating characters, she says, brought her joy and helped her feel less alone — and she wanted to share that feeling with others.
She entered Be Kind into the Swift Student Challenge in 2024. She was inspired by the diverse ideas and backgrounds of previous winners and encouraged by her classmates in the Swift Coding Club at her university. To her surprise, it ended up being one of the winning apps.
Michelle first developed a passion for coding in the Swift Coding Club. There, she learned the fundamentals of app development and discovered that coding was the perfect way to combine her love of art with technology. Surrounded by mentors, she was introduced to Mac, iPad, and coding with Swift — which unlocked her creativity in ways she never imagined.
The Swift Coding Club is such a supportive environment full of people who are passionate and excited about creating iOS apps and are eager to learn. Having that kind of community makes coding even more rewarding. The club has become a second home to me.
Michelle continues to level up her skills and push the limits of her imagination — working seamlessly between her Apple devices throughout each stage of the development process. After drawing her characters with pencil and paper, she perfects them in Adobe Illustrator on iPad with Apple Pencil. Then, she brings them to life — mapping out the user journey in Freeform on iPad and programming in Xcode on Mac.
“Moving to Mac seriously upgraded the way I work,” says Michelle. “It’s fast and reliable, and the brightness and clarity of the colors helps me to design beautiful characters. Being able to switch so smoothly between Mac and iPad makes it so easy and fun for me to create and code.”
For Michelle, app design is already taking her to places she never dreamed of. Recently, she left Tapachula for the first time when she flew to Monterrey, Mexico with the Swift Coding Club to participate in the Hackathon Swift Change Makers competition. In under 48 hours, her team developed applications for real-life business problems using Swift on Mac — and took home the prize for best prototype.
“Being a part of the Swift community means I can help and connect with people from all over the world. I’m so grateful to combine my love of art and design with technology, get out of my comfort zone, and meet new people. It makes me really excited for the future.”
