From Setup Chaos to CONFIG 2026: The Ticket I Almost Forgot

I recently had the chance to attend my first event hosted by Friends of Figma Miami, and what a way to break the ice.

The workshop, led by Dianne Alter, Co-Founder of The Design Project, promised something bold: taking Figma files and turning them into real, working code. Not handing them off. Not waiting. Actually building.

Breaking the ice at my first Friends of Figma Miami event.

Hosted by the University of Miami Department of Interactive Media, the session centered around tools like Claude Code, Cursor, Figma MCP, and GitHub , a powerful stack designed to connect design directly to deployment.

As expected (and hoped), I committed to installing everything beforehand.

Result?

Total setup failure.

I quickly realized I was stepping into unfamiliar territory. Terminals, configurations, dependencies, it all felt overwhelming. Complex. Confusing. Exactly the kind of discomfort I signed up for. I went there to get my hands dirty.

When the event began, Dianne asked who hadn’t managed to complete the setup.

Many hands went up.

Mine included.

Empathetic and sharp, she pivoted immediately and guided us through the process together. That alone set the tone: this wasn’t about perfection, it was about learning.

Dianne Alter and part of the Friends of Figma Miami crew.

But my laptop had other plans.

Technical issues kept surfacing. One after another. That’s when I met Vairo Di Pasquale, an AI/ML Lead Engineer, who stepped in to help.

And when I say help, I mean he went all in.

Vairo approached each obstacle like a pilot navigating turbulence, calm, focused, energetic. Every time we fixed something, another issue appeared. With ChatGPT as our co-pilot, we debugged, installed, retried, failed, and tried again. It felt like an endless race.

Meanwhile, the room moved forward. Others were already building. I was still fighting the setup battle.

But something powerful was happening.

We pushed through.

We got surprisingly far, almost to the finish line. The only missing piece? Linking my Figma files to the interface connecting Cursor, GitHub, and Claude Code. So close.

While I was fully immersed in this technical marathon, something else was happening behind me.

The raffle had started.

I barely noticed.

On screen, there was something about CONFIG 2026. But my focus was 100% on surviving the setup process.

Suddenly, Vairo asked me:

“Do you know what CONFIG is?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever been?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Budget,” I answered honestly.

He immediately told me to find my raffle ticket. I had almost forgotten it, buried in my coin pocket.

The ticket I almost forgot.

Expectations? Zero.

The host began reading the numbers.

At the same time, Vairo and I started repeating them out loud:

4…
7…
6…
3…
9…
6…

Wait.

That’s my number.

We looked at each other.

“Yes! That’s it!”

We exploded in celebration like two kids who had just scored the winning goal in overtime.

The prize?

A free registration to Figma Config 2026.

The same conference I had just said I couldn’t attend because of budget constraints.

I’m still processing the irony.

From debugging errors to celebrating wins.

I went to the event ready to struggle, and I did. I faced confusion, frustration, and technical walls. But I also experienced generosity, empathy, collaboration, and momentum.

Even though I didn’t fully complete the challenge on-site, I left with something far more valuable:

---

Reflection: AI, Design & Ownership

What stayed with me wasn’t just the ticket. It was the shift. AI isn’t replacing designers. It’s redefining ownership.

For years, the workflow was clear: design → handoff → wait. Now, the lines are blurring. Designers can prototype, test, and even ship.

But that power comes with responsibility. We can no longer hide behind “that’s engineering.” We’re being invited into the build layer.

And yes … it’s uncomfortable.
Yes … it’s technical.
Yes … it breaks sometimes.

But growth lives exactly there. I didn’t complete the challenge that night. But I crossed a threshold.

And now, I’ll be at CONFIG 2026, not just as a spectator, but as a designer actively stepping into the AI-powered future of our craft.

Conviction

AI is not a threat. It’s not something to fear. It’s a new terrain, and like any new terrain, it feels uncomfortable at first. But the opportunity is enormous for those willing to lean in.

Thank you to the Friends of Figma Miami team for creating spaces like this.

And thank you, Vairo, for jumping into the trenches with me.

See you at CONFIG 2026. 🚀