Design leadership
Storytelling & Vision
I love storytelling because I know how powerful it is. When done well, it can lead a large team of people to greatness. I enjoy taking product leaders' ideas and bringing them to life, through decks, presentations, video, and narratives.
For 2 years in a row, HackerOne gave me the opportunity to lead a vision presentation at the annual company-wide 'All Hands'.
2022 All Hands Product Vision
Final video
Myself and 2 senior designers collaborated, wrote, designed, animated, recorded this 7 minute video, representing the product teams’ 2 year horizon. Challenges: quick turnaround, stakeholder alignment
Final Images
The final video was played at the company allhands. The video is now used for all new hires. While we had many high-production-value references, this was the first time the company had seen a video like this, so the only production resources we had was keynote-animations and I did the voiceover myself. It was fun and showed the company what storytelling can do.
Stakeholder alignment
Time management
I kept the whole team on schedule and kept the stakeholders informed of progress.
2023 All Hands Product Vision
I absolutely love leading my team and helping others unlock their potential. Here are some ways I have mentored and managed in my career:
Team leader
Outside of the direct report <> manager relationship, I bring culture, psychologically safety, growth, and mentorship to my teams.
Weekly critique
Design & Product Ops as needed
Mentorship in 1:1s
Level-up teammates in any way I can
Guide large projects
Create design team OKRs
Creative funtimes to stimulate creativity
Manager / Career Growth
Career Progression framework writing
Skill building mapping & workshops
Job description and hiring process writing
Retention & Morale KPIs
Team restructuring needs
Augmenting the team with freelancers or agencies
Mentorship to the community
I mentor junior designers for 9 weeks a year as they go through their graduate school capstone process - guiding them through the whole project, all the way to landing their first job. They always keep me on my toes and I love reconnecting with the academic side of the work.
I also actively maintain office hours for any mid/junior designer who finds me on mentoring platforms or linkedin.
Agency Owner
I founded and ran my own interactive animation agency. We made interactive films, helped launch startups, and even did a permanent museum exhibit. I managed 1 full time employee, 1 intern, 1 payroll manager, and a rotation of 2-10 creative freelancers at any given time. It was a rewarding experience and I'm eager to get back to running a team.
Speaking
In the past year I've given internal talks about UX Quality, how to be customer obsessed, and growth hacking. I love putting together a good talk!
Writing
Workshop facilitation
When I hear about a business problem, and I hear people excited with ideas, my brain thinks - 'There's a workshop for that!' I love leading anything from a 2-week design sprint, to a stakeholder alignment, or just a roadmap impact to effort conversation over a FigJam.
I have experience and passion for optimizing processes, collaborating with CS Ops, Product Ops, and strategic leaders that need streamlined internal & external communications.
Feature Release Comms
Standardization of Release communication
A tiered release system with a checklist for each PM to follow
Collaboration with CSMs, Sales, and all other stakeholders who need to be informed upon releases
System Usability Score Standardization
A process for all designers to get a SUS score before handoff, during Beta, and after release of a feaure.
Beta Opt-in ability
The D2C side of the market wants to try all the Betas, without having to ask. They want to turn them on and off as they please. The Enterprise side of the market wants a lot of heads up on what's coming with the ability to opt-in on their own schedule, even after the feature is released. How can we serve both?
