After finding success as a UX designer, I was given an opportunity to lead design and strategy in a whole new way: becoming a product manager. As the company grows, many of our products are moving towards a self-led, e-commerce-enabled experience that looks less like B2B and more like B2C. I found the challenge intriguing, so I said yes.In this role, I've led full modernization of two eCommerce / SMB products. Through strategic prioritization and a deep understanding of customer-centric design, I was able to mentor junior designers, engage directly with the development teams, and foster cross-functional collaboration between distinct groups such as marketing, support, regulatory compliance and technology.This transformation has sparked a revolution within the company as other parts of the business have seen our success and want to achieve similar results.🍄 Career power-up: Moving from design to product management

My focus area was an $80MM line of business that handles regulatory reporting and sees billions of transactions per year passing through our core systems. In my role as UX architect, I was given broad autonomy and a license to innovate within an organization that was challenged with creating world-class experiences across multiple products. Many of these products came into the portfolio through acquisitions which meant each product also had a unique tech stack, design system and – to some extent – team culture. So, setting a vision for these products was critical as a way to shape the direction and priority of the work.I personally conducted multiple rounds of interviews and surveys to understand user needs, and incorporated this into my process. Some of the projects I delivered were:• An AI-enhanced tool for applying tax category codes to large product data sets• A self-led, hybrid experience that handled onboarding for new enterprise customers• Redesign of a service-backed tax filing experienceFun fact: I started right as COVID hit (and we all went remote) so I was also given the opportunity to contribute to some meaningful remote culture improvements.🍄 Career power-up: I learned how to lead a customer-centric vision within a highly regulated industry while engaging and aligning stakeholders from multiple parts of the organization

I started RAD Summit with two other experience designers because we shared the belief that there's a better way to inspire, teach, and challenge people who are craving a way to grow as professionals and as individuals.RAD Summit was a camp-style conference which meant the 100+ attendees were assigned cabins in the mountains of Colorado, creating the perfect setting for creativity, conversation and contemplation. While we all took on many (and I mean MANY) hats to make each summit a success, I personally took on the role of Education Lead which meant I interviewed experts, helped them build a curriculum and coordinated with them to ensure all attendees had the best, most meaningful experience possible.🍄 Career power-up: I learned that sweating every detail, no matter how small, really adds up to an amazing experience

In this role, I focused on driving product improvements while scaling the design team's impact across the company. Key achievements included:• Developing a full, interactive prototype, demoing a new customer experience at CES (2018)• Fully redesigning a legacy Windows application, to include advanced data visualization and hardware connectivity.• Developing and facilitating internal training and workshops• Recruiting and hiring top-tier design talent• Gaining deep understanding of systems supporting products and customers• Collaborating across teams (marketing, engineering, sales, customer support, ops)• Establishing processes to deliver the right solutions effectively• Creating space for continuous improvement through retrospectives and feedbackI also leveraged my design expertise to:• Introduce human-centered design to the employee experience• Support the rollout of our three-year company vision• Conduct workshops to improve processes and team dynamics• Build systems ensuring employees are heard and supported• Lead company-wide research to identify pain points and opportunities• Work with executive leadership to refine the employee/leadership feedback loop• Enhance onboarding, career advancement, and employee incentivesI'm passionate about helping teams clarify vision and work more effectively. In addition to my design role, I also:• Designed and led a leadership offsite focused on trust and vulnerability• Collaborated with executive leadership on the company's long-term vision🍄 Career power-up: I worked with ELT and the board to set a compelling company-level three-year vision and had my first experience managing a team.

As UX Design Lead I was responsible for establishing a product design culture through design evangelism, education and execution. In this role, I successfully:• Led product design initiatives on many new customer-facing products• Built a foundation for scaling a design team and hired our second UX designer• Led multiple products demos with customer executives and leaders• Designed and demoed our first mass-consumer product concept at CES2018• Collaborated with marketing to create a voice for our Enterprise solution• Facilitated company-wide design sessions which helped teams understand the purpose/value of design• Conducted generative research including contextual inquiry which informed many product decisions• Worked closely with vendors to ensure their design output was aligned with our high standards🍄 Career power-up: I learned how to design for a hardware ecosystem and build mobile experiences in tough environmental conditions

Pivotal (Pivotal Labs) heavily embraced the ethos of "eXtreme Programming" (XP) which meant I worked within a small team of two developers, a junior designer and a product manager on each project. With my development background, I'd often jump in with a developer "pair" to adjust styles live in code.Similar to Slice of Lime (which was acquired by Pivotal), my work spanned a variety of clients – from small startups to large enterprises. In this role I was fortunate enough to travel internationally and lead client discovery with a large multi-national bank which sought to create new FinTech products to serve the North American and European markets.Other projects in this role include leading design for an on-demand automotive technology startup, and an internal education platform.🍄 Career power-up: This is where I learned the power of pair design + development

In this role, I led numerous, complex user experience design projects for clients ranging from small startups to multi-national medical device companies such as Medtronic and large enterprises such as Google. I directly facilitated client discovery sessions and crafted, coordinated and conducted in-depth user research for mobile, web and other digital experiences.I also mentored junior designers, fostering skill development and design excellence within the team.🍄 Career power-up: This is where I learned how to facilitate client discovery, conduct UX research and go deep within the end-to-end UX design process.

In this role, I was responsible for interface development and programming using HTML5, CSS3 and advanced Javascript within the Play! Java framework. In this fast-paced startup environment, I learned quickly, planning features and application enhancements across multiple platforms and devices including mobile.I conducted user research to inform my efforts and brought back valuable insights to leadership that informed the product strategy.🍄 Career power-up: My first experience with a startup, I had to wear many hats, gaining development experience (Java, JS, HTML) and defining what UX design meant to the org

Rationale was built by myself and three other members of the interactive team from The Atkins Group. While we produced some amazing work for clients, we ultimately had to face the harsh reality that running an agency is hard work, and a sales pipeline is, well... critical.However, this was a formative experience and a great opportunity to learn. My role in the company was Interactive Designer which meant I was the bridge between our UI designer and backend developer, combing interface design with PHP, Javascript and Actionscript 3.In the year we were operational we delivered a few high-profile interactive projects such as:• A social-media enhanced microsite for SeaWorld San Antonio where park visitors could upload a selfie to the web portal, and other visitors could vote on which photo they liked the best. If selected, the selfie appeared on digital billboards all around the city. We built the entire application from scratch, including moderation and content flagging tools.• A highly-interactive Flash-based (yes, that Flash) simulator for a local energy company. This microsite allowed users to experiment with various energy sources to create a supply that balanced costs, output, emissions and safety.• An iPad app for a large beauty product company that allowed in-store representatives to find the right product for customers.• A 3D microsite for a new distilled-spirits company🍄 Career power-up: Starting a company

• Designed and developed front-end experiences using PHP, HTML, Javascript and AS3 (Flash).• Produced sitemaps, wireframes and user-flows🍄 Career power-up: This is where I started my UX career (before UX was a common term)

• Conducted client/SME (including C-Level Executives) interviews to determine educational objectives• Conducted usability testing sessions for beta products with students. • Developed performance development programs for executives• Developed front-end UI template/standards for online education material• Developed and programmed front-end UI solutions for media management within my department (Custom Flash Media Catalog).🍄 Career power-up: First experience working for a large enterprise

• Developed custom UI for a broad range of student material for digital classroom presentations.• Worked in the field alongside military instructors, determining the most effective ways to present required training material.• Served as videographer through numerous training scenarios in the field.🍄 Career power-up: Combining full creative license with structured education