Grace Tran Email & Phone Number

New York, Ny, Us

San Francisco, Ca, Us

Woonsocket, Ri, Us

San Francisco, California, Us

As Sr. Qualitative UX Researcher for the world's leading B2B gifting platform, I apply a creative and critical lens to answer foundational and generative questions about our 30,000+ users across 48 different countries. I translate these insights with product leadership, designers, engineers, and executives to inform how we build for our users in innovative ways that continue to delight and scale.Within my first 60 days, I gathered cross-functional input from 58+ stakeholders, conducted 1:1 calls to flesh out user personas, and executed the company's first competitive analysis and usability testing to identify user needs in a net-new market using the JTBD framework. The insights from this research were presented to the C-Suite, and leadership changed the existing roadmap to pursue several opportunities that I identified. Here at Sendoso, I also drive qualitative research projects with speed, agility, and enthusiasm to ensure that decision-makers make critical decisions with an informed, data-driven, user-first approach. I also streamline consultation requests with XFN stakeholders to spearhead UX research mentorship at Sendoso, empowering people across the org to learn more about research, how to leverage it, and how to self-service research while leveraging the UXR team's expertise for guidance.

Ithaca, Ny, Us

-Researcher for cross-disciplinary innovation team focused on idea generation and integrating new technologies such as big data in the assessment of real-world impacts of migration, marriage, and gender inequalities-Manage and build out end-to-end research project evaluating the usability of U.S.Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Electronic Immigration System-Recruit 100+ participants and conduct 1:1 in-depth interviews and focus groups toidentify painpoints in USCIS application platform and increase user retention-Design survey and analyze survey data to create user personas to identify targetuser of USCIS system-Establish Cornell's Ethnography Incubator to provide mentorship to junior associates through teaching best research practices, technical expertise, and project feedback

-Leveraged insights gained from conducting usability tests to drive user engagementand increase customer conversion rates by over 50%-Conducted competitive, cross-comparative analysis of customer purchasingdecisions on two competing e-commerce platforms: Etsy and Shopify, to help CEOstrategize in general direction of platform redesign-Facilitated 4 rounds of usability tests and observation with 5 users within 3-weekdevelopment cycle to evaluate user conversion and purchasing decisions-Created user personas and journey maps to identify and address user painpoints

-Designed and lead end-to-end, award-winning tactical research project consisting of18 month ethnography across 2 field sites (Canada and Vietnam) to evaluate usability of Canadian government's online visa immigration application system-Conducted and transcribed 85+ 1:1 in-depth interviews with 10+ stakeholdergroups and 1,500+ hours of participant observation, focus groups, and surveys-Created user personas and journey maps and presented them at international conferences to give Canadian government actionable insights for system redesign

Houston, Texas, Us

-Conducted interviews and 40+ hours of participant observation with 15 Houston-based stakeholders affected by global pandemic-Transcribed and coded qualitative data for analysis-Published findings in blog report on consequences of global pandemic on Houston's Vietnamese-owned nail salon business community

-Conducted contextual inquiries to identify painpoints in existing user experience-Used card sorting to re-evaluate information architecture of website; re-organized navigation and links to ensure swifter access to key resources-Designed Twitter banners and newsletter templates for dissemination using Canva-Standardized typography, copywriting, and colour palette for consistent brand presence-Drafted personas to re-evaluate target audience and key stakeholders for organization's membership dues

Houston, Tx, Us

-Conducted multilingual in-depth 1:1 interviews and 40+ hours of participant observation to analyze effects of covid-19 regulations on 15+ stakeholders-Coded and analyzed data for publication at urban research 'think-and-do' tank-Published findings in blog report on consequences of global pandemic on Houston's Vietnamese-owned nail salon business community

-Drove systematic efforts to streamline client intake process-Redesigned client intake system for spousal sponsorship evaluation cases-Designed and managed company's Facebook page to ensure consistent brand presence-Synthesized hundreds of cases and both academic and non-academic literature to draft and submit immigration appeals in under 2-week deadlines

Postdoctoral Fellowship

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Criminology And Sociolegal Studies

Visiting Scholar, Anthropology

Master'S Degree, Criminology And Socio-Legal Studies

Bachelor’S Degree, English Literature Studies And Criminology