I am passionate about connecting with people, identifying challenges, and collaboratively crafting solutions. My career has been driven by the pursuit of user-centered product development, where research, testing, and validation form the bedrock of success. With a strong foundation in Design Thinking, Lean methodologies, dual-track development, and Agile integration, I've honed my skills in creating UX roadmaps and engagement models, conducting UX research and design, and performing usability testing and analysis. I'm equally adept at facilitating workshops and inspiring teams to embrace user-centric practices.My professional journey has seen me thrive as a Practice Leader with global direct reports, fostering client relationships, and contributed to thought leadership through publications, speaking engagements, and strategy presentations. I've shared my insights and expertise through numerous publications, including articles on topics like Design Sprints, Lean UX, Unified Commerce, and more.In my current role as the User Experience Service Line Director at Apexon, I have successfully built and managed the UX practice, overseeing a global team of UX researchers and designers across multiple geographies. I have successfully grown a multi-million dollar annual revenue, creating a UX practice playbook and project engagement models to ensure the highest standards of human-first service delivery. I work closely with leadership, sales, and marketing teams to drive innovation and initiatives, manage cross-functional teams, and nurture client relationships while ensuring project success.My previous experiences allowed me to establish and implement Lean UX methodologies, significantly improving designer-developer collaboration. Additionally, my time as a lecturer at Northwestern University allowed me to shape the future of journalism by developing graduate courses in New Media and Online Journalism, introducing multimedia and non-linear visual storytelling methods.