Managing dozens, influencing hundreds,
inspiring thousands.
Servant visionary player-coach
My core philosophy is; Hire People, not Employees.
I’ve built and managed multidisciplinary teams across agencies, that consisted of Graphic Designers, Visual Designers, 3D artists, animators, web designers, and researchers, as well as early to mid-stage start-ups, where I not only built diverse and successful teams, covering such practices as Product Design, UX Design, UX Research, UX Writing, and Visual/Brand Design, but also inspired product and engineering teams to join the design practices and become internal user advocates.
I have built career growth and development paths across entire organizations by designing internal Personal Development and Education Programs with grants, and book stipends, alongside designing New Employee onboarding experiences to increase new employee excitement about the company and the team they are joining from day one.
As a player-coach, I don’t shy away from rolling up my sleeves and diving into Figma, research, or any other task my team may need help with, over the last decade, I have influenced cultural shifts that lead a company to an acquisition, designed user flows that were used as the foundation for two patents, inspired a multidisciplinary team to re-envision pre-dating mechanism and redesign onboarding that lead to explosive user growth, and innovated in the space of personalized contextually aware AI.
Key areas of expertise:
Color & Human Psychology
Extensive knowledge in how colors impact and influence product usability and user interactions.
Development of Innovation Culture
Fostering a trusting environment of experimentation, iteration, and learning processes that drive innovation.
Driving User-Centric Design
Creating a process for regular user data collection, user involvement, and engagement practices for real and right problem discovery and solution.
UX Design & UX Research
Full spectrum of methodologies know-how and unconventional approaches yielding highly successful outcomes.
Strategic Feature Discovery Process
Incorporating strategic research as part of the regular design process, yielding the discovery of potential future trends.
Cross-Functional Team Collaboration
Deploying innovative approaches to collaboration across different departments and teams, that drive a deeper collaboration through a better understanding of different functions and roles.
Cross-Platform Design
Designing user interactions across Apple & Windows eco-systems, including cross-platform interactions between desktops and mobile experiences.
Building Growth Culture
Designing and building education and professional growth paths for the team, which also highly benefits the business.
Effective Team Building & Management
Building team trust and judgment-free environments through vulnerability, coaching, and mentorship, alongside goal setting, and career growth guidance.
I’ve spoken at over a dozen events ranging from webinars, and companies, to national and global summits.
ADPList BeMore 2023 Festival: Managing Mental Health and Work
UX/UI Global Summit 2023: Why you Should Hire Immigrant & Junior Designers
Abercrombie & Fitch: Designing w/AI
Design Leadership Forum Fireside: Managing Employee Living with Mental Health Challenges
Calgary UX: Layoffs, the human side of the story
ECHOS Design Leadership
Acing UX Interviews
Design Buddies
ADPList Stories: Career Transition
Design Calendar: Design for Good 2021
Code for San Jose: Inclusive Product Week 2021
Designers & Coffee IG Live: Transitioning into UX
Pearl Academy Design Lounge 2020 | Psychology of Design
McMaster Design League 2020 | Featured Talk - My Design Journey
Identiverse 2020 | UX in Digital Identity
Digital Influx | The Evolution of UX 2020
SAE Alumni Convention 2013 | Designing Successful Websites
Podcast appearnces
Publications
Stop designing for Users and start designing for Humans
I just reviewed 370 UX applications
Designing the Future of Relationships
The data triangle system: why we need to always see the full picture
5 simple tips on working from home
The Cost of Login Time When Seconds Add Up
Password Usage Study: A Conversation with Yan Grinshtein (Part 2)