My philosophy on UX is straightforward:
I want to make difficult products easier to use via transformative design. I consider myself to be in the business of Pain Alleviation Through Design™, and the majority of my professional career has been spent deep in the weeds of complex digital products. Usually those products have been mission critical to their user base, and usually those products have been in periods of rapid growth when I have joined. I have also been an artist my whole life – so I enjoy the chaos of tech.
-
I thrive in lofty, open-ended product spaces – ones that need smart information architectures, rapid decision making, and courageous ease-of-use UX to be successful. Standout projects in my career have been owning the entire information architecture of Property Management SaaS AppFolio, redesigning AppFolio’s Search experience, building the first Market Research SaaS Design System, and delivering the UX for Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
-
I thrive in design led product ecosystems that allow me the space to coach high performing teams alongside providing tangible design deliverables. I believe that the most impactful Design leaders are the ones who can still leverage design. Providing visual solutions and design value is integral to my ability to lead. I am not interested in management for management’s sake. I am interested in leading organizations to better user experiences.
-
I thrive when given the opportunity to hire, to mentor, and to coach. The work I have been most proud of in my people leadership lane has been the re-architecting of AppFolio’s UX Hiring Process, the formation of a “Common Services” group of senior Platform Designers, and my time as a mentor for a collection of designers new to the field of UX.