About

Design philosophy

I believe designers have tremendous responsibility. Our work determines how people use products, what choices they can make when using them, and how they might understand the implications of those decisions. Technology is undeniably a ubiquitous part of our lives, and doing our part to design products with empathy—while also making them delightful and easy to use—is an imperative.

At the same time, design is a critical business function. Designers must be able to speak the language of business and understand how our function can play a key role in an organization, so that we can show the impact our work has on the bottom line. While I have been a designer for the majority of my career, my early foundation as a product marketer at Johnson & Johnson (a role that, in the tech world, would be a blend of product management and marketing) and my time as a startup founder have enabled me to be a designer who understands how her business, legal, and product partners think and speak.

About me

I’m a northern California native, currently residing in Marin County after a 13-year stint in San Francisco. I’ve been lucky enough to live on both coasts, in the middle, and abroad. I was the first in my family to be born in the US—I primarily stay connected to my family’s Russian roots through food, art, music, and language, which isn’t hard to do in my long-time former neighborhood in San Francisco (whose own rich food culture is a passion of mine). If you’re around me long enough, you’ll most definitely hear my famous Russian accent impersonation (which my brother thinks is terrible)! I’m also a lifelong photographer and occasionally spend time writing and sketching.

I currently work at Meta and lead a number of ecosystem-level design efforts. Prior, I spent four years in fintech and led design for some of SoFi’s critical growth and mobile platform efforts. I formed SoFi’s fourth ERG, focused on supporting current and future parents; as part of this work, I championed improved parental benefits by analyzing how the company compared to its peers and demonstrating how these benefits have a direct impact on gender diversity in the workforce. Along with my design leadership, this experience led me to have the opportunity to represent SoFi at Grace Hopper Celebration 2019, the company’s inaugural participation in the event, with a small group of female employees. I am passionate about considering diversity and inclusivity at every opportunity—I bring this mindset each day, from my design work to mentorship.

Want to chat? Drop me a line.

Skills and Experience

Core Design Skills

  • UX design

  • Information architecture

  • Qualitative research

  • Usability testing

  • Systems & logic mapping

  • Visual & interaction design

  • Design systems

  • Prototyping

  • Workshop facilitation

  • HTML/CSS/JavaScript

  • Copywriting & content

Design-Adjacent Skills

  • Product & strategy

  • Experimentation

  • Analytics

  • Leadership

  • Mentorship

  • Project management

  • D&I advocacy & allyship

Education

  • CalArts | Graphic Design Specialization Certificate (in progress)

  • Cooper | UX and Interaction Design Certificate (2017)

  • University of Michigan School of Public Health | MPH, Health Behavior and Health Education (2008)

  • University of California, San Diego | BA English Literature/Creative Writing; Minor, Pre-med Biology (2005)

Speaking Engagements

Photo by Sarah Muser James

Photo by Sarah Muser James

 
 
 
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