Hello
With 20+ years of experience in UX, I am currently serving as the Director of UX and Product Design Accela an enterprise SaaS comany that has served CivicTech space for over two decades. We are a gaggle of geeks who thrive on trust, coffee (and tea for some), working together, learning new things, building things that are accessible and work well, and supporting each other.
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My management philosophy is grounded in service, communication, transparency, support, hard work, getting out of the way, and giving my team a voice. I am passionate about inclusive, user-entered design and I approach managing as a human-centered activity. Every member of the team is a different shape with different strengths and needs and I work to learn those and respond accordingly. As a user experience veteran, I ensure that UX and Design have a seat at the table with all other stakeholders and that we play a role in building out that process.
Through the pandemic, I managed our team with frank discussion, flexibility, and compassion as every member of the team was suffering from loss in some way. We were able to bring our real selves to work and be honest about our limitations during a vary trying time. Gaining and sustaining my team's trust is imperative to be able to give them what they need to thrive, stretch, and grow. Recently two of my team members--the ones I leaned on the most--left to run their own UX teams. I understand that sometimes to grow team members means giving them the skills to evolve and move on. Their success is all of our success.
Areas of expertise
LEADERSHIP/MANAGING
Ten years managing people and projects. Ten years combined leading, teaching, and mentoring. Experience managing cross-functional teams locally and remotely. Excel in establishing efficient processes that facilitate user research and discovery, and UI and visual design sprinting. Love mentoring open minds.
BRANDING + MARKETING STRATEGY
Ten years developing brand positioning, value proposition statements, and brand voice; naming products and services; communicating brand and messaging across appropriate channels. A passion for delivering on the brand promise (and making sure there is one).
Eight years developing strategies for subscriber and customer acquisition, including direct mail campaigns, creating and maintaining editorial calendars, managing and editing corporate blogs, developing executive speeches and talking points, and ensuring that all customer-facing and internal content reflects the brand across all channels.
COPYWRITING
CUSTOMER-FACING: Web content, print copy, corporate blogs, video scripts, presentations, speeches, mobile, SEO, technical documentation, social media content, user assistance, etc.; INTERNAL: Branding and messaging documents for internal consumption, training materials, presentations, customer service templates, employee awareness campaigns for human resources, etc.
CLIENTS
Wells Fargo, Walmart.com, Blue Shield of California, AdLift.com, DocuSign, Riverbed Technology, TiVo, Inktomi, Kinko's, AD:TECH, MarchFIRST, Olivia Travel, TuttiFoodie, Berrett-Koehler Publishing, Williams Sonoma, Visa, Gallo Winery, and more.
INDUSTRIES
SaaS, government, healthcare, arts, internet, e-commerce, consumer electronics, cloud services, travel, food and wine, insurance, credit cards, financial services, banking...