My Journey to UX

My current role

I am currently a UX Research Manager at a professional learning company. In direct collaboration with UX designers, product managers, data analysts, customer experience experts, and learners, I conduct end-to-end research to uncover user needs, behaviors, and pain points. I provide actionable insights that directly inform the design of easy-to-navigate, high converting e-commerce solutions and improve online learning experiences for professionals across a variety of industries. I design and conduct usability tests to uncover opportunities, I develop and deploy customer listening posts at scale via Qualtrics, and dive deep into user motivations, needs, and behaviors through surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus groups. In my role I enjoy leading and mentoring a team of researchers, defining research processes, informing user-centered designs, expanding my repertoire of tools and techniques, and deepening empathy for the human experience.

Formative experiences

Prior to this role, I spent a decade studying how people learn, conducting qualitative and mixed-methods research, and meeting the needs of diverse learners through careful curricular design and engaging teaching . I earned my PhD at The University of Arizona, where I also served in many administrative capacities, including as co-editor and content creator of a custom textbook supporting the writing development of over 6000 students/semester. As editor, I co-designed and conducted UX research to help guide our team’s editing decisions. We were pleased to create a more user-centered textbook based on survey responses and focus groups that was more visually accessible and more aligned with teacher/student needs. Throughout my time as an academic researcher, I contributed to numerous collaborative studies and designed end-to-end mixed-methods research, sharing findings with national and global audiences. I have interdisciplinary subject-matter expertise in written communication, visual rhetoric, and teaching adult learners and individuals for whom English is a second or additional language, and I received over $15k in grants and awards for the rigor of my research, the quality of my writing, and the inclusiveness of my teaching. In my role as assistant professor and an academic program director at Northern Michigan University, I managed 50 employees and conducted generative and evaluative research to improve their training program. I also led a team of researchers in conducting a large-scale assessment of over 1000 students.

My core values

I thrive in team environments and enjoy seeing the practical impact of high-quality, collaborative research. As a social scientist and former educator, I have a broad and deep interest in helping people and connecting with them. I approach users as I would learners, and I understand how to identify their needs through socially conscious research and analysis. I also have a constant desire to learn, improve, and develop my skillset. When I’m not stretching my research or writing muscles, you can find me sewing a new wardrobe, listening to vinyl records, or taking long strolls through the neighborhood. Past collaborators would tell you that I bring creativity and positive energy to any project.

I am confident that I can help solve even the most complicated or puzzling design issues by combining my interest in how people learn with my ability to conduct high-impact research and communicate information in accessible, creative, and audience-friendly ways.