I never have been able to pick one thing to be when I grow up. I’ve done everything from volunteer and events management to communications and grant writing, from data governance and knowledge management to instructional design and project management.
While grown up status could be debated, what I currently do is design usable services and inclusive experiences as an independent service designer and UX architect.
Why service design and UX?
I cut my teeth at a small (when I started) to mid-sized (when I left) nonprofit with a national reach. I’ve done everything from volunteer and events management to communications and grant writing, from data governance and knowledge management to instructional design and project management. (I am also a certified PMP.)
The first common thread in the wide range of work I’ve done is that I have always been driven to increase the usability and accessibility of data, information, and knowledge. This led me to a master’s degree in information management, with a focus on user experience. I really enjoyed having a systematic approach to discovering users’ needs and how to make a product or experience more user friendly – as well as finding out that I’d already been using some of these methods in my past work.
The second thread in all of the work I’ve done is that I have often worked at the intersections of different teams, different systems, and different workflows. As someone who often bridged gaps, I also have an understanding of how people, process, and technology work together—or don’t. Service design, to me, bridges those gaps – between a product and the systems it is used within, between an experience and a relationship, between a client and a business, and between the end user and all the people who make a service or experience possible for one, and who each have their own needs and experiences and expectations.
And third though certainly not least—I’ve learned that making things better requires change management. And the best way to start making change is by understanding your people – their needs, their fears, their goals, their expectations – and then working to make things better for them.
Selected Speaking
- “Drawing out stakeholder requirements with workflow diagrams,” 2023 Nonprofit Technology Conference, Denver, CO
- “The Myth of Shared Information Spaces,” Information Architecture Conference 2022, virtual
- “Service Design: Better Experiences for Everyone,” 2022 Nonprofit Technology Conference, virtual
- “Draw a Map to Clarity,” 2021 Nonprofit Technology Conference
- “Design your way to efficient data management,” North Carolina Tech 4 Good, 2020
- “How can we improve our defaults through IA?” at World Information Architecture Day DC 2019, Washington, DC
- “Strategic Knowledge Management,” 2019 Nonprofit Technology Conference, Portland, OR
- “Don’t Get Lost in Translation: Talking Technology with People at All Levels,” 2018 Nonprofit Technology Conference, Portland, OR
Selected Publications
I also keep a blog where I write about topics that come up in my consulting and coaching work.
- “Design your way to efficient data management,” NTEN Connect, Feb. 7, 2019
- “Swiping vs. Clicking: Why Won’t our Website Visitors Respond to our Calls to Action?,” Wethos Collective Blog, Oct. 10, 2018
- “Stop wasting institutional knowledge (and your team’s time),” The Nonprofit Revolution, Feb. 26, 2018
- “How to work with freelancers in an area you know nothing about,” The Nonprofit Revolution, Feb. 14, 2019
- “We’re all crafting an image — but whose?,” The Nonprofit Revolution, Jan. 22, 2018
- “Beyond race and gender,” The Nonprofit Revolution (Wethos), Nov. 20, 2017
- “Better Than Cake: Using Data to Celebrate Team Wins,” NTEN Connect, Sep. 2016
Miscellany
Outside of work, I enjoy traveling, trying new food, building community, reading, writing, making playlists, and 日本語を勉強すること(studying Japanese).