May 2019 – Present · 6 yrs 11 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

• Lead member-facing product research to guide and inform new content experiences on Netflix. Previously lead research for Netflix's ads experience, e.g. on our ads plan and live content, as well as our suite of interactive experiences that spanned animated and live-action kids, family, and adult titles

Jan 2015 – Jun 2018 · 3 yrs 5 mos · Menlo Park, California

• Built and led Instagram’s Business Platform research team with the goal of helping people discover and connect with the businesses and brands they love. Guided resource allocation and mentored a team of qualitative and quantitative researchers.
• Designed and conducted a portfolio of foundational product and tactical design research for a range of Instagram products with a focus on tools for businesses and brands. Research insights had direct impact on launched products such as non-square formats, business profiles, Stories, Save, shoppable posts, and branded content tools
• Co-founder of Facebook Research’s Creativity in Research task force, with the goal of providing FB researchers resources to employ creative research and storytelling methods. Initiatives included the creation of a resource sharing group, internal and external (start-ups) training, and published articles.

Oct 2011 – Dec 2014 · 3 yrs 2 mos · San Francisco

• Lead and guide research and design teams to deliver on innovation and experience design projects; from research to ideation to concept development to implementation support. Manage project timelines, client relationships, and vendors. Created and maintain Daylight’s marketing, PR, and social media channels.
• Design, develop, and execute on research plans to inspire and guide new product
• and service development. Define target user profiles, write screeners and work with recruiting
• agencies or utilize guerilla tactics (e.g. craigslist, SurveyMonkey, friends and family, forums
• for extreme users, etc.) to recruit research participants. Conduct in-person or remote 1-on-1
• interviews, site visits, observational research, contextual inquiry, etc. Facilitate group discussions and participatory design sessions, conduct stakeholder interviews to maximize buy-in.
• Synthesize findings into actionable insights, design principles, and behavioral personas.
• Create visual storytelling materials to communicate research findings and inspire user
• empathy among broader organization and stakeholders.
• Facilitate collaborative brainstorming with client stakeholders, select and refine seed ideas via paper sketches, rough wireframes, and/or interactive prototypes.Work closely with designers to then visualize user scenarios via higher-definition, illustrative storyboards and prototypes. Serve as strategic user advocate throughout implementation.

Oct 2011 – Jun 2012 · 8 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

• Feb 2012 - June 2012:
• Project for Adaptive Path and a global sportswear manufacturing and retail company. Developed and executed on ethnography research plan that included remote and in-home consumer interviews, in-store observations, and extreme user discussions in five international and domestic markets.
• Created archetype+persona framework with consumer profiles to guide concept and brand story development. Other deliverables included experience principles, service blueprint, opportunity maps, archetypal consumer journeys, and cross-channel service narratives.
• October 2011 - Feb 2012:
• Project for Daylight Design and a leading financial services company. Explored innovation opportunities in mobile banking by conducting ethnographic research in three U.S. markets, investigating emerging technologies, and identifying unmet consumer needs. Identified new opportunity areas and corresponding user scenarios based on consumer insights and worked with UX designers to develop a series of new service concepts for the mobile channel, a select few of which the client is currently pursuing patents for.

Aug 2010 – Sep 2011 · 1 yr 1 mo · San Francisco Bay Area

• Member of team that launched the San Francisco office of Idea Couture, a global strategic innovation and experience design firm headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
• Identified and supported business development activities and increased corporate brand awareness through speaking engagements, innovation advocacy articles, event sponsorships, and hosting open studios.
• Lead project with the Innovation Practice Group of the World Bank to design programming for their 2011 Innovation Days event, a three-day engagement celebrating innovation at the organization. Facilitated a series of workshops with internal stakeholders to imagine and later develop ways to engage off-site offices throughout the world during the event.
• Served as senior-level strategy and research support for projects based out of headquarters.

Sep 2009 – Mar 2010 · 6 mos

• Crafted transformational narratives that enable executive leadership teams to empower, engage and inspire their work forces to embrace new strategic visions. Narrative tools developed included the design and facilitation of corporate workshops, printed, take-home materials, experience galleries, and interactive digital tools.

Aug 2007 – Oct 2009 · 2 yrs 2 mos

• Developed and executed go-to-market strategies to introduce innovative digital media solutions that assist Fortune 500 brands foster a strong online presence and engage users via interactive tools
• Worked closely with Product Development and Engineering to define market and usability requirements for new product development. Created MRDs and front-end usability documents with a focus on bringing a user-centered, market-led point-of-view into the development process
• Streamline go-to-market and sales processes by developing pre and post-sale implementation plans and conducting training to educate sales on features and benefits of new product and capability launches

Jan 2005 – Dec 2006 · 1 yr 11 mos

• Collaborated in innovation projects that identified new market opportunities by employing design-based methodologies. Research projects included investigation into segments such as on-the-go snackers, small and medium-sized businesses, at-home loungers, mobile communicators.

Oct 2002 – Dec 2004 · 2 yrs 2 mos

• Managed relationships with publisher clients who operated 500+ websites of Tribal Fusion’s Ad Network
• Solicited and developed new client accounts, contributing to a 145% increase in advertising inventory in one year
• Developed and managed several self-initiated projects such as the creation of a comprehensive customer support center, training manuals, and marketing materials

Jul 2001 – Dec 2001 · 5 mos

• Developed and managed various prototyping initiatives, from definition to implementation to analysis, to support the R&D department in the development of a chest compression device designed to improve the treatment of sudden cardiac arrest