Experience

Senior UX Designer @ Elsevier
March 2020 to Present

  • Strategic design: Lead designer on Check Integrity, a submission screening tool for Elsevier’s Ethics Team built to surface and track likely threats to research integrity, such as authorship-for-sale via paper mills, and the authors, reviewers, & editors who may be manipulating the peer review research process.

    • Additional products: Reference Analyzer, Declare Your Interests, EOAS

  • Strategic design & innovation: Actively supported two Centers of Innovation (COI) tracks focused on Research Integrity — Publishing Ethics and Reproducibility, respectively — through validating user needs, providing strategic guidance, and identifying high-level design objectives aligned with business requirements.

  • Stakeholder alignment: Works directly with business stakeholders across STMJ and Publishing, product owners, and data scientists to determine quarterly OKRs, identify data gaps, and decide how we can best achieve business objectives within legal requirements surrounding PPI, GDPR and other constraints.

  • Product delivery: Collaborates with cross-functional teams to balance user needs with business objectives and technical specifications within the E2E Submissions journey. I provide user flows, information architecture, wireframes, high-fidelity mock-ups, prototypes, and content guidance. 

  • UX Research: Ensures a thoughtful, deliberate and (always) research-driven design process by leading stakeholder workshops (e.g., future scenarios, journey mapping) and bi-weekly design feedback sessions — conducting user interviews, writing & distributing user surveys, and through regular user testing.

  • Collaboration: Works 1-on-1 with product, devs, and QA throughout every Agile product development cycle to ensure an optimal user experience and visual consistency using the Graphene Design System. Within the UX team, I regularly colleagues with brainstorming, idea mapping, note-taking during interviews, 

  • Leadership: Mentors mid-level & junior designers, guides and assists with brainstorming and idea mapping, educates colleagues about similar workflows in products across the entire Elsevier ecosystem. I have also given several presentations on the importance of accessible content design and how it can be achieved through a11y standards adherence, actionable product copy and content structures optimized for readability.

Product Designer @ Paytronix
May 2018 to February 2020

  • Improved product consistency and cross-functional collaboration by establishing a cohesive visual language via Snax Drawer — Paytronix’s first design system of reusable React components (Storybook). In addition to establishing brand standards, style guidance, and designing all initial components, I also helped lead front-end delivery.

  • As the lone designer on the product team, I lead the crusade for thoughtful user experiences, instructive copy, and clean interface design within an enterprise CRM and loyalty platform serving restaurants and convenience stores. Quite simply — sketching, wireframing, and prototyping with purpose. 

  • I educated colleagues on ‘good design’ and information architecture. I also conduct qualitative research, and interview both primary and secondary users to make the case for features that improve the experience of all customers. 

  • As the voice of the user, I collaborated directly with product managers, product owners, and front-end developers in an Agile environment to transform a built-by-engineers-for-engineers platform into self-service software that prioritizes the needs of both marketers and customer success teams.

Sr. UX Content Strategist @ CVS Health (contract through Onward Search)
October 2016–December 2017

  • Translated business requirements and consumer research into empathetic, consistent, user-first strategies and customer journeys using agile and waterfall methodologies for projects across mobile and web platforms.

  • Created wireframes and user flows to solve complex problems and expand responsive user experiences amongst the CVS Caremark and CVS Specialty products.

  • Collaborated with senior UX managers and visual designers to research, define, and wireframe end-to-end user experiences for prescription benefits plan members and patients taking specialty medications for both mobile and web.

  • Overhauled email alerts through improved information architecture, structural design enhancements, and warmer messaging. This contributed to a 25% increase in alert enrollment, and fewer related phone calls to Customer Care.

UX Strategy & Design Consultant (Freelance)
March 2015–Present

  • Enhanced the usability of consumer-facing mobile applications and websites through user research and content-driven UX design.

  • Since 2017, I’ve almost exclusively focused on branding and creative for progressive PACs and political candidates — both in print and digital. Beyond logos, website, and palm cards, I also work with both organizations and individuals to develop effective messaging and digital strategies that support campaign objectives.

Senior Content Strategist @ Intralinks
March 2014–February 2015

  • Acted as user experience and technical documentation lead for a proposed API site. While the direction of our experimental IL Lab group was shifted to other projects, my team's work guided the eventual deliverable—a well-constructed developers' portal designed to expand and support the Intralinks product suite.

  • Lead content strategy, keyword analysis, and crafted the tone of voice for the website redesign of a global SaaS specializing in secure-yet-collaborative document workspaces—making the complex facets of infosec more readily digestible.

  • Crafted the Information Rights Management (IRM by design™) brand and ‘story’ through whitepapers and blog posts.

Digital Strategy Lead @ Inphantry
May 2011–March 2014

  • Provided content strategy, creative direction, and UX design at a boutique experiential agency specializing in technology and lifestyle brands including DataXu, Puma, and John Hancock.

  • Lead user research, brand direction, user behavior analysis, social listening, and strategic guidance for the planning and execution of digital and integrated campaigns.

Senior Copywriter @ Everest BetClic Group
August 2008—May 2011

  • Crafted a unifying creation direction and tone-of-voice for interactive experiences, online promotions, live events, affiliate marketing campaigns, print ads, and more as the lead copywriter in an agile, in-house agency for an international online gaming brand.

  • Managed and mentored a team of 3 copywriters, acting in a lead role providing creative/copy direction. Collaborated directly with art directors, designers, developers, and marketers to deliver targeted campaigns and product enhancements.

eCommerce Copywriter & Editor @ NameMedia
November 2007—August 2008

  • Wrote and edited copy for over 700 long-tail-focused, e-commerce sites, and managed off-site freelancers supporting the project.

  • Analyzed and optimized content to drive traffic and improve search metrics. I also developed paid search campaigns (Google AdWords) and provided additional SEM support.

Lead Product Copywriter & Production Editor @ SmartBargains.com
March 2005—August 2007

  • Managed and trained a five-person freelance team to ensure consistent copy standards, while also ensuring keyword optimization in every piece of product copy.

  • Created and edited promotional and product copy for apparel, fine jewelry and home goods for a high-volume online retailer.

SOFTWARE
Figma
Miro
Dovetail
InVision     
Atlassian
Sketch
Adobe Creative Suite
Microsoft Office
Pendo
Adobe Analytics

TECHNOLOGY
HTML and CSS/Sass
    Semantic, Flexbox, Bootstrap, Foundation
Git and Gulp
JavaScript (React)
Unity

PRODUCT METHODOLOGIES
Agile
Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG)
Lean

EDUCATION
Certificate in UX/UI design and front-end development
Startup Institute | Boston, MA

M.A. in Print & Online Journalism
Emerson College | Boston, MA

B.G.S. in Textile & Apparel Marketing / Communications
University of Missouri | Columbia/St. Louis

LANGUAGES
English (native fluency)
Spanish (intermediate)
Norwegian (beginner)