Résumé

CORE SKILLS

  • Qualitative and quantitative user research
  • Product strategy from problem definition to scaling
  • Cross-functional collaboration
  • Stakeholder management 
  • Presentation, communication, storytelling
  • User advocacy, cultivating a user-centric culture
  • Research program development & implementation

EXPERIENCE

Customer Insights & Strategy Consultant    February 2025 – Present
San Francisco Bay Area, CA

Energy Policy Design Institute: Service Design & Customer Research 

  • Assisting founder in developing energy policy design facilitation services and client experience 
  • Researching U.S. state energy agency client needs and visualizing consulting business processes 
  • Advising design of client acquisition materials and business development strategy

Jigsaw Energy Management: Customer Discovery

  • Conducted customer research with facilities & energy managers to inform MVP and market strategy 
  • Advised in problem assessment & needs analysis in the energy management software market

Senior UX Researcher    November 2021 – May 2023
Navan, Palo Alto, CA

  • Partnered with international product teams on research studies to inform company-wide product strategy decisions
  • Conducted 1 to 3 week turnaround projects with business travelers, travel administrators to meet C-suite requests
  • Attained goal of decreasing time for new small business customers to register and onboard from months to weeks

Senior UX Researcher    October 2019 – November 2021
Edmodo, San Mateo, CA

  • Led company-wide research program to drive human-centered evidence-based product planning
  • Conducted international multilingual studies in the K12 Education space with students, teachers, administrators
  • Trained and developed research skills in cross-functional partners to expand research project capacity by 50%

Senior User Researcher    April 2017 – April 2019
Facebook, Meno Park, CA

Contractor through K2 Partnering Solutions

  • Embedded in multiple cross-functional product pods in the enterprise recruiting products team
  • Conducted qualitative and quantitative research: contextual inquiries, design evaluations, surveys, time studies
  • Impacted business processes, UX design, and product strategy, enabling recruiters to nearly double past hiring goals

User and Design Research Consultant    2007 – 2016
San Francisco Bay Area, CA

Sample projects:

  • For Udacity’s student and recruiter interface, I conducted remote 1:1 video interviews, usability tests, and participatory design activities. Study results enabled engineering and design teams to identify opportunities for re-design.
  • For TaskRabbit’s exploration of new service models and marketing strategies, I developed user and marketing research studies involving contextual interviews and focus study design. We prototyped and tested new product concepts and developed internal/external marketing messages for marketing initiatives.
  • For Google’s User Happiness group, we conducted in person contextual interviews and post-field analysis of data/insights collected, leading to new approaches to user experience design. I assisted in defining and developing a set of user characteristics and qualities of an expert searcher.
  • For Eazo, in Beijing, China, I executed an ethnographic field study of PC and luxury product users in business, home, and retail settings and led the executive team through participatory design and vision exercises. The research findings/analysis defined the design language of Eazo’s flagship line of luxury personal computing products.

Board Member & Secretary   Aug 2015 – July 2020
PlayThrive, Redwood City, CA

  • Support head of school and teachers in operating PlayThrive Bilingual After School Program (K to 4th grade)
  • Manage internal/external communications and projects across a volunteer-run organization
  • Assist founder to develop organizational strategic plan to promote whole child education in the community

Parent Volunteer   Aug 2015 – Present
John Gill Elementary School, Redwood City, CA

  • Collaborate with various school community parent group leaders to consolidate and organize communications
  • Spearheaded a community poll (Spanish/English) and workshop to create a more equitable fundraising strategy 
  • Served on original MI program advisory council with school district staff on recruitment and academic development

Language Program Co-Founder    Nov 2013 – Aug 2015
Mandarin Immersion in Redwood City, CA

  • Organized community outreach and coordinated campaign to start a public K-8 Mandarin Immersion program
  • Developed web/social media/print/communications designs, led to recruitment of 100+ prospective student families
  • Co-managed team of volunteers to craft a proposal approved by the School Board within 10 months of kickoff
  • Inaugural Kindergarten and first grade classes started in fall of 2015 at John Gill Elementary School

Chief Product Officer, Co-founder    May 2009 – Feb 2011
Frenting Inc., San Francisco, CA

  • Co-created two startups: an online sharing community and e-commerce platform for specialty cameras
  • Conducted user, product and market research to inform design and product strategy
  • Designed the user experience, visual identity, web graphics, information architecture, product packaging
  • Developed and managed external customer facing website, product receiving/shipment operations, customer service
  • Recruited and managed creative team of design consultants and interns

Cross-Cultural Design Course Coordinator & Teaching Associate    2009
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

  • Assisted in course planning and conducting design thinking workshops at Stanford d.school and Peking University
  • Helped coordinate and led Stanford and PKU graduate students through group projects and two study exchange trips

Product Debug Technology Engineer    Mar 2003 – Jun 2006
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA

  • Developed the first set of hardware/software applications for the next generation laser-based optical debug tool
  • Established hardware and software user training programs across 6 countries and over 100 engineers/technicians
  • Received an internally prestigious Intel Achievement Team Award for significant chip speed advancements

EDUCATION

MS, Joint Program of Design    
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Master’s Thesis: From Food to Furnishings – A series of designs for more intuitive eating

MS, Electrical Engineering    
University of Texas, Austin, TX
Microelectronics and Computer Development Fellowship, Concentration: Optoelectronics

BS, Electrical Engineering    
Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
Schreyer Honors Scholar Program, Honors Thesis: Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels

SKILLS

Interviewing, Usability testing (moderated/unmoderated), Surveys, User types / personas, Ethnography, Journey mapping, Concept testing, Heuristic evaluation, Participatory design, Card sort, Focus groups

Dovetail, UserTesting, Surveymonkey, Maze, Ethnio, Optimal Workshop, Questionpro, Figma, Jira

Programming in R (Harvard edX)

Conversant in Mandarin Chinese

PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS

Climate Solutions, Sustainable Design, Ethical Research & Design, Community Educational Programs