Core Competencies
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Building a strong, empathic team in an environment of psychological safety, and sound judgement
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Ensuring organization goals and vision are clear and the work of practitioners is aligned to those goals
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Reducing risk through thoughtful and intentional user-centered design practices
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Current Role
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Design Director, Financial Professional Experience
MassMutual, Enterprise Technology and Experience Feb. 2022 - July 2022 I am the proud leader of the team that drives user experience strategy and delivery for all of MassMutual’s financial professionals. I recruit, hire, train and staff team members across a dozen multidisciplinary development teams, comprising mostly complex in-house builds. While delivering validated developer-ready visual design, we emphasize user-centered strategy and concept design to ensure the vision is aligned with user needs.
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Activities
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Junior League of Elizabeth-Plainfield
Board Member | July 2024 - Present |
UXPA - New Jersey
Member - June 2017 - Dec. 2024 |
Ladies That UX Philadelphia
Member | June 2017 - July 2022 |
Past Experience
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Interim Head of Product Design
MassMutual, Enterprise Technology and Experience Feb. 2022 - July 2022 As the interim head of product design, I was responsible for bridging the gap between our former and new head of product design.
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Lead Product Designer
MassMutual, Enterprise Technology and Experience, Digital Experience, Design Nov. 2018 - Present As a lead product designer at MassMutual, I am the point-person for B2B projects with our producers, brokers and advisors in mind. I work with our business partners to discover requirements, coordinate and conduct research with end users, develop wireframes / prototypes and create assets for our developers and delivery teams. I excel at utilizing existing patterns in innovative ways to create easy-to-deliver experiences that exceed expectations. I am valued for my ability to advocate for our end users and communicate our ideas to stakeholders. Accomplishments • Lead user experience efforts for a financial professional-facing portal for MassMutual's retirement business (recently acquired by Empower) • Designed solution for managing the entitlements (including retirement plans and permissions) of the financial professionals above • Designed institutional investor-facing portal for MassMutuals guaranteed investment contract business • Designed workflow and platform for financial professionals analyze suitability of financial products sold by MassMutual • Designed workflow for auditors to request standard confirmation for bank- and corporate-owned life insurance products • Facilitated the kickoff, ideation and brainstorming session for MassMutual's first research and development team • Lead market research effort on consumer sentiment on wearable devices and sharing data with life insurers • Lead the relaunch of the Design and Technology Guild at MassMutual, which united designers and developers • Lead the development and implementation of a design system for MassMutual's business customers • Lead the launch of a working group that works to establish a community of practice for ethical digital product development • Created and facilitated a social justice bookclub, eventually recruiting more than a quarter of our division to participate |
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Adjunct Professor of User Experience Design
Jefferson University, Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce Aug. 2017 - Aug. 2022 As an adjunct professor for Jefferson — the combined Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University, I teach courses for the master of user experience and interaction design program. These courses include foundations in information architecture, user research and user experience design. |
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Senior User Experience Designer
TandemSeven, A Genpact Company April 2016 - Nov. 2018 As a user experience designer, senior consultant for TandemSeven, I am responsible for leading research and design projects for Fortune 500 clients. I collaborate with members of multidisciplinary teams and advocate for users and user-centered designed practices through research, ideation and solution development. My experience at TandemSeven has been concentrated in the financial services industry including capital markets, insurance and financial regulation. |
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Contract Project Manager, Content Strategist
Free Association, User Experience Consultancy Oct. 2014 - April 2016 As a contract project manager for Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Free Association, I managed the scope and schedule of projects with Cornell University (October 2014 - January 2015 and April - July 2015) and Google (February - March 2015 and May - June 2015). Additionally, I conducted market research, provided industry forecasting, produced content strategy during my time with the team. |
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Partner, Product Launch Lead
Sea/Salt Ventures, Product Partnership Studio June 2014 - April 2016 As a partner in the Sea/Salt Ventures product partnership studio, I developed web and mobile products with a 3-person team; consulted on product strategy via market and user experience research; helped product partners find product-market fit; consulted on content and marketing strategy; and conducted regular analytics reviews. |
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Project Manager and Content Strategist
AdPearance, Digital Advertising Agency Feb. - June 2014 I managed scope, schedule and resources for a number of digital products for this marketing company; executed planning, including analytics reviews, market research, competitor analysis, content strategy, information architecture and marketing strategy; and developed wireframes to communicate with developers on my team. |
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Contract Project Manager, User Experience Designer
Hewlett-Packard, Co., InkJet Print Lab Jan. 2010 - Dec. 2013 I utilized analytics, market research and user interviews to develop new printable products for “HP Printables” service as well as wireframes for the online user interface; developed templates for hundreds of unique print products and trained India-based outsource teams in daily creation; managed the implementation and change process for “welcome pages” to improve user experience; and developed marketing collateral for worldwide campaigns. |