About Me
Welcome
This is Me
How did I get into UX Research? I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. And honestly, I had NO IDEA what to do with my life.
I was pre-med, pre-astrophysics, pre-whatever. I was completely LOST. But when I took my first psychology course, I fell in love with learning how people think, feel, and behave. I even got training in client-centred therapy. I ended up conducting behavioral research in the sleep and neuroimaging lab at Berkeley and the Life-span lab at Stanford University.
Back in 2014, I discovered UX in the most serendipitous manner: a random phone call from Apple.
I didn’t get the job, but I learned about this new field. I quit my full-time research job at Stanford University to teach myself UX. I had no mentor and zero guidance. I applied to Master’s programs and jobs.
And I got rejected from every one of them
This is an actual rejection email I got from a Master’s program that I had not even applied to yet. I share this because I know how difficult it can be to get into this field.
Conducting a guerilla usability study in Starbucks. Beautiful cardboard sign, right?
But through grit and hustle…
I was eventually able to build my own resume and find my own way. I spent 6 months taking courses, reading books, teaching myself:
- UX, HCI, Ergonomics
- Business strategies
- McKinsey Consulting
- Leadership principles
- Gamification
- Design & Coding
- Innovation concepts
The works. I took everything I learned and designed my own UX research studies and would conduct them in random Starbucks coffee shops. I continued applying to jobs and finally landed my first UX research job with Volkswagen on their self-driving vehicles.
Since then, I have worked on various hardware and software, B2C and B2B products/services at Google, Unity Technologies, and Uber – and have received patents for my work.
So why am I here?
To help you become the most badass UX leader you can be!
I noticed a LOT more people discovering this fast-growing field (backed by data from Google Trends; hey what kind of researcher would I be if I didn’t give you data?).
I found myself answering hundreds of LinkedIn and Quora questions asking how I did it, so I decided to pay it forward by sharing
- what I’ve learned so that YOU DO NOT HAVE TO STRUGGLE the way I did…
- resources that will help uplevel your skills and potential
- to give you tips on things I wish I knew when I first started, and…
- EVERYTHING I’VE LEARNED SINCE THEN.
From someone who went from Zero to UX researcher, I know how difficult it can be to transition, so I hope to help guide you on your journey into your dream job.
So what are you waiting for?
Let's get to it.
