my journey

How did I end up here? 

It started with an article from the BBC on food deserts in the East Bay. I had gone to UC Berkeley for undergraduate studies and was working in Berkeley as a research analyst, but I was totally unaware that just a few miles away, many kids had limited or no access to fresh produce. After working with the local schools on designing kids-friendly educational tools to promote healthy eating, I decided to go back to school to do a Master’s in international policy studies, believing that I would bring about the social changes I wanted to see through global and national efforts. 

While studying the impact of climate change on societal development and industries, Stanford’s d.school inspired me to apply design to any (and every) observable challenge – from designing an app to connect dog owners to dog walkers to my master’s project, designing for security in refugee camps. 

The career trajectory that followed bears resemblance to the design process - nonlinear and explorative; a story of impact through innovation, with sprinkles of resourceful creativity and pragmatic optimism. Starting out in quantitative research and policy writing, 

My training  in quantitative and qualitative analysis to think about complex global issues gave me a systems perspective and deep empathy for people. Working in product and creative consulting gave me the entrepreneurial skills to drive transformative impact through compelling designs and thoughtful strategies. 

I’ve worked in the public and private sector, in a variety of teams including product, data, design, operations, and strategy; and on everything ranging from healthcare to finance. Ultimately, every shift was driven by the desire to have a positive impact, and I hope to bring my mixed experiences to enable that with new ways of working and thinking.

my beliefs

Good design is the anticipation of desire and manifestation of intent

I lead diverse design teams in applying design in a wide range of challenges – from street fashion to dental products, from experiential physical spaces to digital interactions. 

I believe good design manifests intentionality. Good design, in whatever form and medium, is an expression of intent that is holistic, extensible, and sustainable. With a non-traditional and multi-faceted background, I build design teams that unlock creative yet functional solutions with intentional considerations and thoughtful substantiation. 

Designing with intentionality starts with a curiosity for people. I combine quantitative data analysis with interactive participatory methods to tackle a variety of strategic, generative, and evaluative research. My favorite part of the research process is storytelling - the chance to be the voice of users and tell compelling stories that translate into inspiring provocations. The success of design lies in the ability to get all stakeholders to get behind a common set of perspectives about users, and anticipate their needs.

Good strategy is the pathway to sustained competitiveness and a framing for aligned decision making

A good business is by design. 

I have built and launched successful products and experiences at early stage startups; I have also advised large corporations in building new products and services. 

I believe strategy is more than frameworks and models - it is grounded in a clear vision and describes a pathway to sustaining competitiveness. My approach to building strategies is rooted in a multi- disciplinary approach: using rigorous and human-centered approaches to define user needs, creating a cohesive and compelling vision, and creating corresponding capabilities to sustain competitiveness.