Hello!
Throughout this site you will find examples of my skills as a designer, leader, and collaborative partner. I use research and discovery to understand the dynamics of a problem, rapidly and iteratively test and ship solutions, and deliver value across the full customer lifecycle.
More importantly, I can inspire, manage, and coach others to adopt these skills. As a design leader, I am deliberate in tying design to business value. I adopt a strategy that balances deep usability and lovability of the current experience with innovative exploration to scout for opportunities we are missing. People on the teams I support feel impactful and visible. A high-powered team starts with empowered people.
What you can’t see in these examples are my robust analytical skills, my strengths as a communicator, and the trustworthy friendships I have made along the way.
I believe design and leadership are practices, not just roles, and I support those around me to develop both. Thanks for taking the time to glance through my experience! Want to chat more? Shoot me an email. I am always happy to connect.
Learn more about my leadership style and management philosophy with my user manual.
Vendr
Sr. Director, Head of Product Design and UX Research
2022 - 2024
I built the Product Design and UX research teams from zero, developed a strong process that resulted in design helping drive discovery and strategy, and ensured a high quality experience with the launch of our core SaaS product. My team is empowered and impactful.
In true startup fashion, I’ve recently been wearing an additional hat to define the brand and initial design of our emerging LABS projects to identify emerging market opportunities using Generative AI.
“Emily gave me the agency and trust to do my best work at Vendr. She went out of her way to teach the team how to think about incorporating AI technologies into design and research work, provided us with the resources to put that into practice, and helped us be more assertive across all our work. I recall, on multiple occasions, leaders from product and engineering being in awe of Emily’s decisiveness, velocity, and assertiveness to make better decisions. This helped design have a seat at the table.”
Karan Shastri
Staff UX Researcher (Vendr)
“One of the biggest things we were missing before you joined Vendr was a healthy design culture and the design team having an environment that supported growth. It seems to me that you made that happen. It’s so much better today than it was before you joined and I attribute that to you directly.”
Matt Daubert
Engineering Director
BookClub
Co-founder, VP of Product and Design
March 2020 - March 2022
I oversaw the creation of our initial zero-to-one efforts to launch our product, then hired and supported the teams that would bring it to the next phase of growth. In my tenure, our product launch was strong enough to attract top-tier content partners like Emma Roberts and Barbara Corcoran.
My role adapted to include managing our product-led content development and direct discovery for our enterprise offering. I led discovery and design for our initial b2b offering that has guided the future trajectory of the business.
“Emily is an incredible product and design leader. She’s a self-motivated and outgoing designer, a master at stakeholder management, and makes sense of the noise. Additionally, Emily is an open-minded and servant leader with a reputation for being kind AND a badass. She’s the kind of person you want in your corner and brings out the best in people.”
Kevin Hawkins
Director of Design
InVision
Director, Experience Strategy (Design transformation team)
March 2018 - March 2020
As a founding member of the Design Transformation team, I consulted internally and to our external customers on design leadership, crafting high-functional collaborative teams, and scaling design systems. I worked closely with the InVision Product, Sales, and Marketing teams in product opportunities, and developed a persona and customer experience framework to help redesign our customer-centered product narrative.
Case study: Experience Strategy
“Emily is able to move between teaching a C-level executive to mentoring a junior designer, and is able to create a deep and sincere impact on all of them”
Brian Thome
VP of Customer Success
“Something that sets you apart from most leaders is your ability to not only create and articulate a vision for the future, grounded in insights, but to communicate a plan to operationalize your vision through the empowerment of others”
Chris Avore
Principal, Design Transformation
Degreed
Product Manager, Enterprise Lead (prev. Design Lead, Enterprise)
2015 - 2018
At Degreed, I made the leap from Product Design lead to Product Manager, facilitating the design and implementation of our enterprise offerings. My team oversaw the discovery and launch of our reporting suite, content management tools, account administration, and skills management. Additionally, I led the customer advisory panel and worked closely with our customer facing teams on new product opportunities, account support, and extending into channel offerings.
“We need to make “to Emily” a verb. How can we clone her?”
Chris McCarthy
COO
“If you need someone who can own the entire product creation process in a way that solves user needs and produces quality work, then Emily is a shoe in. I love working with her.”
Ryan Seamons
Director of Product Management
HackerRank
Design lead (founding designer)
2012 - 2015
I was the third hire at HackerRank, joining before the product launched. I oversaw all design for the first few years, owning the brand and the product design from pre-launch through reaching our first million users. Based on my designs for our beta experience, we reached 10,000 users in our first week. I helped grow the team to hire and lead two additional designers and extend into enterprise.
“Opening a new design created by Emily is very similar to opening your Christmas gift. She has never failed to amaze us with her design skills and made sure there was a "WOW" effect every single time. The best designer we've worked with and the main reason why HackerRank design is amazing.”
Hari Karunanidhi
Co-founder, CTO
Photography
A creative side hobby
I’ve learned to improve my product design skills by studying the natural world around us. Around 2015 I developed photography as a side hobby, with a focus on frame and balance. Luckily my surroundings in the desert southwest have offered countless subjects for study of many different scales.