As a UX/Product Design leader, I’m passionate about building both people and products—delivering user-centered, impactful solutions through holistic design thinking.
I’ve led teams across startups and collaborated with Fortune 500 clients, including Amex and Goldman Sachs, during my time at a digital agency. I’m dedicated to mentoring designers, simplifying complexities, and fostering collaboration to create designs to drive business success.
Experiences
HEAD OF DESIGN | VALON, NYC
08/2021 - Current
08/2021 - Current
Design Leadership: Established the design discipline at Valon from the ground up.
Innovate: Directed the design process for AI-driven note summaries and automated mortgage assistance workflows, ensuring user-centric solutions that enhanced operational efficiency and aligned with business goals.
Brand & Design Systems: Spearheaded a company-wide brand refresh and established a unified design system, securing executive buy-in and enhancing overall product coherence.
Efficiency improvement: Overhauled data onboarding tools, reducing engineering support time from 287 hours to 5.11 hours per month and cutting operations time by 70%.
- Building and leading a multidisciplinary team of 11 (now 7 after 2023 adjustments).
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Implemented the user-centered design process from discovery to engineering handoff, significantly improving usability and product quality.
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Mentored and upskilled the team, achieving a 2.41-year average tenure in a 4.5 year startup
- Instrumental in scaling the company from $0 revenue in 2021 to $30 million in 2023.
- Contributing to the growth from Series A to Series C with a $1 billion valuation.
Innovate: Directed the design process for AI-driven note summaries and automated mortgage assistance workflows, ensuring user-centric solutions that enhanced operational efficiency and aligned with business goals.
Brand & Design Systems: Spearheaded a company-wide brand refresh and established a unified design system, securing executive buy-in and enhancing overall product coherence.
Efficiency improvement: Overhauled data onboarding tools, reducing engineering support time from 287 hours to 5.11 hours per month and cutting operations time by 70%.
DIRECTOR, EXPERIENC DESIGN | DIGITAS NY
06/2013 - 07/2021
06/2013 - 07/2021
Product Redesign: Led the redesign of BlackRock Investor Pulse, increasing website time spent by 200% and boosting organic search by 30%.
SaaS Platform Development: Directed the redesign of TravelClick’s hotel booking platform, resulting in a 23% increase in direct bookings and a 155% increase in mobile bookings.
Native App Design: Designed Nissan's payment app, reducing loan payment errors by 36% and decreasing call volume, significantly improving customer satisfaction.
Client Collaboration: Worked closely with Fortune 500 clients, securing stakeholder buy-in and aligning UX strategies with business goals. Notable clients included Aetna, American Express, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs.
SaaS Platform Development: Directed the redesign of TravelClick’s hotel booking platform, resulting in a 23% increase in direct bookings and a 155% increase in mobile bookings.
Native App Design: Designed Nissan's payment app, reducing loan payment errors by 36% and decreasing call volume, significantly improving customer satisfaction.
Client Collaboration: Worked closely with Fortune 500 clients, securing stakeholder buy-in and aligning UX strategies with business goals. Notable clients included Aetna, American Express, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs.
PRODUCT & DESIGN LEAD | BOMODA MEDIA
07/2012 - 04/2013
07/2012 - 04/2013
Market Penetration: Led a cross-functional team to establish a luxury media presence in China, growing the newsletter subscriber base from 8K to 70K in 6 months.
Team Building: Recruited and led a talented team across design, marketing, and analytics.
Strategic Partnerships: Secured collaborations with Chinese eCommerce giants like Meilishuo, driving significant traffic and market presence.
Team Building: Recruited and led a talented team across design, marketing, and analytics.
Strategic Partnerships: Secured collaborations with Chinese eCommerce giants like Meilishuo, driving significant traffic and market presence.
PRODUCT & DESIGN LEAD FOR NATIONAL GROUP | XO GROUP INC
11/2011 - 06/2012
11/2011 - 06/2012
Portfolio Management: Managed product creation for a $26M national product portfolio, transforming popular offerings into scalable solutions that supported
60+ campaigns annually.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partnered with editorial and tech teams to integrate social media and ad tech solutions into advertising products.
60+ campaigns annually.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partnered with editorial and tech teams to integrate social media and ad tech solutions into advertising products.
FOUNDER OF THE KNOT CHINA | INTERNATIONAL BRAND DIRECTOR | XO GROUP INC
09/2009 - 11/2011
09/2009 - 11/2011
Team Growth: Expanded the design team from 2 to 8+ employees to mentoring the entire early Chinese team of 70 and establishing strong collaboration between China and the US office.
Brand Development: Played a key role in establishing The Knot's presence in China, driving the brand's expansion and market influence.
Design leadership: managed the local design team in Beijing to support all brand and product design activities.
Brand Development: Played a key role in establishing The Knot's presence in China, driving the brand's expansion and market influence.
Design leadership: managed the local design team in Beijing to support all brand and product design activities.
09/2003 - 08/2009
Spanning from internships to art director and creative director positions.
Skills
Team leadership, recruitment, coaching, cross-functional collaboration, user-centered design, user experience, creative direction, UX/UI, design systems, user research, interaction design, visual design, interface design, agile methodology, staffing, resource management, process development.
Education
- BFA | Parsons New School of Design, NYC
Language
- Mandarin Chinese
- English
Tools
- Figma
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Adobe Photoshop
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UserInterview
- UserBrain
- Maze
- Airtable
- Google sheets
- Datadog
- Fullstory
Giving back on APDList.org
Mentored emerging design talents for over 2,100 minutes, earning 5-star unsolicited ratings. See My profile
Mentored emerging design talents for over 2,100 minutes, earning 5-star unsolicited ratings. See My profile