Design Leadership
Design excellence is a competitive advantage, not an end in itself. It’s about building products that help people succeed—because when users derive deep value, they drive lasting value for the business.
Design Leadership in an evolving AI landscapeAI-First Mindset
& Technical Fluency
I evolve mature products into scaled ecosystems, with cohesive design systems and AI-powered workflows.
THE CHALLENGE Designers across Intuit needed to move from designing static screens to non-deterministic, AI-powered agentic workflows.
LEADERSHIP APPROACHI created the "Tech Acumen Series," up-skilling 350+ designers on GenAI and LLM fundamentals while co-leading the vision for embedding Intuit Assist AI capabilities throughout Turbotax web and mobile
We transformed into a design team where 90% of individual contributors developed foundational AI skills and launched AI-first innovation like AI double check and tax explanations that significantly boosted customer confidence and identified missed deductions.
THE CHALLENGE TurboTax lacked a formal, centralized design system, which created fragmented user journeys and quality defects hindering the brand's ability to innovate at pace.
LEADERSHIP APPROACHI pitched and secured executive funding to build a dedicated E2E Design Systems team from the ground up. I architected a high-performance organization to deliver a scalable, cross-product ecosystem that served as the foundational "source of truth" for design and engineering across the organization.
Within 12 months, we doubled product team velocity and successfully led a total mobile-first transformation of the apps. The system enabled a seamless E2E experience refresh and was recognized with both a Webby Award and an Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) IDEA Award.
Navigating Ambiguity
& 0-to-1 Strategy
I transform vague strategic challenges into clear, high-growth product pillars by anchoring vision in customer data and prototyping at speed.
THE CHALLENGE Mailchimp’s siloed SMS point solution was failing to gain traction with mid-market businesses.
LEADERSHIP APPROACHI facilitated E2E workshops and experience reviews to prototype an omnichannel experience, prioritized high-value interactions based on deep customer interviews, and aligned cross-functional teams on success metrics.
We grew our revenue from $0.5M to $25M in 18 months, delivering a 16.5x ROI for customers and expanding the addressable user base by over 35% with internationalization.
THE CHALLENGE TurboTax was losing ground
with investors due to a lack of support for complex modern assets (crypto, etc.).
LEADERSHIP APPROACHI championed a lean, "good-enough-to-win" roadmap and led the team to build the "Best Crypto Tax Software 2023."
Facilitated 1.7M data imports and drove a 22% year-over-year revenue increase for the investor segment.
Scaling Operational Excellence
& Design Culture
I multiply impact by building healthy team structures and high-velocity execution rhythms to deliver craft at scale.
THE CHALLENGE Inherited a decline in Mailchimp’s "Ease of Use" scores and a fragmented UI during a period of leadership transition.
LEADERSHIP APPROACHI stepped in as Interim Head of Design, reorganized the team to fix E2E gaps, and established a dedicated design systems team to bridge Mailchimp and Intuit’s shared patterns.
Our team improved "Ease of Use" by 6 points and achieved a 60% reduction in negative UI feedback within the first six months
THE CHALLENGE While scaling the SMS product at Mailchimp, I identified a high-potential Design Manager who was technically excellent but needed to expand her strategic influence across the broader Mailchimp and Intuit ecosystem.
LEADERSHIP APPROACHI adopted a coaching-first leadership model, empowering her with high-stakes ownership of cross-functional initiatives while providing the executive mentorship and "air cover" necessary to navigate complex stakeholder environments.
She successfully scaled to a position of organization-wide influence, and was ultimately recognized with the Intuit CEO Leadership Award—the first ever awarded within the Mailchimp business and a prestigious distinction reserved for only ~4 employees out of 18,000 annually.
How I transform design teams
01
Customer obsessed
Translating complex technical constraints into compelling customer narratives, so teams stay relentlessly focused on the pain points and goals of the people behind the product
02
Design for impact
Scaling a culture of critique that grounds feedback in desired outcomes, customer behaviors, and data-backed observations to ensure that even at scale, every interaction feels intentional, human-centered, and drives results.
03
Unifying ecosystems
Elevating design leaders who create comprehensive customer journeys to ensure every product experience—inclusive of AI—can transform from a “set of features" to a proactive partner that customers can’t imagine living without.
