CV
Professional Summary
Motivated Design leader trained in UX Design, Service Design, Leadership & Research with +10 years of experience in craft, and +5 years of leadership. Highly effective at strategic levels; building teams that deliver high-quality experiences, at scale. Exceptional interpersonal skills, communication & senior stakeholder management abilities. Prepared to deliver world-class results to solve complex problems. Human-obsessed; enthusiastically can rally a team around anything and thrive in a fast-paced environment built on trust. Data (qual & quant) passionate, with a fixation for Human behaviour and the intersection of design.
Skills
UX Leadership Product & Service design Product research UX research
Behavioural analysis Problem solving & critical thinking Human-Centered Design
Work Experience
2023 - Present
Head of Product Design & Research - ARITZIA
Leading the department of Product Design & Research, a partner to two amazing Product Manager directors - I led 6 Product Groups across the customer journey of our platform. Accountable for Design Systems, & Research program. Delivering value through challenging the status quo, leading my teams with heart, and empowering a group of highly talented individuals to succeed through situational leadership strategies.
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2022
VP of UX - THE BAY
Leading the department of Product Design, Content Design, Strategy & Research. I had the privilege of setting up the department for The Bay, as we ran like a start-up within Canada's largest and oldest Retail Company.
2019-2022
Groud UX Manager - SHOPIFY
Leading UX for the CORE - Merchandising group, managing multiple Design teams within Shopify Admin, solving some of the most complex admin customer problems. My teams help merchants tell stories with their products. Most recently, launched Shopify 3D modeling & AR, & solved a fundamental problem with the products admin that was impacting the efficiency of almost 2 million merchants.
2017-2019
UX Director - VMLR&Y
Leading a number of million dollar accounts, responsible for a number of large Experience teams; responsible for teams delivery & health. All individuals impact & growth, and the overall UX strategy across all accounts.
2015-2017
(Snr) Experience Architect (CX) - CAPITEC BANK
Launched the Capitec Banking app rebuild, with over 5 million users at the time, reaching #1 Downloading App in both Apple and Google app stores in South Africa.
As the largest Bank in South Africa, I established the practise of Experience design, leading the Digital solutions & Innovation Experiences.
Established the research practise within Capitec Bank, defining first-ever success metrics for experiences as a quantitate KPI for the whole business.
And more...
Education
2020-2023
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONS), PSYCHOLOGY
Arden University , United Kingdom
2010-2013
BACHELOR OF ARTS
Fedisa University, Cape Town, RSA
Interests
I love complexity, solving difficult problems, and applying critical thinking.
I enjoy the pressure of thought-leadership, coaching & leading others with care and kindness. I am very passionate about humans; not just on the leadership side, but attempting to understand human behaviour.
Outside of work, I am a total 'tom-boy. I enjoy racing cars, camping, fishing, hiking, and surfing.
Also, I'm a total coffee addict - I'm always happy to talk shop over one.
A Senior Design Leader, Researcher and Strategic Thinker