Building teams where people develop their craft, find their voice, and advance their careers—across industry and academia.
UX leadership isn't just about the work—it's about the people who do the work. Across my career at Bounteous and DePaul, I've had the opportunity to shape how practitioners develop, how teams operate, and how the next generation learns the craft.
The UX field has a pipeline problem and a development problem. Junior practitioners often learn tools without learning thinking. Mid-level practitioners plateau without clear paths to leadership. Teams operate in silos without shared practices. Academia teaches theory without enough connection to industry reality.
I've had the chance to address all of these: building team cultures that develop people, creating systems for knowledge sharing and growth, and teaching courses that bridge academic foundations with industry practice. The impact compounds—people I've mentored now mentor others, and the practices I've established continue after I move on.
Managing a team of 40 designers and researchers across client engagements requires systems, not just good intentions. I've developed practices that help people grow while delivering excellent client work.
Every week, same three questions: What's going well? What's not? What feels off but you can't name yet? This creates a consistent rhythm for surfacing issues early and celebrating wins that might otherwise go unnoticed. I track patterns over time to help people see their own growth trajectory.
Feedback is specific, contextual, and collaborative. I name the behavior, we explore the context together, and we agree on next steps. Is this a pattern or a one-off? What circumstances contributed? What would you do differently? The goal is learning, not judgment.
I share the raw materials—the messy middle, the things that didn't work, the pivots we made. Learning happens when we're honest about process, not just when we polish outcomes. We discuss what methods and artifacts informed our decisions, and I share articles and research that shaped my thinking.
I look for storytellers—people who can walk me through their design decisions, explain the branches they pruned and why, articulate tradeoffs and compromises. The portfolio shows what they made; the conversation reveals how they think. That thinking is what I'm hiring.
I've taught graduate-level HCI courses at DePaul since 2017, because I believe it's important to teach the next generation how the actual job works—not just theory, but practice. At the same time, understanding academic foundations and frameworks gives practitioners tools to apply to novel situations. I try to bridge both: industry reality grounded in academic rigor.
Mobile Experience Design
Platform constraints, gesture patterns, responsive thinking, native vs. web tradeoffs. Students learn to design for the reality of mobile contexts, not just smaller screens.
Social Interaction Design
Designing for human connection, community dynamics, social platform patterns. Students grapple with the ethical implications of systems that shape how people relate to each other.
Usability Evaluation Methods
Research methods, study design, analysis, communicating findings. Students learn to conduct research that drives design decisions, not just decorates them.
UX Strategy & Analytics
Connecting UX to business outcomes, metrics, organizational influence. Students learn to speak the language of stakeholders and demonstrate UX value in terms that matter.
The measure of mentorship is what people go on to do. Students and direct reports I've worked with are now at some of the most respected companies in tech:
"[PLACEHOLDER: Add quote from former direct report about your management style—how your approach helped them grow, what made your mentorship effective]"
[Name] — [Current Title], [Company] (Former Direct Report)
"[PLACEHOLDER: Add quote from former student about your teaching—how the course prepared them for industry, what they learned that stuck with them]"
[Name] — [Current Title], [Company] (Former Student)
Weekly 1:1s, regular feedback, shared learning sessions—the compound effect of small, consistent practices creates cultures where people grow. The same is true in teaching: showing up prepared, giving meaningful feedback on student work, being available. It's not about heroic moments; it's about reliable presence.
Industry reality without academic foundation produces practitioners who can execute but not innovate. Academic theory without industry context produces graduates who struggle in their first jobs. The best practitioners understand both—they know the frameworks and know when to break them.
We learn more from failures than successes, but only if we're willing to examine them honestly. I share my mistakes, my pivots, my "I didn't know what I was doing" moments. That permission to be imperfect while still being excellent is what creates psychological safety for growth.
The best thing I can do is help someone become better than I am. When people I've mentored go on to mentor others, when practices I've established continue after I leave—that's the real impact. Leadership is about building systems that outlast your direct involvement.
Consistency matters more than grand gestures. The compound effect of weekly 1:1s, regular feedback, and shared learning sessions creates cultures where people grow. The same is true in teaching: showing up prepared, giving meaningful feedback, being available. People respond to reliable investment in their growth.
I would document more. So much of what I've learned about developing people lives in my head rather than in systems others can use. Building better documentation—onboarding materials, career frameworks, feedback guides—would let the impact scale beyond my direct involvement.
This case study demonstrates a career-long commitment to developing people—not just managing them, but actively investing in their growth and celebrating when they succeed. The mentorship practices, teaching experience, and team culture building translate directly to any senior leadership role: hiring, developing, and retaining talent is the job, not a side activity.