Becoming a leader has been a fundamental part of my career at Yahoo and Verizon Media. I believe strongly in the power of leading by example, and I’m fortunate to have learned from inspiring leaders and mentors in the last 5+ years in order to develop my own personal leadership style. Now, as a leader on my team and the greater company, I am living those learnings every day in my dedication to mentorship, improving process, and building a positive culture. My ultimate goal is to set an example for those around me to continue the cycle!
Yahoo Sports Design Team Lead
I currently lead a team of four designers for the Yahoo Sports app and web products. In addition to managing the roadmap and collaborating with product, engineering, and user research counterparts, I am committed to the personal growth of each member of my team as a hallmark of my leadership style.
Key Responsibilities & Accomplishments:
Lead design sprint planning, assigning work to each team member to ensure a balanced workload that complements their skills and allows them to learn and grow
Meet regularly with members of the team 1:1 to check in on their goals, well-being, and satisfaction at work (S/O to my manager who taught me the power of this!)
Lead our team’s most successful weekly meeting for design, product, engineering, and user research partners to gather and review design projects. Championed important changes to the meeting’s format upon becoming Design Lead, vastly improving participation and engagement
Improved the onboarding process for new designers joining our team by creating documentation on key communication channels, team members, design tools, and other helpful resources
Collaborated with engineering and product counterparts to compile a checklist for improving design handoff after receiving feedback during our team’s retrospective meeting
Design Associate Program (DAP) Lead
The Verizon Media (Yahoo) Design Associate Program is a specialized two-year rotational program for exceptional emerging designers. I was hired as a Design Associate 2015, and after completing the program I was selected by the leads team to join them in continuing to foster the program. Nothing has been more fulfilling than contributing to the program that’s been so crucial to my own professional growth and success.
Key Responsibilities & Accomplishments:
Successfully recruited, interviewed, and hired three new classes of design associates to work on high impact products
Mentor for two design associates, meeting twice a month to aid in their growth, discuss personal and professional goals, and help to recognize their full potential. Additionally meeting monthly 1:1 with each design associate to gather feedback on the program and subsequently make actionable improvements with the leads team
Assumed responsibility for the overall on-site interview process, including organizing panels and handling communication. Streamlined the interview scheduling process by working with HR partners to identify areas of inefficiency in order to arrive at a more productive system. Lead post-interview discussions with panel to review feedback towards hiring decisions
Currently advocating for structural changes to make the hiring process more inclusive
Lead interview training sessions to teach and guide design associates on how to properly phone screen potential candidates
Established a quarterly curriculum for the program after noticing a gap in scheduling cadence, consisting of two educational workshops, a creative workshop, a social event, and a design share-out
Supervised multiple university recruiting trips along with 2-3 design associates in the search for candidates to meet our high bar for excellence
For more information on the Design Associate Program, you can visit https://www.verizonmediadap.com/.
YEES Employee Engagement Team
The YEES (Yahoo Employee Engagement Survey) was a yearly survey sent throughout the company to assess employee satisfaction and engagement. Following the 2016 results, our SVP assembled an employee task force to use the survey’s feedback to enact positive changes across our 400-person Communications Org (Yahoo Mail + Messenger). I was nominated to join this team of proactive leaders to implement targeted initiatives to further enrich our workplace. Subsequent engagement surveys highlighted the program’s success, with employees citing enthusiasm for the changes.
Key Responsibilities & Accomplishments:
Assessed YEES survey data to pinpoint our organization’s top issues: engagement and retention
Gathered best practices from top-ranked managers by meeting 1:1 to understand what they were doing to be successful. Led a manager-only town hall to share these insights and allow for an open environment to discuss techniques
Set up “collaboration tables” in work areas with games and puzzles to foster collaboration between team members and provide a relaxing place to unwind
Initiated a biweekly brown bag series, where specialized speakers present on topics and projects that employees have expressed interest in
Organized a series of team building and social initiatives, such as happy hours and a quarterly foosball tournament, to promote interpersonal engagement with folks in the greater organization
Design Associate Program (DAP) Member
I was hired as a full-time Design Associate at Yahoo in 2015 - an accelerated two-year developmental program for high-potential emerging designers. The program shaped my career in more ways than I can count, providing me with workshops to refine my soft skills (public speaking, negotiation, storytelling), a support system amongst a class of six other design associates, and mentorship through the program’s leaders. The program’s first year emphasized craft and execution while the second year centered on design leadership. Here, I really hit my stride and became the leader I am today.
Key Responsibilities & Accomplishments:
Played an essential role in interviewing future candidates, conducting phone screens 2-3x/week, reviewing 4 portfolios/week, and attending 15+ university recruiting trips
Organized a 10-day trip to Scandinavia to participate in a knowledge exchange with companies such as Spotify and Fjord to learn about their unique design processes, gather cultural learnings, and enhance Yahoo’s design culture
Developed my soft skills in multiple day-long training sessions focused on public speaking, provocative storytelling, leading effective meetings, and negotiation
Facilitated design-focused volunteering efforts, such as leading a creative workshop with local high school students and providing design feedback to young girls building mobile apps for a competition addressing social issues
Served as a spokesperson for the program, most notably speaking at a company all-hands to over 3,000 Yahoo employees