Aneta Kmiecik

Sr. UX Designer | Helping designers link UX projects with UX portfolio stories

I help designers build careers they love and get paid for it.

After 14 years in the creative field, including 7 years in UX and a background in architecture, I’ve coached over 1,000 designers on how to stand out, get hired, and grow with purpose. So far, 500 designers built portfolio with my course.

Most designers don’t struggle with design itself, they struggle with direction, communication, and positioning. That’s where I focus.

Through my UX Portfolio Course and content, I teach practical ways to:
• Build a portfolio that tells a clear story
• Navigate job searches with strategy, not luck
• Grow a career that feels aligned, not overwhelming

If you’re ready to take your design career from “uncertain” to “intentional,” let’s connect.


💌 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀:
• Instagram: instagram.com/ux.aneta
• Newsletter: beyourowndesignteam.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Community: be-your-own-design-team.circle.so/c/be-your-own-design-team/

UX Designer

-Plan and facilitate user research using engagement strategies/tools (surveys, interviews, cognitive walkthroughs, observations, etc.).
-Interpret user research and analytics to produce key insights and recommendations
-Create research reports, customer journey maps, workflows, user personas, day-in-the-life scenarios, and use case summaries that develop a clear understanding and empathy for our customers
-Collaborate with business analysts, architects, developers, data scientists, and program managers to define, design, and implement intuitive enterprise solutions for our federal customers and their stakeholders
-Evaluate new and existing solutions through usability testing and incorporating user feedback throughout the product development process
-Collaborate with proposal and capture team to integrate human-centered design practices into service delivery model
-Craft scalable UX/CX resources and templates (e.g., playbooks, Standard Operating Procedures, frameworks, etc.) that will guide the growth and evolution of a customer-centric mindset within the federal government

Junior UX Designer

Baltimore City Public Schools

- Collaborate bi-weekly with teachers and apply improvement science to classroom culture and writing instruction
- Implement improvement cycles at school site by conducting empathy interviews, testing changes, and collecting data within virtual classroom, resulting in a 11% positive change in students’ sense of classroom belonging within 5 months
- Presented at Carnegie Foundation Summit 2022 to share successes and learnings from improvement cycle process

BSLIC Writing & Engagement Fellow (Baltimore Secondary Literacy Improvement Community)

- Differentiate process/content/product/environment to support students with disabilities (SWD), resulting in 45% average writing growth in one academic year for students 5 levels or more below assigned grade
- Design and implement project-based learning, resulting in scores 43% higher than district average on Eureka Math
- Develop Individual Education Plans (IEPs), attend IEP meetings, conduct transition interviews and academic assessments, collaborate weekly with stakeholders for SWD, and track quarterly student progress on IEP goals
- Created IEP progress report system in Google Workspace, resulting in 223% increase in compliance within 2 years
- Facilitate professional learning to support 60+ staff members with IEP development, equitable and anti-racist instructional practices, and educational technology
- Lead Professional Learning Communities (PLC) Committee to develop and facilitate year-long workshops on equitable and anti-racist teaching practices and serve as coach for 4 PLCs that included faculty, administration, and clinical roles
- Promote culture of reflective teacher practice by recruiting, guiding application/registration process, and obtaining funding for colleagues to attend professional learning outside the district including a 2-year fellowship at Stanford and a week-long conference on Dismantling White Supremacy Culture in Schools
- Lead Advisory Committee to design advisory program for over 600 students and 30 advisors and facilitated professional learning for faculty on social-emotional learning and Student Led Conferences
- Lead advisory of 15 students to cultivate social-emotional competencies, foster leadership skills, and plan for college/career pathways
- Coach Speech & Debate in partnership with the Baltimore Urban Debate League to help participants leverage their debate, public speaking, and advocacy skills 
- Serve on Instructional Leadership Team to strategize on school-wide goals and develop action plans for improvement

Special Educator

Stanford University Graduate School of Education

The Hollyhock Leading Fellows’ Program (HLF) builds on the work of the Hollyhock Fellowship Program (HFP) by selecting a subset of graduating/graduated Hollyhock Fellows who are poised to make a significant difference within and beyond their own classrooms as leading teachers. The HLF program develops teachers’ ability to practice leadership within their school contexts with the goal of improving instruction and creating equitable opportunities for all learners. HLFs engage in a rigorous series of in-person and virtual learning sessions over the course of one year to:

-Engage others in professional learning focused on high-leverage, equitable teaching practices.
-Design learning experiences for adult learners that provide a supportive environment to try out and integrate new teaching practices.
-Center the human experience of all teachers and students with whom they work.
-Understand transformational learning in their contexts and make strategic choices to support it.

Hollyhock Leading Fellow

The Hollyhock Fellowship Program is a two-year professional development experience building excellence in teaching. It strives address today's complicated educational realities by encouraging and supporting highly motivated, early-career high school teachers to persist and thrive in the classroom by providing them with rich learning opportunities with colleagues nationwide.

Hollyhock Fellow

Girls for Gender Equity (GGE)

-Assist Lead Teacher in providing instruction in GGE’s Urban Leaders Curriculum that offers a broad range of educational, recreational, preventative, and age-appropriate activities and field trips in a safe after-school environment
-Maintain positive classroom dynamics by implementing restorative justice practices and social emotional learning principles to assist students in managing their behavior
-Facilitate weekly workshops on peer mentorship, college readiness, comics, gaming/e-sports, debate, social justice, gender and sexuality studies, and art

Support Staff Member

New Visions Charter High School for Advanced Math & Science III (AMS III)

-Design unit plans and lessons using backwards planning and implement lessons using the workshop model; deliver differentiated instruction through scaffolded tasks, modified content/assessments, and strategic grouping based on Lexile
-Collaborate weekly to co-plan and co-teach with ELL teacher, special education teacher, and Lincoln Center teaching artist
-Record and evaluate data of student progress towards mastery of Common Core standards through formative and summative assessments via Achievement Series/Excel to help determine next steps in instruction and support
-Develop and implement instructional routines, resources, and differentiated assessments to be used across content areas and network of NV charter schools; lead professional development sessions for staff members on best practices
-Lead small advisory group of students to cultivate social-emotional awareness and foster leadership and college readiness 
-Serve on Network Inquiry Team and School Leadership Team to create action plans for improved implementation of the network model and maximize key student, teacher and school outcomes (i.e. high school completion, college and career readiness, teacher effectiveness, community connections, and leadership performance)
-Plan and lead sessions of test preparation for English Common Core Regents, ACT, and SAT after school/Saturdays
-Led and participated in norming and scoring sessions of English Common Core Regents for 3 years
-Mentor first-year teachers in developing best practices in lesson-planning, assessment design, workload/classroom management, and differentiation
-Served on school events committee: coordinated events such as dances, spirit weeks, staff v. student games; photographed and edited photos of school events for yearbook and school website

English & SpEd Mentor Teacher (General Education & Special Education)

Using my special education background, relationship-building expertise, and human-centered design methods, I design solutions and experiences that cultivate trust and increase efficiency for users of all backgrounds. Currently working to improve customer experience and modernize enterprise tools in the federal IT space.

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