DIA Design Guild

I formalized the program structure, introduced scalable processes, and implemented a CSAT measurement system to improve program effectiveness and participant satisfaction.

Key achievements include:
• Scaling the Apprenticeship Program: Formalized a structured 9-month mentorship model, improving project outcomes and skill development for junior designer apprentices.
• Mentorship & Talent Development: Recruited and managed senior designers to provide high-quality guidance for junior designers.
• Improved Project Management & Client Satisfaction: Developed formalized project management processes, leading to clearer expectations and increased satisfaction from client stakeholders.

Design Program Manager

Design Evangelist

Design Mentor & Instructor
Combining both teaching and mentoring, I have over 10,000 hours of experience.

• Served as an instructor at leading institutions, such as General Assembly, GrowthX Academy, Flatiron School, Seattle School of Visual Concepts, Product School, UC Berkeley, and Academy of Art University
• Developed curriculum for top programs, including Springboard, GrowthX Academy, Interaction Design Foundation, IxDF Bootcamps, Flatiron School, Product School, UC Berkeley, and Chegg
• Mentored through various community, bootcamp, and organizational programs

Design Educator

Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design

I overhauled school management operations, replacing outdated systems with a modern, scalable solution that improved class scheduling and operational efficiency. I also optimized design tooling and software resources, reducing costs and improving data accessibility.

Key achievements include:
• Scaling Course Offerings: Implemented a new school management system, enabling the organization to increase concurrent class capacity by 300%.
• Cost Reduction: Standardized design tools and software, eliminating inefficiencies and saving $100K annually.
• Data & Process Improvement: Applied information architecture principles to improve data accessibility and reduce data duplication by 90%.

Design Operations Manager

The Hired Guns

Worked in a fast-paced agency environment, specializing in design recruiting while also improving knowledge management for the team.

Key achievements include:
• Candidate Evaluation: Reviewed and evaluated 100+ UX designer candidate profiles and portfolios, assessing qualifications and fit for various design roles.
• Process & Knowledge Management: Built a Notion-based knowledge management system to document onboarding, create consistency in projects, and streamline the recruiting process. This significantly reduced the time required to train and onboard new employees.

Design Talent Partner

LinkedIn

I redesigned and standardized LinkedIn’s UX Design onboarding program, ensuring new UX designers could seamlessly transition into any product team and become productive faster.

Key achievements include:
• Onboarding Standardization: Designed and implemented a new UX designer onboarding program to improve ramp-up time and team integration.

IxDF - Interaction Design Foundation

• Led daily operations and strategic initiatives, implementing best practices to optimize the UX Design Bootcamp program 
• Increased member insights by 5% by instigating a regular research program
• Improved project planning and scheduling for UX Design boot camps, strategized new educational initiatives and created original UX course content

Flatiron School

I led Flatiron School’s San Francisco UX program, managing faculty and ensuring the successful graduation and job placement of cohorts of 20 design students. I introduced a cross-disciplinary collaboration program between UX and software engineering students, giving them hands-on experience working together.

Key achievements include:
• Student Success & Placement: Led Flatiron’s San Francisco UX program, ensuring strong job placement outcomes.
• Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Built a structured program for UX designers and software engineers to collaborate on projects.
• Curriculum Improvements: Implemented course changes that led to a 20% increase in exercise scores.

Design Program Director

GrowthX Academy

I built and scaled GrowthX Academy’s UX design program from the ground up, designing an industry-aligned curriculum that prepared students for real-world careers. The program achieved a 90% job placement rate, and I oversaw the development of 40+ functional prototypes for web, mobile, and IoT clients through hands-on, project-based learning.

Key achievements include:
• Program Creation & Growth: Designed and launched an industry-aligned UX design program, achieving a 90% student placement rate.
• Client Project Experience: Guided student teams in developing 40+ functional prototypes for real clients, reinforcing practical UX skills through hands-on client collaboration.

Epsilon

I led a cross-functional team of 8, including UX designers, UI designers, and content strategists, delivering solutions for 10+ B2B and B2C clients annually, including Wells Fargo, American Express, Apple, Google, Cisco, and Genentech.

Key achievements include:
• Enterprise UX Leadership: Managed UX strategy and execution for Fortune 500 clients across finance, tech, and healthcare.
• Design Systems & Efficiency: Created scalable design systems, style guides, and component libraries to improve consistency across projects.
• UX Training & Advocacy: Led client workshops to strengthen teams' understanding of customer experience best practices.

Design Manager, Digital Design

TripIt

Drove mobile and web design for a top travel app. Implemented data-driven design practices and led design reviews to ensure high-quality releases.

Lead Product Designer

I'm a design program manager with a background in UX, interaction design, and education. I bring structure to design teams and help programs run smoothly.

I've worked across both industry and education, and I’m especially drawn to roles that support design teams building thoughtful, education-focused experiences. I thrive in environments where I can contribute behind the scenes—helping teams stay aligned, focused, and connected to the needs of users and businesses.

Over my career, I've built and led design operations initiatives, UX education programs, and onboarding optimization at organizations ranging from startups to global tech companies. I’ve formalized design processes, standardized tools, and improved cross-team alignment, helping companies scale efficiently while maintaining a strong design culture.

I’m passionate about solving organizational challenges that impact design teams, whether it’s streamlining workflows, improving collaboration between teams, or developing scalable solutions for talent growth.

Always open to connecting with others (include a note) working at the intersection of design, education, and impact-driven work.

Julia DeBari

Ellucian

- Serve as a trusted advisor to business teams exploring AI use cases and tools
- Help translate business needs into practical AI workflows and solution patterns using available platforms
- Provide hands-on guidance around LLM usage, prompt design, and effective tooling practices
- Lead internal demos and workshops to support education and adoption
- Support lightweight prototyping efforts to help teams move from concept to first implementation
- Develop and maintain enablement materials---usage guides, templates, FAQs, and instructional content
- Track team engagement and tool adoption; contribute to reporting on internal usage and value
- Help maintain and evolve internal knowledge hubs (e.g., SharePoint) to support self-service learning
- Promote responsible AI use and help ensure alignment with internal governance standards and best practices
- Share feedback and insights to improve programs and inform future priorities

AI Solutions Partner

- Co-led the ERG Ubuntu team at Ellucian, coordinating events and boosting member engagement.
- Supported member professional, financial, and personal development, organizing regional meetups and strategic planning with Executive Leadership.

ERG Ubuntu Co-Lead

- Drive long-term customer relationship success, ensuring the adoption of Ellucian offerings within a defined set of higher education institutions
- Serve as a primary point of contact and strategic advisor, supporting customers in their transition to SaaS and modernization initiatives
- Create and implement a comprehensive onboarding plan for new Customer Success Relationship Managers for all of North America, enhancing team efficiency and effectiveness
- Conduct regular business reviews with key stakeholders, demonstrating the value of Ellucian systems and identifying opportunities for growth
- Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to develop and execute customer success strategies, fostering a sense of teamwork and driving retention and expansion
- Proactively leverage data analytics and customer insights to identify risks and develop mitigation plans, ensuring a secure and confident customer experience
- Champion customer advocacy initiatives, securing and maintaining valuable customer references
- Contribute to the development and optimization of customer success best practices and methodologies

Customer Success Manager

Kind Kitchen Group

- Direct organizational technology vision and growth strategy for youth culinary programming, establishing cloud infrastructure, data governance frameworks, and digital transformation roadmap across program delivery, staff operations, and impact measurement

- Lead research initiatives combining AI analytics with 100+ stakeholder interviews (children, parents, educators, healthcare providers) to optimize program delivery. 

- Spearhead development of proprietary research methodology integrating qualitative feedback, and longitudinal health indicators to measure program efficacy across 25+ socioeconomic indicators

Sr. AI-Focused UX Consultant & CTO

AI-Focused UX Consultant & CTO

- Achieved 31% average repeat web visit rate by conducting quarterly site analytics reviews coupled with 50+ annual user surveys and usability tests to optimize online experiences for five hospitality brands 
- Guided restaurant branding, menus, store layouts, and merchandising by planning and moderating annual innovation workshops synthesizing founder visions with user realities
- Produced 25+ proto-personas annually by facilitating generative interviews with 100+ hospitality customers and staff over five years, guiding more targeted digital presence and customer resonance

UX Consultant & Product Advisor

UX Consultant

Social Saturday Squad

Social Saturday Squad is a global networking community on LinkedIn built by and for professionals looking to expand their network. Membership involves participating in weekly networking events on LinkedIn.

Member

Tech Prep Rising Innovators

Rising Innovator

Amplify

- Won the company-wide Hackathon in 2023 for an innovative idea that would support our product platform and make teachers's and students' lives easier. 
- Increased account spending by 15% by analyzing and segmenting a book of business over $4M over nine months to identify ideal customer profiles and inform targeting strategies.
- Boosted customer retention to 90% by developing tailored success plans and analytics views in Gainsight, Looker, and Tableau, which increased renewal rates by 22% over nine months.
- Resolved 220+ complex district-wide EdTech integration issues through relentless customer follow-ups and escalation tracking in Salesforce.
- Boosted first contact resolution 29% by designing and delivering customized troubleshooting training for cross-functional support teams.
- Contributed to 100+ detailed help articles and diagnostic guides supplementing Amplify's self-service knowledge base, lowering case volume
- Improved satisfaction scores by 40% by providing data-driven insights during 120+ customer conversations in 2022 that drove additional purchases and renewals.
- Partnered with Product, Customer Experience, and Engineering teams to optimize integration plans and revamp onboarding processes based on qualitative insights from school district stakeholders, ensuring an excellent learning experience.

Customer Success Manager - Customer Experience (CX)

Diverse Design Collective

- Boosted customer experience by conducting 25 exploratory interviews and usability tests, synthesizing findings into information architecture documents to boost stakeholder satisfaction.
- Mentored 1 UXR apprentice and two developers in Figma and Google Meet, improving skills by 50% and increasing task throughput by 100% over seven months by mitigating blockers.
- Partnered with distributed cross-functional teams across UX timezones and India to align on findings from UsabilityHub tests and identified design improvements to strengthen user experience through web design optimizations in Figjam over nine months.

UX Research Lead 

Caribbean Massive in Tech

What is CMiT?
A collective that harnesses the power of technology for the betterment of Caribbean people within and outside of the region.

- Oversee the day-to-day operations of the organization. This includes overseeing all teams, ensuring that they are running smoothly and efficiently, and making sure that the company's goals are being met.
- Develop and implement business strategies. This includes developing plans for growth, expansion, and profitability, as well as managing the company's resources.
- Provide leadership and direction to the organization's teams. This includes setting goals, motivating employees, and providing feedback.
- Create a positive and productive work environment. This includes fostering a culture of teamwork, collaboration, and respect.

Chief Operations Officer

- Provide leadership and direction to the organization's teams. This includes setting goals, motivating staff, and providing feedback.
- Create a positive and productive work environment. This includes fostering a culture of teamwork, collaboration, and respect.

Chief of Staff

Hirable

- Performed competitive analysis and heuristic evaluation in Google Sheets benchmarking Hirable against top resume platforms to identify 15+ website optimization opportunities over two weeks.
- Conducted 5 Useberry user interviews and usability studies, uncovering 50+ IA and checkout flow pain points by expanding recruitment through Reddit and Facebook over two weeks.
- Synthesized 100+ hours of session recordings using Figjam affinity mapping to extract 200+ actionable insights for improving UI/UX over a 2-week analysis period.
- Prioritized ten new features based on Figjam affinity mapping, Google Analytics, and in-person research aligned to client goals over a 3-week roadmapping period.

Design Researcher

Accepted into Tech Equity Collective’s Tech Prep program. Tech Prep is a holistic career coaching program designed to support Black professionals looking to transition into technical roles. Through live and on-demand coaching sessions, playbooks, and workshops, Rising Innovators are equipped with the know-how to successfully navigate their career transition.

Tech Prep

SkillHat

- Owned the entire UX process from 10 user research sessions through launching a progressive web app, partnering with five cross-functional teams over eight weeks to gain insights, validate concepts, and translate ideas into prototypes.
- Conceptualized three innovative interaction flows, improving engagement by 23% by iterating on user feedback in UsabilityHub tests over six weeks.
- Uncovered UX needs through 15 studies, distilled findings into Figma wireframes/prototypes, and championed human-centered design principles in presentations to 5 stakeholders and four teams over eight weeks.

UX Researcher/Product Designer

🤖 AI Product Strategist & Human-Centered Design Expert

With over 18 years of elevating user experiences and bridging research with emerging technology, I'm passionate about developing AI solutions that truly serve human needs. I've led 20+ platform integrations and 15+ research studies, leveraging deep user insights to inform AI product development and boost satisfaction by up to 40%.

🔍 AI & Research Integration Expertise
- Human-AI interaction research: User behavior analysis, AI adoption patterns, trust studies
- AI product validation: Prompt optimization, model performance evaluation, user acceptance testing  
- Data synthesis for AI training: User journey mapping, behavioral pattern analysis, feedback loops

🚀 Proven Results Ready for AI Application
- Increased account spending by 15% through strategic analysis of $4M+ business portfolio
- Heightened user self-service rates by 28% through innovative UX improvements
- Secured executive buy-in for projects upwards of $1.5 million
- Improved customer retention to 90% and renewal rates by 22% through tailored success plans

🤝 Cross-Functional AI Leadership
I excel at translating complex user needs into actionable AI product requirements, partnering with data scientists, ML engineers, and product teams to create human-centered AI experiences that maintain 93%+ satisfaction rates.

💡 AI Innovation & Expertise
Expert in prompt engineering, GPT model optimization, and AI ethics in product development. Skilled at identifying opportunities where AI can solve real user problems while maintaining trust and transparency.

🌟 I'm energized by the intersection of human psychology and artificial intelligence, using research-driven insights to build AI products that genuinely improve people's lives. My mission is combining deep user empathy with cutting-edge AI capabilities to drive meaningful innovation.

Let's connect! I'm excited to discuss AI product development, human-AI interaction research, or how we can collaborate to create AI solutions that put users first.

taplio

The Battle

Julia DeBari

Tamara Gordon

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