Susan Stavitzski

Customer-Driven Product Person

Product Leader with experience working in the software industry for start-ups, smb and enterprise companies. Passionate about e-commerce, subscription, marketplace and retention focused products. 

I have a passion for taking manual, bulky processes and turning them into powerful, automated, scalable solutions to empower teams 💪

Message me to talk about a tough customer problem, hosting a customer discovery workshop or to brainstorm a wacky product idea 💡 

Skilled in Product Management, Product Design, User Interviews & Testing, Prototyping, Data Analytics, Product Marketing,  Ecommerce, Self Service, Advertising, Sales, Event Management, Market Research, and Account Management.

Follow me on Medium - https://medium.com/@susan_ski

Senior Product Manager

CarMax is the way car buying should be. Whether in-person or online, creating the best omni channel experience for our customers.

As a Senior Product Manager, I focus on creating the best in-person car selling experience for customers and associates through expanding self-service platforms and improving communication with tailored notifications.

Lacey Picazo

ZoCo Design

Lacey is the CEO of ZoCo, the UX agency built for healthcare. Since 2013, ZoCo has built a reputation as the preferred partner for healthcare product teams, uncovering powerful care delivery insights, focusing product priorities through actionable user research, and putting those insights to action by designing behavior-shifting experiences. 

For more information on our research and design practice, visit: zocodesign.com

Founder & CEO

UXDX

As the Ambassador for UXDX in Columbus, I contribute to the growth of a vibrant, cross-functional community by organizing events that bring people together for networking, sharing insights, and fostering collaboration and best practices in product development. 

My partnership with UXDX reflects our shared vision of building amazing products through continuous improvement and customer-centric solutions.

Would you like to speak? Apply to speak here https://www.uxdx.com/speak/

Join Ohio's community of product professionals at: https://www.meetup.com/uxdx-columbus/

UXDX Ambassador — Columbus

Dovetail

Dovetail is the AI-first customer insights hub. Dovetail Experts are highly vetted practitioners who have a mastery of process and the technology to deliver insights-driven impact. Lacey's teammates at ZoCo Design hold this distinction. Ask us about how to best implement and adopt Dovetail to up your research and insights practice.

Dovetail Expert

InVision

The mission is to advance the practice of design leadership by fostering a community where the world’s best can learn from one another. We strive to make the Forum inclusive and relevant to those confronting the challenges of leading design teams.

Design Leadership Forum: Member

Lumos Innovation

A co-founder and partner in an accelerator program focused on early-stage entrepreneurship, corporate innovation, and community engagement. During my tenure at Lumos, we invested in two cohorts of companies, and eventually launched a spin-off accelerator called Fintech 71 (with participating companies such as Grange Insurance, Huntington, Safelite, Fifth Third, Progressive, Key, Root Insurance, JP Morgan Chase, Kroger, Silicon Valley Bank, First Federal of Lakewood, 84:51, and JobsOhio).

Co-Founder, Partner

Vertical Pharmaceuticals

Knowing the next step in my career was to start a business, I aimed to develop my sales experience in a challenging and unfamiliar industry. During my time at Vertical, I managed a territory spanning 100+ miles promoting 8 different pharmaceutical products to physicians in Primary Care, Women’s Health, and Pain Management. Here I developed and maintained strong business relationships with 200+ physicians and staff, successfully launching the complete portfolio of products in a new territory. In my first year, I consistently grew each product TRx by as much as 900% per month and achieved a rank of 14th nationally. While sales (and pharma) was not my passion, I grew the skills and comfort level I desired through this experience.

Pharma Sales Rep

Big Red Rooster

Hired specifically for presentation skills, team leadership and customer relations to manage a multitude of clients. With a focus on designing branding communications and customer experiences, I actively craft creative solutions and manage relationships with clients such as J.P. Morgan, McGraw-Hill, eBay, Ohio Health, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital to continually define and execute their evolving needs.

Experience Designer

Side NOW

Side Now is a social debating app built as an integration into the Facebook post experience. It allows two friends to post their side of the story, merging two videos into one, and taps in their social network to decide who's case they choose. Like a virtual tug of war, a victor is eventually chosen and all of life's arguments, big or small, are put to rest. This product was funded by the 10X Accelerator, but ultimately failed when Facebook changed its strategy against developer friendliness, disabling integrations such as Side NOW.

Co-Founder, Product Designer

Integrate, Inc.

As a Design Associate I worked on a variety of graphic design projects with a focus on branding communications and customer experiences. At Big Red Rooster (formally Integrate Inc.) we have delivered for a range of clients, such as JP Morgan, Limited Brands, GoldToe, McGraw-Hill, Certified Gasoline, Ohio Health, Aveda and more.

The Ohio State University Department of Athletics

Worked one-on-one with head coaches to define their needs and provide effective solutions to all of their initiatives. Developed and defined creative direction for fan outreach plans, which increased attendance across all thirty-six of Ohio State’s varsity sports.

Graphic Designer

Lacey is the CEO of ZoCo, the UX agency built for healthcare. Since 2013, ZoCo has built a reputation as the preferred partner for healthcare product teams—uncovering powerful care delivery insights, focusing product priorities through actionable user research, and putting those insights to action by designing behavior-shifting experiences. 

Accolades:

ZoCo has been recognized on the Inc. 5000 list, the international Webby awards, Anthem Awards for humanitarian action, Inc. Best Workplaces, multi-year Business First Best Places to Work, Business First Fast 50, and as the #1 design studio in Columbus by Columbus CEO.

I have been honored as a NAWBO 2021 Visionary, as a member of Columbus CEO’s inaugural ‘Future 50’ class, Business First’s ‘Forty Under 40’, Smart Business’s ‘Smart 50,’ the C-Suite Awards, and BizTech Awards ‘Outstanding Woman in Technology.’ 

I founded ZoCo on the belief that design has the power to create meaningful change and advance the human condition. With this as a guide, I have served the Mid-Ohio Foodbank as the CX board co-chair, Innovate Ohio on the Citizen Interactions Board, Columbus Society of Communicating Arts as a President and board member, and the Modern College of Design as an advisory council member. I am also a member of Invision’s international Design Leadership Forum.

Columbus has always had a strong collective of women in product supporting one other—and we're gearing up to amplify this community even more! Women In Product is kicking off a Columbus Chapter NEXT WEEK!

Join Women in Product's holiday launch party next Tuesday, Dec 2nd (5:30-7:30p) at ZoCo Design to meet the community—and stay tuned for big things ahead in 2026! RSVP + sign up for details in the thread.

ICYMI—this isn't a new vision. Our friends Liz Otley and Amber Bielak have been bringing product women together locally since 2020, and I'm thrilled to say they are joining forces with my ZoCo teammate Leah McDougald and Women In Product to further the impact here in Columbus 💪 

Here's a throwback of photos from our 2023 event with Liz, packing ZoCo's studio with over 115 local product women and our allies and advocates (all identities welcome). Let's do it again.

LFG! 🔥

CEO at ZoCo — Healthcare Product and Behavior Design Leader — Building digital experiences people love, and leading ZoCo’s talent-dense team of researchers and designers.

“Move fast and break things” doesn’t always work in healthcare. In fact, a lot of typical startup advice can lead you astray when building technology in this complicated, fragmented industry.

I recently spoke on Founding in Healthtech, leading a panel at Construct I/O alongside fellow founders Andy Lozier, Priyang Shah, and Yon Raz-Fridman (thanks Shereen Agrawal for the invite). What was the main takeaway? 

Success in healthcare requires something different. 

If you want to build a beloved product that is chosen, adopted, and makes money at scale, you must prioritize:

→ Good judgment over speed.
Andy reminded us: While the temptation is speed, launching too early can erode relationships and kill credibility (with both customers and investors). 

→ Real testing before investing.
Yon shared you don’t want to waste your round by building in the wrong direction. Make sure this is a product people want—and will pay for. It’s important to balance conviction and humbleness.

→ Shrink the problem until it’s solvable.
Priyang showed how to gain traction by starting small—selling to a 25-person clinic instead of chasing the biggest name. Early results matter, and your wins make the whales possible.

These founders are beating the odds and building smart solutions for healthcare—experiences that are lovable, adoptable, and high impact. 

While speed DOES matter, don’t sprint toward a dead end. Move wisely. Test early. Start small. And earn the right to grow.

Healthcare is hard, but finding success is easier when you have a smart community of peers to rely on. 

Last month, I joined our first Health + Wellness Leadership Exchange at ZoCo Design, led and co-hosted by John Kadlic and Leah McDougald. We brought together local leaders in healthcare, who are bringing big visions to life, launching new GTM strategies, and leading their companies to commercial success.

We’re all seeing similar themes in our work, and leveraged each other’s expertise to solve them. Here’s what rose to the surface for me:

>Leaders want connected data to drive decisions—but the gap between insight and action is still wide.

>Behavior change in healthcare is still the biggest challenge— and the greatest predictor of outcomes.

>UX is re-entering the chat—especially as new solutions struggle to stick the landing.

> Storytelling is key when audiences are overwhelmed with info—because we all have too many tabs open in our brains.

I’m excited to keep working through these opportunities with our community. I see so much optimism, camaraderie, and progress on solutions from this group. Huge thank you to Parallel Path - Health and Wellness Marketing Agency for your partnership, and more to come in 2026!

Thank you for joining us Alicia Shoemaker; Amanda Hurte; Amy Nelson; Bailey Massari; Ben Stormer; Bill Hertz; Charlotte Wilson, MBA; Eddie Pauline; Jess Fogal; Katy Dalton Rigsby; Sarah Parkey; Sara Saldoff; Tip Rose; Tiffanie (Kirsch) Hiibner; Tricia S.; Leah McDougald; Ellie Koewler; Amanda Williams; Kelsey Landers; & Julia Iacoi 💙

Where does AI actually belong in clinical workflows? We have answers—and were just recognized for them. 🏆

ZoCo Design took home “Best Healthcare and MedTech UX” for our work with mTuitive, a leader in digital pathology and cancer care.

Our collaboration tackled a complex but critical question: How do you integrate AI into clinician workflows in ways they want (and will actually adopt)?

Instead of chasing full automation, we sat down with real clinicians to understand how AI could serve them in high-stakes decision-making. 

What we learned turned assumptions on their head:
→ Clinicians wanted a balance of simplicity and friction
→ Friction, in the right places, builds trust and safety
→ “Zero-click” isn’t always the dream

By grounding our work in behavioral truths, we helped mTuitive reframe their roadmap, rather than compete on features. And we embedded their team directly into research and co-creation alongside the ZoCo crew, which accelerated alignment and shortened time to clarity.

To me, this award reflects something bigger than good UX. It reflects how deeply we must understand the realities of clinical workflows, the emotional calculus of decision-making, and the nuance required to introduce AI without losing trust.

Big thanks to the mTuitive team for being bold, curious, and fully in it with us.

Check out our case study to see what we uncovered: https://lnkd.in/gPgtmMzc

And the award spotlight: https://lnkd.in/gn23EwgQ

#AIinHealthcare #BehaviorDesign #ClinicalWorkflows #HealthcareUX #HealthcareProduct

We played hooky from work to read sci-fi together… and I regret nothing.

When the sequel to a favorite book dropped last month, a few ZoCoworkers and I couldn’t resist. We met at a local bookshop at 8am, grabbed copies, and instead of heading back to our desks… we found a quiet café and read in silence.

Phones off. Plot twists on. Mutual joy fully activated.

It was the best offsite of the year. And totally team-building (gosh I love my ZoCo Design crew).

Sometimes bonding doesn’t need an agenda or icebreakers—just a shared obsession (and a little rule-breaking). 

What obsessions might bring your team together?

PS: Will of the Many, and its sequel, are on my GOAT list for sci-fi. Enjoy, my fellow book lovers!

taplio

The Battle

Susan Stavitzski

Lacey Picazo

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taplio

The Battle

Susan Stavitzski

Lacey Picazo

Followers

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Lacey Picazo's LinkedIn Performance

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