Continuing Education: AI

Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management

AI Applications for Growth: AI & ML Program for Managers and Executives

2024

Completed Kellogg’s AI Applications for Growth program, where I learned how to evaluate and prioritize AI opportunities, frame use cases grounded in real business and customer needs, and guide responsible implementation with cross-functional teams. The program deepened my understanding of generative AI’s strengths and limitations and how to apply it in ways that create meaningful, measurable impact.

Experience

Trust & Will / WealthTech, Estate & Life Planning

Head of Design

MAR 2026 – PRESENT / Remote

Founded in 2017, Trust & Will is the leading digital estate planning platform in the U.S., trusted by over one million individuals and families. Our simple, secure, and attorney-approved online solutions help Americans create wills, trusts, healthcare directives, and other essential estate planning documents tailored to state-specific laws. With a focus on accessibility and a guided experience, we’re transforming how families plan for the future and protect their legacies.


In 2025, we launched EstateOS™, the first intelligent platform built to modernize how legacies are planned, managed, and preserved. EstateOS powers dynamic, connected estate plans for families, and introduces AI-enabled workflows, document intelligence, and multi-party collaboration tools for professionals.

Knock / Fintech, Lending, Real Estate, Consumer Finances

VP, User Experience (2 promotions)

JULY 2018 – OCT 2025 / Remote

Knock operates in a complex, regulated fintech space where UX must balance legal constraints, risk management, and customer trust. During my time there, I built and matured the UX organization from the ground up—team, culture, research practice, design system, and strategic influence—and scaled it from 1 to 8 direct reports in a year to support the company’s planned IPO.


UX Org Building & Leadership
Built and scaled a high-performing UX organization from the ground up, establishing the people, practices, and systems that enabled rapid growth and consistently high-quality execution.

• Built UX org from 1 → 8 in one year, across research, product design, and marketing design.

• Established hiring practices, onboarding, team rituals, and operational standards that enabled distributed, high-trust work.

• Increased UX maturity by establishing and formalizing research practices and launching a scalable design system, improving product consistency, team velocity, and customer empathy.

• Established NPS, CSAT, CES surveys and a research repository to strengthen insight quality and organizational learning.

• Created Knock’s first 360° feedback process for the UX team—later adopted companywide by HR—strengthening feedback culture and accountability.

• Led multiple 0→1 product initiatives, creating a unified, scalable core experience for Customers, Agents, and Lenders—introducing personalization and shared workflows that became the backbone of the company’s end-to-end product ecosystem.

• Achieved 100% team retention and exceptionally high engagement scores, reflecting a healthy, high-trust culture.
  

Strategic Product & Business Leadership
Set and steered companywide product vision, influencing strategic direction and guiding high-impact decisions across complex, rapidly shifting business conditions.

• Identified, influenced and guided Knock’s pivot to its highest-performing revenue channel (Lenders), supporting the company becoming EBITDA positive for the first time in 2025.

• Defined and led companywide product vision, giving the organization a clear north star during a period of rapid growth and uncertainty.

• Enabled senior leadership to factor user needs into strategic business decisions, ensuring business alignment with real customer motivations and expectations.
  

Measurable Business Outcomes
Delivered clear, quantifiable business impact through improved conversion, stronger customer experience, and strategic product shifts that materially influenced revenue performance.

• Lender channel consistently converts at ~65% (vs. ~25% for Agents, the legacy channel), drives ~100 under-contracts per month (vs. ~10), and brings in 5x more applications — the most scalable and predictable revenue channel to date.

• Contributed to the company reaching EBITDA-positive status in 2025.

• Streamlined user experience to reduce friction and improve transparency, resulting in UX CSAT consistently in the 80–90 range across Customer, Lender, and Agent segments.

• Launched design system + formal research practice, increasing velocity, design consistency and faster decision making.

The Sunshine Dept. / Product Design Leadership

JAN 2009 – PRESENT / Remote

I lead teams through the early, evolving, and uncertain stages of building a product. I bring steadiness, seasoned judgment, and a sharp sense of what matters so teams create experiences that serve both the business and the people using them.

What I bring:

Fractional UX Leadership
I bring structure, focus, and a steady hand when teams need a thoughtful, experienced leader to guide product and design.

Zero-to-One & Vision Work
When the idea is strong but not yet defined, I shape the vision, articulate the experience, and help everyone move in the same direction.

Team Coaching & Growth
I support teams during the phases where things feel uncertain or off-track.
I help them reconnect, reset, and move forward with more cohesion and energy.

Product Partnership for Founders
I’m a grounded thinking partner for founders who want perspective they can trust.
I help distinguish what’s essential from what’s not and surface user patterns that guide better decisions.

I’ve supported teams at: Zillow, University of Washington, Microsoft (Xbox and Office), Petco, RealNetworks, HO Sports, Wind Creek Resorts, and early-stage startups.

Went on an Adventure / Service, Mindfulness

JULY 2016 – JAN 2017 / Remote

Volunteered with SAATH in Nepal, supporting fundraising for girls’ education. Completed a 10-day Vipassana retreat in Myanmar, trekked 500 miles on Spain’s Camino del Norte, and hiked across multiple countries around Mont Blanc.

Zillow / Real Estate, Rental Management

Product Design Lead

MAY 2012 – JAN 2016 / Seattle & San Francisco

• Led redesign of Zillow’s homepage and visual system, elevating the experience for 220M+ monthly users.

• Built trust and influence with C-suite executives and business stakeholders; partnered cross-functionally to take products from early ideas to launch.

• Improved the Rentals experience by integrating an acquired platform into Zillow’s ecosystem and creating a seamless, experience for both legacy users and Zillow customers (web, iOS, Android).

• Mentored interns and contractors, supporting career growth and design quality.

Microsoft / Entertainment, Incubation Labs

Art Director [contract]

NOV 2008 – JAN 2012 / Seattle

• Led creative for Windows Phone 7, Visual Studio, Zune, and Xbox within Microsoft’s in-house agency.

• Directed a Windows Phone 7 advertising campaign from concept through execution.

• Art directed the Visual Studio iconography system (3,000+ icons) and streamlined team workflows to improve production efficiency and consistency.

• Designed global marketing assets for the Zune International launch.

• Developed iconography used in Windows Phone 7 and Xbox, with work patented by Microsoft.

Nordstrom / Retail, CPG

Senior Designer

Aug 2005 – NOV 2008 / Seattle

• Designed brand identities, packaging, labels, and marketing materials.

• Art-directed photo shoots for campaigns, lookbooks, and educational content.

• Helped maintain and evolve Nordstrom’s visual brand across print and digital touchpoints.

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