Making the world a better place (for users).
As a UX researcher, I care about the details. I like documenting requirements to stay in scope, collaborating with the team to verify the feasibility of my recommendations, and following through to the very end to turn an idea into a reality.
I won't make a decision without having data to back me up. I get my data primarily from user testing and analytics. Doing this kind of research up front gives great insight into how people use the product, so you can start with a list of where it struggles and use
that to develop recommendations. If you're not making your users happy, they aren't making you happy.
As professionals, we know what's best to make a product stand out alongside its competitors, staying up to date with the latest technology and best practices (even WCAG 2.1 compliance!), and making it look and feel awesome. But you can't always predict the user experience of a site. No matter how awesome you make something look, if your users can't use it, it's not worth having.
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Work Experience
What do I do?
I work with the strategic accounts team to help customers create effective studies that provide actionable results to improve their digital products. The UserZoom tool allows us to use a variety of testing methods to ensure useful results.
I use a combination of moderated and unmoderated remote testing methods to help customers gather insights that influence the improvement of their products.
Who?
UserTesting (Previously UserZoom)
Where?
Remote
When?
February 2019 - Present
What?
UX Research Manager (Jan 2024 - Present)
Lead UX Researcher (Oct 2021 - Jan 2024)
Sr. UX Researcher (Feb 2019 - Oct 2021)
What did I do?
I use skills I have developed over the years to help others achieve their usability goals.
I am the lead UX Researcher on a variety of projects across countless industries.
As a freelancer, I am a self-starter utilizing popular & effective industry tools and techniques to conduct thorough usability evaluations including user testing, analytics monitoring and reviews, workflows, and wireframing.
Who?
UX Caroline
Where?
Remote
When?
March 2018 - March 2019
What?
Freelance Senior User Experience Researcher
Who?
Owen Software
Where?
Rockville, MD
When?
August 2017 - Jan 2019
What?
Senior User Experience Researcher
What did I do?
I work on a product that helps to match high school students with the right colleges, scholarships, majors, and more based on lots of facets beyond just their academic record.
My work entails competitor reviews, heuristic analyses, user testing, analytics monitoring, and helping to define strategy for marketing, product development, and product requirements.
Who?
GEICO
Where?
Chevy Chase, MD
When?
December 2016 - August 2017
What?
Senior User Experience Researcher
What did I do?
I worked as part of a team of researchers and designers that test everything before sharing recommendations.
I worked on all of GEICO's products, ranging from letters in the mail to the app to microinteractions on the website (and everything in between).
Our team uses moderated and unmoderated user testing, crowdsourcing, comparative testing, and more to gather feedback from our target users. We improve our products based on analytics, research, and user feedback. Our progress and improvements are continually tracked to ensure all of our recommendations serve a purpose, and are actively helping our policyholders.
I managed and planned long-term usability-centric projects, including an employee-facing program to improve intranet tools, a customer-facing program to ask engaged users their opinions, and the first version of their Alexa skill.
Who?
Subject Matter
Where?
Washington, DC
When?
May 2016 - November 2016
What?
User Experience Designer
What did I do?
In my first month at Subject Matter, I got the company on board with Hotjar, an analytics tool, and even had a client purchase the "Plus" version for more robust monitoring. Now we have multiple clients using the Plus version for more precise monitoring.
This success led to 3 analytic reports providing extra insight into how users are interacting with these sites, leading to new decisions for our projects we couldn't have otherwise found.
I led the user experience effort in conjunction with the design and development teams to provide data-driven improvements to the user experience of our clients' products.
Introduced the agency to a user testing platform, mindmapping tool, and analytics review tool to enhance data gathering behind design decision making
Proactively provides insight into how users interact with sites based on regular analytics monitoring
Who?
Blue Water
Where?
Greenbelt, MD
When?
June 2013 - May 2016
What?
User Experience Designer
What did I do?
At Blue Water, I worked as a UX Designer to build amazing customer experiences. I used data from analytics and user testing whenever possible to drive my decisions.
Awarded 2016 Silver Addy for Austal.com (Business to Business website category)
Lead user experience designer for various government and private sector clients including Audi, FEMA, Goodwill, and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Established a user testing process for the agency
Assisted in requirements gathering and tracking changes to scope as user experience research revealed more insight into how the product is currently being used
Led the agency’s 508 Compliance efforts and introduced a new accessibility testing tool to assist in automatic and manual accessibility testing
Performed heuristic reviews, competitor analyses, analytics reviews, and journey maps to build and determine recommendations for improvement to share with the client
Created workflows, information architecture, wireframes, and clickable prototypes to demonstrate the application of user experience improvements to share as client deliverables
Assisted in research efforts identifying new tools to increase productivity of the agency, including time tracking and product management tools
Who?
UserWorks, Inc.
Where?
Silver Spring, MD
When?
July 2012 - June 2013
What?
User Experience Specialist
What did I do?
Working at a usability testing firm meant I was running moderated interviews with target users. We tested websites, hardware, customer interactions, and even credit card mailers.
Assisted in recruiting and hand-selecting participants for studies through volunteer surveys and phone screenings
Preparing test environment and equipment for dozens of unique test scenarios requiring video and/or audio recording
Provided usability testing and heuristic reviews for clients including Canon, American Express, and the National Library of Medicine
Created, moderated and analyzed of hundreds of on-site and remote user interviews on products including merged reality devices, voting machines, and medical devices
Presented data analysis and heuristic reviews to clients to inform them of user experience recommendations to improve their product with data to back up our claims
Who?
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Where?
Catonsville, MD
When?
May - November 2011
What?
Undergraduate Research Assistant
What Did I do?
As an undergraduate research assistant, I took my independent studies and expanded on them to build my foundation in human-centered computing.
Background Research
Recruited participants for user tests
Phone interviews
Data analysis
Report presentation at the Grace Hopper Conference for Women in Technology, 2012.