I have been fortunate in my career to have had some tremendous managers and mentors. Just like great UX is a team sport, so is building your career in terms of leveling up your skills and opportunities. Whether doing so for designers on my team or externally, providing mentorship and coaching, and teaching design skills allows me to pay forward the great support I have received in my career. I am also continuously a student as design leadership brings a whole new set of exciting challenges, new design tools constantly emerge, and now AI is changing the way we all work. There is never a dull moment in this industry!
Depending on my availability and a person's learning journey, I mentor externally through these great programs. Each offers its strengths depending on where a person is at in their career journey and what they need to focus on first. Check out my profile and reviews through the links below and also learn more about these great programs.
Since 2015, I have been a mentor with DesignLab which provides design education that pairs program & course based learning with mentorship support. It has been a delight to guide 100+ students over the years on their design journey - whether they are new to design or want to up level their skills. It was also exciting to mentor the inaugural Data Driven Design cohort & provide key curriculum feedback.
ADPList is a wonderful platform that democratizes mentorship access for all by not charging mentees nor paying mentors who volunteer their time from over 40 countries. Since 2021, I provide mentorship services that include portfolio review, career advice, mock interviews, and leadership advice.
Read what some people have to say about my design leadership, teaching, coaching, mentoring, and advising. I find it very inspiring and rewarding to watch direct reports, UX professionals of all skill levels, students, and mentees improve their design skills to land that design job through better design skills, user research skills, and even a better portfolio. I also enjoy advising C-level executives on their design and product strategy for planning out design at their company, and showing the impact, focus, and ROI that design thinking brings to direct strategic initiatives.
Daniel was my direct manager at Kong Product Design team. As the leader of the team as well as a career mentor of mine, he supported me with insightful feedback through out the complex projects. It is evident to me that he is truly a leader who has a genuine commitment to fostering the careers of other designers. In addition, Daniel's collaborative design approach has bridged the gap between Engineers and Designers which contributed to a true cross-team collaboration culture at Kong. This invaluable combination of skills would be rare to find and I was lucky to work with Daniel!
As my manager and the director of the design team at D2iQ, he was the best manager I had of my career. Daniel helped me up level my design skills, and importantly is very approachable, kind, and supportive as a manager to make sure I am successful.
My session with Daniel was very productive. I was struggling with how to approach my career path, and he provided helpful links to read, actionable next steps, and honest advice. I left the meeting with a fresh perspective and plenty of takeaways. I'm grateful for Daniel's mentorship and look forward to our next chat.
I am so grateful to have had a mentoring session with Daniel. His wealth of knowledge, passion for design, and bright attitude was refreshing. He asked great questions that helped me dig deep and shine some light on what truly makes a successful career. I appreciated his directness, honesty, and openness. I left the meeting feeling energized and excited for my next steps. I highly recommend Daniel as a mentor and look forward to another session in the near future.
I had a wonderful conversation with Daniel. He gave me excellent advice on what to do next in my career and provided input on organizations/industries I am currently exploring. He is very professional and offers a wealth of experience. I highly recommend booking a session!
Daniel is a seasoned expert in product design. Had key insights from his experience across multiple companies of various sizes. Gave practical advice on the things we should be considering for the tool we're building in the design space.
This was my second course with Daniel, and he continued to deliver excellent mentorship. Both on my work and during our sessions, he provided valuable feedback and insight into important UX processes and deliverables. I'm very grateful for his guidance as I continue my design journey!
Daniel has been a superb mentor. He's taken his time to give me feedback on my designs and provided a lot of advice to help move my design career forward. I personally noticed a lot of growth throughout the course and I can definitely attribute much of it to his mentorship. Even after the course has been over, Daniel has still continued to mentor me through the job hunt process and offered loads of help. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have developed so much in the field with Daniel's guidance!
Daniel was an effective tutor who offered a combination of broad guidance and point-for-point, detailed feedback. He has a sense for visual and UX design, and is able to help relate the coursework to real-life, work scenarios. I personally benefitted from his advice on the design process and workflow, and I feel that his perspective and speciality in UX helped me hone my own path through the course.
