Senior Product Design Leader

I help people get healthy and stay healthy, through products they love and teams that love making them.

AI-Powered Healthcare Experience Strategy Org Leadership Culture Builder

Leading work that transforms.

These aren't just design projects — they're organizational transformations, product pivots, and cultural shifts. Here's a taste of what I've led recently.

01

Improving Lives with AI

Knowing where to start to get help with your health concerns is hard, but it doesn't need to be. By creating a new experience, putting members in the driver's seat we are engaging with more members, having deeper more open conversations, and helping people more than ever before.

18%
Increased member conversion
Member engagement
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02

Preventing Disaster with Clarity

Re-platforming a robust product, combining 2 apps into one across 15 teams could have been a recipe for a fragmented disaster. But with a clear design direction aimed at an awesome end-to-end experience mapped out early, my team and I drove a practical redesign that drove outcomes. Keeping connected with users throughout, we caught a major waiting room problem post-launch and corrected it fast, recovering hundreds of visits per day.

+1k
Visits per month
−20%
Call abandon rate
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Service blueprint workshop — strategy mapping in action
03

Driving a Strategy Shift

Dreams and conversations are great. But when the rubber doesn't hit the road, everyone suffers. We were stuck. So I drove definition of a vague company strategy, collaborating with leaders across the organization — converting that dream into a concrete, executable product vision that reshaped both roadmap and org design.

AI
Strategy & value-based care
New
Business models unlocked
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Design that's human
all the way down.

With over 10 years of experience leading design teams from small scrappy squads to orgs of 20+, across agency and in-house environments, I've learned a lot about building a motivated team that produces great design.

I believe great work happens when people can show up as whole humans — messy days, good days, creative days, all of it. I lead with curiosity, humor, and empathy, because teams do their best work when they feel supported, energized, and playful. And when people feel safe and seen, they don't just execute — they invent.

I specialize in AI-powered healthcare, bringing clarity and structure to ambiguous, high-stakes work to unlock momentum and high quality delivery on iOS, Android, web, and conversational interfaces.

Outside of work? I'm a lifelong quilter/crafter and a Minnesota State Fair "quilt-on-a-stick" ribbon winner 🏅 That playfulness shows up at work too — in workshops, challenging decisions, and the occasional quirky metaphor. Ask my team about the "release the sneeze" design philosophy.

"

Strong decisions don't
require heavy rooms.

Lead with curiosity & kindness

People do their best work when they feel safe and seen. Creating that environment isn't soft — it's strategic. Psychological safety is a design prerequisite.

Create conditions for great ideas

Shared context, high trust, and room to explore bold thinking. The best ideas I've seen emerge from environments where people felt permission to be ambitious.

Bring lightness into the hard stuff

Serious work and joy aren't opposites. I bring humor and play into workshops, demos, and hard conversations — because energy is contagious and momentum matters.

Coach for growth and autonomy

My goal is to help people think bigger, not just move faster. I coach to expand capability and conviction — so designers can influence strategy, not just execute on it.

Proud of the impact
I've had on teams.

Ideas worth sharing.

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    The Important Tech Career Advice No One Is Talking About
    Perspective on career growth, empathy, and self-advocacy in tech — recognized for its practical guidance for emerging design leaders.
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    Women in IoT: Emily Schmittler
    Featured interview on leadership, mentorship, and strategies for advancing women in technology-driven design fields.
  • M
    Maximizing Creative Energy, Part 1
    On protecting and channeling creative energy in design work — how to structure your time, environment, and mindset to do your best thinking.
  • in
    On the Unspoken Social Pressure in Design
    A candid take on the social dynamics that shape how designers show up — and what it means to push back on unspoken expectations.
  • in
    Product Design × FigmaMake × Lovable
    Thoughts on how new AI-powered design tools are shifting what's possible for product designers — and what that means for craft, speed, and the role itself.

Let's make
something great.

Whether you want to chat healthcare design, AI experiences, or team culture — I'd love to connect.

Connect with me →

P.S. I'm also happy to talk quilting. 🏅