You ran the test.
Now interview the researcher.
I'm Leona, a UX researcher and designer at the University of Michigan. I started out engineering cartons and print, and now I design data-heavy tools people can actually use.
Ask me what you'd ask in an interview.
Open any question. The log on the right takes notes, just like in a real debrief.
Packaging taught me to design for how people actually hold, open, and use things. At Ford and Accenture I found the part I loved most was research: watching someone get stuck, then fixing it. UX lets me do that every day.
Start broad with interviews and surveys, make sense of it with affinity mapping, then test with real users. At Cloudsyte that meant interviews, a competitive analysis, a heuristic evaluation, and usability sessions, ending in a redesign roadmap the team adopted.
Early and often. At Ford I worked with PMs and engineers to cut an employee tool from 15 steps to 8, and at Accenture I ran 10+ cross-functional ideation sessions across 20+ prototypes. I'd rather hear "that's hard to build" in week one than week ten.
From day one, not at the end. As a Digital Accessibility Student Assistant I led WCAG 2.1 AA and Section 508 fixes on 120+ course components across 12 courses, caught issues automated tools missed, and trained 6 faculty on accessible design.
At Reddy, my candidate queue shipped in the rebrand. At Cloudsyte, a recommendation from my usability study went live. At Ford, my redesign cut a task from 15 steps to 8, and at Accenture a dashboard redesign cut navigation time by 50%.
Yes. At The Guindy Times, the official campus magazine, I grew from Junior Correspondent to Director of Design over two and a half years and led its design. At Accenture I ran 10+ cross-functional ideation sessions.
A full-time UX research or design role on a team building complex, data-heavy products, where research shapes real decisions. I'm based in Michigan and open to relocation.
How I got here
My career as a journey map, the same tool I use to understand users.
Printing & Packaging
LearnedDesign starts with constraints. Leading the campus magazine's design taught me to build systems, not one-offs.
Ford Motor Company
LearnedJourney maps find the waste. Cut a 15-step task to 8 with PMs and engineers.
Interesting Collections
LearnedTalking to customers beats guessing. Built a brand's first website from user research.
Accenture
LearnedUsability testing and heatmaps cut dashboard navigation time in half.
University of Michigan
LearnedAutomated checkers miss things. I audited 120+ course components across 12 courses and trained 6 faculty.
Cloudsyte · Reddy
LearnedResearch only matters when it ships. Both of mine did.
Your team?
Looking forComplex products, real users, and a team that tests early.
How I work, and who I am
How I work
- 01Start with people, not pixels. Interviews and observation come before any wireframe.
- 02Test early and often. A rough prototype in front of users beats a polished guess.
- 03Design for everyone. WCAG is part of the brief from day one, not a final check.
- 04Bring engineers in early. Constraints shape better solutions, so I bring them in from the start.
Who I am
- ☀My ideal Saturday: A good coffee, then somewhere new: a walk, a trail, or a little adventure if there's one on offer. A movie or a book to end it.
- ⛰Happiest with a view. Mountains, waterfalls, and small towns worth wandering. Next on my list: the Great Smoky Mountains.
- ◉Behind a camera, or a stylus. I photograph food, old buildings, and big views, and illustrate in Procreate just to try ideas that don't have to solve anything.
- ❝Currently reading: The Guest List by Lucy Foley. Always taking recommendations, books or movies.
- ☕Chai, always. Two cups a day, minimum.
Outside the lab
Session complete. Thanks for participating.
If we'd work well together, the next step is a real conversation.