EXPERIENCE

Square | Contract UX Content Designer — Seller Experience, Ecosystem Engagement, Risk | May 2023-Present

I help create net-new features designed to streamline Square experiences, craft guidelines and standards for design components and converging product spaces, provide IA perspective, write copy for product experiences, provide recommendations for alpha and beta tests, conduct product audits, outline strategy for improved dispute experiences, and lead office hours where cross-functional partners bring their product work for feedback.

Projects in the works:

• Leading an audit of the dispute challenge UX, which guides sellers through customer disputes — as well as developing the future-state vision for a redesigned experience that incorporates more humanness, education, and simplified UX.

• Creating a project roadmap for the seller dispute redesign which uses key metrics like win and completion rates to determine the prioritization for redesigning the pathways for each dispute type.

Projects shipped:

• Content standards and governance plans for a consolidated Square app experience, including guidelines for design component use cases, definitions for new product surfaces, guidance that limits upsells to protect UX, and a SEV criticality matrix that outlines which in-app components to use when communicating incidents. 

• Vision work for the Seller Experience product space, including the introduction of a seller graduation pathway concept — outlining how to communicate and educate throughout the seller journey.

• Strategy, IA, and copy for a navigation experiment that reduces the number of nav categories, renames top-level nav categories based on seller jobs to be done, and eliminates unnecessary duplicity within dropdown menus.

• Strategy, IA, and copy for a several-screen flow that communicates the upcoming end to a premium trial period, highlights premium features used along with recommended features to try, and incentivizes a plan upgrade.

• Content standards to accompany a product design audit and design principles, including guidance for using certain components, best practices for writing copy for specific assets, and frameworks for messaging within error states, notifications, tooltips and coachmarks, modals, dialog boxes, etc.

• Copy for an alpha dashboard experience that neutralizes language and makes the UX feel more inclusive for users across verticals.

Instagram | Senior UX Content Designer | February 2021-November 2022

I supported several teams within Instagram for Business, including Discovery, Business Growth, Search & Browse, Ads Growth, Ads Product, and Ads Messaging — as well as other ad hoc and mitigation projects for cross-family experiences, including WhatsApp and Facebook. Within these teams, I:

• Led UI/UX content creation for tools and features designed to help early-stage SMBs and individual creators expand their reach and grow their brands. 

• Worked with product managers, product designers, UX researchers, data scientists, and engineers to bring new ideas to life and refresh existing experiences within the app and website.

• Attended research sessions to collect real-time user insights that helped with product ideation and informed content design decisions.

• Advocated for the most intuitive UX possible, simplifying complex user flows with thoughtful IA and concise, human messaging.

• Worked with translators and localization experts to ensure messaging was not only clear globally, but also visually fit within a UI after translation.

• Wrote accessibility labels and string descriptions for every project I shipped, ensuring translators had a clear understanding of the UI and inclusive, accessible experiences for our users.

• Co-led a biweekly "UXR pod," in which data science, research, product and content design came together to get cross-functional feedback on workstreams, prioritize projects for concept testing and user research, and get consensus on organizing and optimizing our team roadmap.

• Led reviews with cross-functional teams and leadership to gather feedback and ensure product launches met all requirements, including legal, privacy, metrics, integrity, and cross-family guidelines.

• Lead content designer for all in-app comms for professional users after the October 4 outage (the largest in company history), collaborating with leadership across the family of apps to align on strategy.

• Member of Instagram’s Brand Voice Ambassadors group, hosting office hours where content designers could share work. We provided guidance and feedback to help CDs incorporate human-centered messaging in their product areas.

• Mentored three content designers, providing a supportive onboarding experience, feedback channel, and resource for training and development.

• Worked with pillar leads to craft vision, purpose, and success statements following a reorg and the development of new sub-pillars within Instagram for Business.

• Lead content designer on several critical mitigation workstreams in response to regulatory and app store changes, working alongside our general counsel to ensure both compliance and human UX.

DigitalOcean | Copywriter & Content Strategist — Digital Experience | January 2019-November 2020

• I led content creation and messaging efforts across DigitalOcean.com, which included customer stories, Infrastructure as a Newsletter (80k+ subscribers), user flows for product control panels and signed-in user states, digital campaigns, event and program microsites, landing pages, product announcements, display/banner ads, performance marketing copy, email campaigns, etc.

• Content strategy for surveys, product launches, performance marketing efforts, contact form states, etc., and initiatives like Currents, Hub for Good, Solutions Partner Program, Community, Hacktoberfest, 1-Click Apps Marketplace, Trust Platform, etc.

• Created low-fidelity wireframes for new sections of the site, including /community.

• Reimagined ways of telling customer stories with a focus on the human side of tech by spending months auditing our site to come up with ways to connect our products with our community, identifying stories that illustrated how tech can be leveraged for the greater good, creating a UX/content strategy plan, and sketching wireframes for the proposed directions.

• Co-wrote the last Currents survey of 2020, which had complex flow logic, focusing on the effects of COVID-19 and other social and political issues on the open source community.

• Led a new workflow creation process surrounding Tech Talks—a new content type introduced in 2020, including an asset-specific style guide, templates for all messaging associated with an individual Tech Talk, and timelines for content creation.

• Worked with the Head of Brand and CMO to finalize and roll out the company’s first brand and messaging guide. I conducted a series of focus groups to introduce the guide to cross-functional teams, collected feedback for team-specific use cases, and presented the findings to the Marketing team. We then worked together to create assets for unique use cases throughout the company, and helped teams integrate the guidelines into their everyday work.

• Hired and managed one contract copywriter/content strategist.

Freelance | Writer & Strategist | On & Off | 2013-2023

Clients have included: Amazon Alexa, Indeed, Idean, Devolver Digital, Grafana Cloud, WillowTree, The North Face, REI Adventure Projects, Wild & Wonderful West Virginia, VisitTheUSA.com [Brand USA], Backwoods, Toad&Co, Alamo®'s The Scenic Route, Kelty, KÜHL®

See LinkedIn for a comprehensive list of clients and work.

Razorfish | Creative & UX Copywriter | February 2015-November 2016

Citibank® was my primary client while at Razorfish, though I also worked with our general creative director on several ad hoc projects, including a pitch for a tech company, the launch of an LGBTQ nonprofit, a SXSW ideathon event for teenage Girl Scouts, and an Eyezen campaign. With Citi, I:

• Worked with designers, strategists, and creative and art directors to create content for Citi® products like AAdvantage®, Diamond Preferred®, Simplicity, Hilton HHonors™, and the Double Cash Card, along with Citi Retail Services' Fortune 100 partners, including Macy's, Bloomingdale's, American Airlines, VW, Lincoln, Brooks Brothers, Sears, etc.

• Created copy for landing pages, display ads, merchant offers, user flows, banner ads, social ads, consumer applications, email marketing campaigns, and tutorials.

• Presented copy and messaging recommendations to the client.

• Created copy variations for user testing.

• QAed staging sites before launch; QAed copy decks and comps to ensure accuracy throughout delivery cycles.

• Curated photography for creative campaigns based on client briefs and brand guidelines. 

Other projects outside of Citi & company involvement

• Part of the team behind Proud2Share's launch—a Chicago-based nonprofit whose mission is to conquer LGBTQ poverty; pre-launch projects included market research, competitive analysis, sitemap design, brand and campaign development, and copywriting.

• Helped facilitate an ideathon for teenage Girl Scouts with coding experience to brainstorm new ideas/use cases for the newly launched Dove/Twitter #speakbeautiful campaign at SXSW 2016; worked with the girls to come up with innovative ways to encourage positive language across social media. 

• Worked with other in-house teams to develop concepts, write copy, and refine presentations for Razorfish clients (like Eyezen), as well as to concept and create pitches for prospective clients. 

• Nominated for the Austin's Volunteer Spotlight for volunteer work I did during the Texas floods in 2015, including search and rescue and partnering with a local restaurant to deliver food to volunteers and flood victims.

• Conducted interviews and participated in the Summer 2016 intern selection process.

Rackspace | Technical Copywriter | November 2013-February 2015

• Responsible for content across rackspace.com, including audits, revisions, and full-scope projects for product launches and feature enhancements. 

• Simplified complex subject matter into user-friendly messaging. 

• Created variations of copy for A/B testing.

• One of two writers responsible for content creation during the redesign of the global site; successfully created copy for Rackspace's shift to offering only Managed Cloud on a 3-day deadline.

• Managed relationships with stakeholders, subject matter experts, design, development, UX, product marketing, and content strategy to ensure messaging aligned with strategy and key business goals.

• Helped create the company's first web-specific style guide.

• I was the only non-dev team member with GitHub access, confidently making copy updates directly within the code; navigated both GitHub and Drupal, HTML and CSS.

Learning & development

•  Cloud Basics—"Explorer"​ on Cloud Savvy Certification track.

•  One of 2 teammates chosen to attend a London-based Drupal training with our international dev team during the launch of our global redesign.

Community & awards

• Participant on the Grants Review Committee, helping determine the allocation of corporate philanthropic funding to local nonprofits.

• One of four company-wide nominees for the 2014 Q2 Rack Gives Back Pay it Forward Award (one of 16 annual nominees) for "Rackers who give back and make a difference in their communities."

Software Advice (now Gartner) | Managing Editor & Market Analyst | November 2011-July 2013

• Concepted and developed several monthly marketing campaigns to accelerate organic growth and meet revenue goals across several vertical markets.

• Wrote compelling articles, reports, and guides for industry professionals within nonprofit and sustainable business markets.

• Published articles and reports in major publications and niche outlets, including VentureBeat, Reuters, and Rivard Report.

• Concepted and launched the company's nonprofit publication: The Able Altruist [Strategies and tools for advancing your cause]; worked with a designer to develop design assets; managed the editorial calendar and recruited writers to develop nonprofit content.

• Analyzed market performance using Google Analytics and created campaigns to achieve quarterly and annual growth goals.

• Interviewed marketing candidates and helped make hiring decisions.

Austin Lifestyle Magazine | Editor | June 2011-June 2012

• Feature writer, including a Lionel Richie cover story, travel features, musician stories, etc.; feature photography.

• Conducted interviews (Lionel Richie, Rachael Ray, etc.).

• Managed the editorial team, editorial calendar, and assigned stories and deadlines.

• Edited cover-to-cover copy and oversaw production from concept stage through print release and distribution.