Project type: Multiple // Client: Multiple // Employer: Multiple
Speaking, consulting, learning, teaching
THE CHALLENGE
Get out there to share, learn and grow
Throughout my career, I’ve championed empathy-based research and user-centered design as tools for meaningful impact. This passion has led me to collaborate with universities and organizations to help shape how future designers think, work, and connect with users.
I’ve consulted with the University of New Orleans to define their UX research and design curriculum, presented to Tulane University’s Design Department, led workshops for Loyola University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, and spoken on the value of user-centered design for Tech Talent South, Adobe Creative Jam, New Orleans BioInnovation Center, and New Orleans & Co.
IBM Enterprise Design Thinking
IBM Cloud Garage Partnership Program
While at Smashing Boxes, I helped our team secure a partnership with the IBM Cloud Garage program — a collaboration designed to help organizations scale design thinking across their products and teams.
After a competitive interview process, I completed an intensive five-day IBM Enterprise Design Thinking bootcamp in Toronto, where I gained certification and hands-on experience applying IBM’s frameworks to real-world challenges. Later, I shadowed and co-facilitated workshops to help cross-functional teams apply these principles in practice — aligning business goals with user needs to accelerate innovation.
NEW ORLEANS & CO
New Orleans Service Safari for the tourism industry
To help the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau better understand the visitor experience, I co-planned and facilitated a “Service Safari” — an immersive field research activity through the French Quarter.
Using the POEMS observational method, participants explored how people, objects, environments, and messages shape a customer’s journey. Instead of jumping straight to solutions, we focused on seeing through the eyes of the visitor — uncovering insights about what’s working, what’s not, and where opportunities for co-design could emerge.
This hands-on approach sparked new conversations within the organization about designing tourism experiences from the outside in — grounded in empathy and real-world observation.
