A highly collaborative and deeply curious designer with experience in Fintech, SaaS, B2B, and B2C. User-centric while aligning with business goals. Skilled in solving complex problems and strong in holistic systems thinking. Up-to-date on user-centered design trends, generative AI, and large language models (LLMs).
KEY SKILLS & COMPETENCIES
Design & Strategic Systems Thinking • Art Direction • UI/UX Design • Typography • Prototyping • Figma • Service Design • User Research Methods • Workshop Moderation • Fluent in Spanish
Work Experience:
Oh hi, hello, Atlanta, GA
UX Design Lead - JPMorgan Chase
June 2024 - Present
Lead design and research for two JPMorgan Chase apps that support client advisors: Sales Assist, a voice-to-text app that uses AI to enhance call efficiency and integrate with Salesforce, and Materials Library, a content management system for sharing compliance-approved marketing materials.
Redesigned the Sales Assist "Generate Call Report" feature, streamlining data transfer to Salesforce, reducing completion time by 5 minutes, and driving a projected 95% user satisfaction rate with increased feature use and retention.
Introduced agile practices, including bi-weekly retrospectives and user outreach to refocus development on real pain points while supporting the Product Manager in rebuilding team trust and alignment.
Launched a user feedback survey for Materials Library, reaching 3,000+ users and collecting 110+ responses with a 76% completion rate in the first two weeks, providing key insights to inform product decisions.
Presented designs weekly to users for feedback and shared research results with the team, ensuring alignment with user needs and supporting the business goal of enhancing product adoption and user satisfaction.
Merit, Atlanta, GA
Mentor
August 2023 - Present
Mentor professionals who are starting, advancing, or transitioning into UX design and technology, offering guidance on resume building, career development, portfolio building, and design best practices.
Calendly, Atlanta, GA
Senior UX/UI Designer
March 2020 - August 2023
Pioneered design for native integrations and API team for Calendly scheduling software. Integrations included Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Analytics. Spearheaded the inception and ongoing user experience of the self-service Developer Portal.
Collaborated with diverse stakeholders and cross-functional product teams to drive UX vision and strategy, fostering alignment and leading the development of user-centered design solutions.
Owned the end-to-end UX/UI design process from leading design sprints, creating initial concepts and storyboards, collecting customer feedback, and collaborating with peers to deliver at a high level of quality.
Effectively synthesized product requirements and user needs from research and leveraged visual storytelling to achieve buy-in on direction.
Expertly supported Sales persona for the Salesforce integration which led to a 2x increase in MAUs year-over-year (YoY) and addressed critical customer requests and achieved one of our OKRs.
Earned “Find a Way” award for creating an integrations homepage which increased discovery of the company’s available integrations by 10%, solving an important problem reported by customers.
Designs directly contributed to an increase in YoY MAU growth for 1st party integrations (27.3%) and the Salesforce integration (42.9% ).
Authored and conducted customer research of design concepts which informed the evolving product strategy.
Led testing and execution of the self-service Developer Portal which enabled customers to create custom integrations and led to a 10% increase in API adoption and a 50% increase in visits month–over–month.
Orchestrated cross-portfolio collaboration to inform the overall design system.
Provided mentorship and guidance to junior designers, interns, and team members transitioning into UX roles, fostering their personal growth and facilitating successful transitions into the field.
Brenda Lara Studios, Atlanta, GA
Owner, Designer, and Photographer
September 2017 – March 2020
Leveraged entrepreneurial skills to acquire and serve clients. Focused on design and photography services for small businesses and sole proprietors.
Salesforce, Atlanta, GA
Senior UX Designer
February 2015 – September 2017
Led design for Salesforce Engage which helps Sales and Marketing teams work better together.
Crafted impactful experiences using wireframes, designs, and interactive prototyping, collaborating with product and engineering peers.
Informed prioritization list of enhancements based on customer feedback.
Created visuals and interactive mobile prototypes for marketing presentations at Dreamforce.
Contributed to increased adoption of Salesforce Engage for Sales-focused customers.
Collaborated on Salesforce Lightning Design System by designing deliverables that adhered to standards.
Moderated cross-functional design sessions using journey mapping, empathy maps, and whiteboarding.
Participated in client interviews, UAT sessions, and A/B testing.
WebMD, Atlanta, GA
Senior Designer of Strategic Initiatives
September 2011 – February 2015
Expertly designed front-end and back-end experiences using wireframes and designs for web, mobile, and tablet. These included registration/personalization products, consumer email marketing, and various content initiatives. Conducted research and applied best practices.
User flows directly led to reduced abandonment within the registration and personalization funnels.
Crafted a redesign of the recipe finder tool that increased engagement and daily use.
Designs directly led to the improvement of open and conversion rates for WebMD marketing emails.
Provided mentorship and coaching around graphic design principles to junior team members.
Cox Enterprises, Inc, Atlanta, GA
Senior Designer - Cox Media Group Digital
December 2009 – September 2011
Led design for Newspaper, Radio, and TV products across digital platforms. Drove prototyping and usability testing. Guided design for content management interfaces and participated in all stages of the product development process
Created wireframes, visual designs, and logos for all properties across web and mobile.
Interface designs increased workflow efficiency for various newsrooms, radio, and TV stations.
Authored style guides, usability best practices, and accessibility standards for the entire portfolio.
Provided art direction, coaching, and mentorship for junior and contract designers.
Web Designer - COXNet
August 2005 – December 2009
Spearheaded design for 12+ community newspaper websites and special digital projects for 4 metro newspapers. Crafted tool interfaces for content management system to enable 500+ editors and content producers to maintain each media outlet’s digital presence. Designed logos, branding, and interactive graphics including 3D modeling.
Led tool interface design for all properties to migrate to a new content management system (CMS).
Key contributor to Webby Honoree Award (2006) for the redesign of Stateman.com and Austin360.com.
Interactive designs increased the audience for US Elections, the Olympics, and other news coverage.
Shot and edited photographs/videos for web delivery.
Additional Relevant Experience:
amUX, Atlanta, GA
Co-organizer of a monthly meetup for Atlanta’s UX community while working at Salesforce.
Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX
Art directed the visual identity branding and photography for the Statesman's Spanish weekly ¡Ahora Sí!.
Worked as a Digital Imaging Specialist scanning and manipulating pre-press images for newspaper editions.
Education and Professional Development:
IDEO U, Online
Human-Centered Service Design Certification (2024)
Human-Centered Systems Thinking Certification (2023)
University of Texas, Austin, TX
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Design
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Photography
Organizations:
Montessori in Town - Volunteer during book fair, photo day and chaperone during class field trips (2022-2024).
Calendly Latine - Fosters relationships, empowering Latine people to make their voices heard (2022-2023).
Concrete Jungle - Food delivery driver during the pandemic for communities in need (2020).
Starlight Children’s Foundation - Volunteer and photographer at events (2009-2013).