UX Research and Strategy (UXRS) is excited to announce our new social media look and feel. 
As you may know, our social media committee has been growing, and one of our newest positions is our talented graphic designer Trista Lam. 
We are so excited to bring you Trista’s new designs starting in May. Don’t worry, we are still going to be bringing you our fantastic content like Method Mondays, Term Tuesdays and Cognitive Biases so you can stay on top of terms and trends. And we will continue to share interesting UXRS feedback and famous UX quotes. But now, Trista is upgrading the design to a contemporary look and feel.
Stay tuned as we roll out our new designs and let us know what you think of the designs in the comments.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. 
Hello! I'm Grace, and I'm a UX Researcher at a UCaaS company called 8x8. I'm currently based in central Massachusetts, but I'm originally from New York.
My educational foundations lie in Psychology, but I knew pretty quickly I didn't want to take the clinical route. For a few years prior to making my pivot to UXR, I was a software engineer. Through engineering, I was exposed to a lot of UX work, where I finally had a lightbulb moment and made the connection that UXR would be a happy marriage of my background in Psychology within a technical capacity. I'd say I'm more of a qualitative Researcher than quantitative, but I'm working on becoming more balanced. I'm a huge foodie and love researching and trying new recipes, 
as well as exploring as many eclectic eateries as possible. I love Traders Joe's, Polar seltzer, my cat who has thumbs, and adventuring with my husband. 

2. What attracted you to get involved with UXRS?
Wordsmithing and the precision of language have long been passions of mine, so when one of my favorite organizations opened a role in Content Strategy, 
I jumped on it without hesitation. I'm super excited to be part of such an incredible group and look forward to creating cool and helpful content  for the global UXRS community!

3. What was your favorite thing about UXRS and why?
One of my favorite things about the UX research industry is the diversity it attracts. People from all backgrounds and fields find their way to UX research, and so much of my professional growth as a UX researcher is a result of networking within this community. I think UXRS does an incredible job of harnessing that community,
while helping bridge connections and provide resources for UXRs of all levels. 

4. What would you like to see in UXRS's future? 
I'd love to see more networking opportunities, particularly for junior UX researchers  and job transitioners. Despite being such an amazing industry, UXR is incredibly
hard to break into. I think networking events would be invaluable to not only green UXRs, but also to more seasoned folks who are looking for fresh, new talent.

UX Research and Strategy is proud to welcome a new member to our team: Enna Post-Gutierrez as Events Communication Coordinator. She will be communicating with our community about events and making sure the logistics are set up. Let's learn a little bit more about Enna.

Enna, tell us a little bit about yourself. 
¡Hola! I'm Enna, a Senior UX Researcher at Oracle Netsuite. Originally from the Southwest region of the U.S., I decided to pack my bags and move to Spain about 4 years ago and that's where I currently call home. I love a good mixed methods approach and that stage of design where everything is a bit ambiguous or and unknown. You can usually find me experimenting in the kitchen, exploring the city and surroundings or unwinding with some pilates. I'm super excited to join the Events Committee to help bring awesome and relevant events to the community!
 
What attracted you to get involved with UXRS?
I have been following UXRS for a couple of years now, and I find that the information and resources are useful, relevant, and continuously helping me build my craft. Being able to contribute to UXRS in order to help others find UXRS as useful as I do really motivated me to want to get involved!
 
What was your favorite UXRS event and why? 
To date, one of my favorite events has been Lauren Faulkner's Abstract Model Testing. I absolutely loved the case she brought forth and the importance in really understanding the problem space, which led into the importance of created a grounded and well constructed research plans. It's the video & deck I probably share most from UXRS with people when they're hitting a wall with creating their research plan. I also loved the approach of doing research in this abstract way using constructs and simple imagery to represent a proposed concept. I really think it's pushed my own boundaries and comfort zone with the research I do.

What do you see in UXRS's future? 
I see a community that is becoming more and more global with every event. I love the fact that I have this opportunity to join while living in Spain and I think ever since the pandemic it's one of the silver linings of how we are becoming more connected and using online tools to our advantage to connect with the amazing UX professionals around the world. I really see that momentum keeping up with UXRS!

UX Research and Strategy is excited to bring on a new talented member to our team: Trista Lam as the group's Graphic Designer. Trista is going to be taking our educational and social media content to a new visual level and continue to upskill the UXRS community. Let's read a more about Trista.

Tell us more about yourself Trista. 
I started my design career with traditional graphic design education at college. In the past, I’ve worked in various industries, including food service, fashion and telecommunication. In order to broaden my design horizons, I started to self-learn UX design and took a certificate course at SMU in Dallas, Texas in America. I want to elevate my design work to be more user-centric and create meaningful impact.
On a personal note, I was born in Hong Kong, lived in Florida for 15 years and moved to Dallas in 2016. Other than work, my creative outlets are baking, cake decorating and painting. In my free time, I enjoy traveling and hiking with my pup.
 
What attracted you to get involved with UXRS?
I always meet great people at the UXRS events. People are always willing to share what they know and learn together. I an excited to contribute my graphic design skill to a group like UX Research and Strategy that fosters such a friendly and purposeful community.
 
What was your favorite thing about UXRS and why?
I always learn a lot when I attend the UXRS events. Their events are always jam-packed full of great topics and awesome speakers. As I’m transitioning my career to UX design, I found that UX Research and Strategy is offering a lot of valuable insights, knowledge and career support, both at their events and through their educational content.
 
What would you like to see in UXRS's future? 
As the virtual workspace is expanding tremendously, I would love to see UXRS grow bigger geographically and globally. I can see how the information, support, discussions the group is offering would benefit so many UX communities and can have an impact worldwide.

The UX Research and Strategy group is excited to welcome a new board member to our team: Rebekah Hickey as the CTO. Rebekah is going to help the group with all of our technical needs. Let's learn a little bit more about Rebekah.
​
Tell us a bit about yourself Rebekah. 
I'm a UX designer with 10 years of experience in interaction design, information architecture and user research in both the public and private sectors. 

What attracted you to get involved with UXRS?
I attended several UXRS virtual events in the past year or so, and was impressed with the quality of the events and speakers, and how timely and relevant the topics were to me.  I appreciated the focus on user research topics and practical learning that you could take back and apply at work the next day.   

What is your favorite thing about UXRS and why?
I love that it's an organization founded and led by women.  

What would you like to see in UXRS's future?
I'd love to see the content from past events captured and organized in a way that's searchable.

Could UX Research and Strategy be more excited to welcome a new board member Nicole Mentomurro to our team? Probably not! As the group's new Events Director, Nicole will be planning our fantastic events to ensure UXRS continues to bring quality content to our events. Let's learn a little bit more about Nicole.

Tell me a little bit about yourself. 
I’m Nicole, an NYC based UX designer who loves finding solutions to complex problems and always asks why. Prior to design I worked in the event industry, planning everything from educational conferences and trade shows to black tie galas and high-profile weddings. In 2020 I decided to transition from event management to UX design and enrolled in UX Academy at Designlab. 
In my free time you can find me reading a good book (currently laughing my way through ‘Wow, No Thank You' by Samantha Irby), training for my next half marathon (running my 7th one in April), doing my daily yoga practice (Yoga with Adriene is my fave!), baking (usually making some type of muffins), or planning my next trip (I’ve visited 28 countries & counting). 

What attracted you to get involved with UXRS?
During bootcamp I discovered I’m most interested in the research phase of the design process. I found UXRS on LinkedIn when I was looking for ways to get more involved & continue learning about UX research. I was excited about the community they’ve created and the relatable topics & actionable advice that was being presented at their events.  
When I saw they were looking for event volunteers I thought it would be a great opportunity to give back and bring together my event management experience & my interest in UX research.

What was your favorite UXRS event and why? 
I'd have to say the “Getting UX Research and Service Design Research Right at Scale with Erika Hall" has been my favorite UXRS event, so far. At the time of the event I had just read excerpts from Erika Hall’s book “Just Enough Research” for one of my bootcamp lessons, so it was a super relatable topic, and I really liked that the event format was more of casual conversation Q&A.  
I’m also looking forward to the upcoming “First Year Reflections of UX Researchers”. I think there will be a lot of tangible advice for someone like me who is just getting started in UXR. 

What do you see in UXRS's future? 
Building on the momentum of UXRS’s events and continuing to grow the community. Exploring different options for event formats and brainstorming new ways participants can engage & connect with each other during networking sessions. Understanding what other topics the UXR community wants to learn about and what speakers they want to hear from when we are thinking about new event ideas. Most importantly, ensuring that the events continue to remain aligned with the UXRS mission by working to host events that foster relationships & provide actionable advice that participants can implement immediately. 

UX Research and Strategy is proud to welcome a new member to our team: Emily Carmody as the official Speaker Liaison. Emily will be working with our speakers to ensure that speakers are excited and ready to bring quality content to our UXRS events. Let's learn a little bit more about Emily.

Tell us a little bit about yourself Emily. 
I studied Behavior Analysis at Michigan State University and made a career switch into UX research after 2 years of working in a behavioral therapy clinical setting. I love applying my behavioral background to UX and educating others about behavior analysis in the process. In my free time I love to cook, go on walks/hikes, and read!

What attracted you to get involved with UXRS?
UXRS has been staple for my continuing education journey within my UX. I love the diverse, helpful topics their events cover. When I saw the open position I thought it would be an honor to be a part of it!

What was your favorite UXRS event and why? 
My favorite UXRS event was “UX Research Repository Tips and Tricks.” The concept of a research repository was something new to me so learning how to best utilize one and what tools work best from UX professionals was great.

 What do you see in UXRS's future? 
In UXRS’s future I see more collaborative, informative events that will continue to educate and inform the UX community on a variety of topics!

Our fabulous treasurer is moving to Europe, and we are sad to have to replace her. But for our group to continue to thrive, we need a financially savvy person to step into the role. 
We have a question for you. Are you interested in: 

• Supporting one of the largest UX communities in the world
• Flexing your finance expertise
• Giving back to the community
• Helping a non-profit strive and succeed

If you answered yes to any of these, then we want YOU! 

We are looking for a board member who will work closely with the Board of Directors and be a strategic partner to help define, plan, and execute a wide range of non-profit board activities and tasks and who is willing to evolve with the group as we continue to grow!

What you’ll bring:

• Collaborative working style to build strong relationships with other board and committee members
• Experience with coordinating projects and timelines
• Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to analyze situations, identify existing or potential opportunities, and recommend solutions
• Drive to continuously improve processes and the quality and impact of the team’s work and output
• Ability to think quickly, resolve problems, and multi-task across numerous projects 
• Excellent verbal and written communication
• Attention to detail
• Strong financial skills

Read the full job description to determine if this role is a good fit for you too.
To start the process, fill in the application for consideration. 
We look forward to having you join our team.