Anthony Zablocki joins UXRSWe are excited to have Anthony join the team as Treasurer Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm a social introvert, but if you get me talking about UX, I become an extrovert. I love talking shop with other UXers. In my downtime, I love to hang out at the lake and fish or just sit on the dock with a foot in the water. What attracted you to get involved with UXRS? I had been on a very small team for years and felt isolated professionally when the pandemic hit. I attended a UXRS event by chance and by the end I was hooked. I felt so energized and optimistic that I couldn't wait for the next event. What was your favorite thing about UXRS and why? Hands-down, my favorite thing is the connection with other UXers (new and experienced). I've messaged, zoomed, and workshopped with people I met in UXRS more than I ever dreamed I would. 4. What would you like to see in UXRS's future? I'd love to see UXRS host a conference in the future. An event that provides opportunities for new researchers to learn and apply the craft, experienced researchers to sharpen their tools and try out new things, and all of us to get to know each other even better.
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Welcome Enna Post-GutierrezOur new Events Communication Coordinator 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! Welcome Trista LamThe new Graphic Designer for 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. Warm Welcome to Rebekah HickeyUXRS's brand new Chief Technical Officer 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. Welcome Nicole MontemurroThe New UXRS Events Director 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. Welcome Emily Carmody to the TeamUXRS's New Speaker Liason 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! UXRS Seeks a TreasurerWe are looking for a new board member 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:
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:
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. 2021 Year in ReviewLetter from the President of UXRS As we look back on all that the UX Research and Strategy (UXRS) group has done in 2021, we do so with a huge sense of pride and accomplishment. We continued to deliver high-quality content and provided opportunities for our community to network and engage personally with people all over the world. The word of the year that comes to mind as we reflect is growth. Although the Covid pandemic has lingered on, UXRS has grown immensely and built an even stronger community through the last year. Along with my founders, Lauren Singer and Lorie Whitaker, we formed a group that is actively dedicated to upholding our mission: To make UX Research and Strategy both approachable and actionable, by ensuring our attendees come away with concrete examples of how to confidently implement user experience research and strategy methods in their day-to-day projects and work. I am proud to say we are still going strong in fulfilling that mission for all of our global community members. Now let’s take a stroll down memory lane and highlight some of the great things that UXRS did in 2021! Events We did not let the pandemic slow us down! We had 17 online events which showcased a number of speakers and topics.  Speakers Our speakers represented a number of industries including finance, government, UX agency, market research, software, information technology, social media and more.  Board Growth This year was all about growth and scaling to ensure we provided the same quality events and content. To keep up with the demand, we expanded our Board of Directors. Nisha Balaraman joined UXRS as our social media director in early 2021. We have her to thank for the educational content and well-designed social media posts that keep our community informed and engaged. Malari Barber also joined our team in 2021 to ensure we continued to provide the community with great events. Malari is working hard to ensure that our events are best-in-class and worth every minute of our community’s valuable time. Both ladies have helped UXRS expand our offerings and take us to the next level. I am forever grateful for the time and energy they volunteer every day to help our group succeed. As we move into 2022, UXRS will continue to scale, adding committee members to help increase our impact.  Community Growth Social Media Not only did we put on a record number of fantastic events in 2021, but we also shared tons of resources and content to help educate the UX research and strategy community. We launched three social media campaigns this year, geared toward informing the world about UX research methods, terminology and cognitive biases. All of our social media channels doubled in followers, with our professional LinkedIn page accumulating nearly 40,000 people. We attribute this massive growth to the quality content that we deliver almost on a daily basis. Thanks to all of you who have been engaging with us on social media! Our followers who drive conversations with us and each other are what make this community so fantastic.  Slack Community Another venue that saw massive growth for UXRS was our community. I know that a community is difficult to measure, so I do so in a couple of ways. First, let’s talk about our UXRS Slack channel. Like our social media channels, our Slack channel has experienced massive growth, with over 3,400 community members by the end of 2021.  Networking Community
We know how important it is to build your professional network, and we understand how challenging that can be in our remote world. So at our monthly meetings and our special Networking Extravaganzas, we created smaller rooms for more intimate settings for people to get to know each other better and replicate that “build your professional network” experience. It is important to us that UXRS events should be not only about learning, but should also foster a supportive community to make new UX friends and connections – from all around the world. Support Finally, I wanted to send a massive thank you to all who have supported UXRS in 2021. Thank you to our event attendees, presenters, Slack community, social media followers, and to everyone who has engaged with us on so many levels. Most importantly, I wanted to extend a HUGE thank you for all who have donated to UXRS in 2021. UXRS is a non-profit organization, and we function completely on donations. Over 400 people donated funds to help keep our events going by paying for our operational costs. Those who have donated to the group keep us going, and for that we cannot thank you enough. If you'd like to donate, you can do so directly via PayPal. With your donations, we are able to:
Looking Ahead When we started locally in Dallas, Texas in 2019, we never imagined that we would become a global sensation with thousands of followers and community members. In 2022, we hope to bring our UXRS community even more chances to make connections, to learn from each other, and to help up-skill together. We are truly honored to serve each and every one of you, and we are excited to see where the next year takes us. Thank you again for your support and we look forward to seeing you in 2022 and beyond. Jen Blatz UXRS President Help UXRS to improve contentTake our community survey for your chance to win $50 Amazon gift card Deadline January 31, 2022.
Do you want to make the UXRS community stronger? We need your input to help us understand how to make the UX Research and Strategy community the place to be. How can you do this? Fill in the 2021 UXRS Community Survey. Complete the survey by January 31, 2022 for your chance to win one of ten $50 Amazon gift card. We will be rewarding 10 lucky winners with an Amazon gift card upon completion of the survey. Why help us? Feedback is a gift. Your guidance can help us determine the right direction to take the group in 2022 and beyond. Why help you? This is your community. We want to provide the most value for you to be job ready, confident and to continue to grow in your UX research and strategy career. But we need your guidance to make sure our events, our content and our community is heading in the right direction. Please take a few minutes to fill our our survey and let us know about you. Complete the survey and indicate you would like to be included in the $50 Amazon gift card drawing. Good karma forward. Thank you for your time and support, Jen Blatz UXRS President Check out the conditions and rules. We're GrowingDeadline extended: UXRS is looking for social media and event volunteers – join us HURRY! UXRS is accepting applications until December 1, 2021
We have heard from several of our community members that they want to help us out and be more involved. Now is your chance to showcase your skills, be active in a thriving UX community, and be part of a tidal wave of growth and expertise. We are excited to share that we have 4 volunteer opportunities available to help spread the word and mission of UX Research and Strategy. Open postions
We are accepting applications through November 20, 2021. See below for a brief description of each volunteer opportunity and how to apply for the position that interests you. Why join UX Research and Strategy? As our community has grown, and so have our needs. We are looking for an additional volunteers in planning our events and social media & brand. We want people who are as passionate and driven to provide these services to the UX community, especially in the area of content strategy. We are looking for a strategic partner to help define, plan, and execute a wide range of non-profit activities and tasks and who is willing to evolve with the group as we continue to grow. What do you bring?
Social Media & Brand Committee Members - 2 positions
> Graphic Designer position description >> Graphic Designer position application > Content Strategist position description >> Content Strategist position application Applications are due by December 1, 2021 Events Committee Members - 2 positions
> Event Communication Coordinator position description >> Event Communication Coordinator position application > Speaker Liaison position description >> Speaker Liaison position application Questions? Reach out to the board members of UXRS via our Slack community. We welcome all to apply to help take the UXRS to the next level. |
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