In April 2020, I launched ResearchersForHire.com as a way for UX researchers to indicate that they had been affected by COVID-19 layoffs and were looking for work.

The project started out with big dreams, built on top of a Google Spreadsheet, though my main goal was to get at least one person hired (which we did). At the peak, there were over 800 names listed, though today the number is much lower (hopefully because many of those folks have been hired).

While the site is still live, the energy that went into RFH has shifted a bit, and I’m currently working with Awesome People to curate a list of independent & freelance researchers who are available for work. If that’s you, please send me an email!

Throughout 2015 and 2016, I was one of the highest volume interviewers on the Facebook Research team and also one of — if not the — youngest member (save interns). This meant that I had incredible exposure to people who seemed to have many of the things we looked for in our research candidates, but — like me — often lacked the past experience or academic credentialization to earn a spot on the team.

After voicing my frustration and seeing many of these candidates go on to have successful careers at other companies, leadership gave us — myself, Christina Janzer, and Annie Steele — the space and resources to build a program where we could hire and train “non-traditional candidates.” We felt an obligation to the research community to leverage the talented peers that we had to train the next generation of UX Researchers, and many of us — not just Christina, Annie, and me — wanted to give our time to the effort.

In 2016, we started the Facebook “Rotational Research Program” — modeled after the Facebook Rotational Product Manager program and leaning on the medical school model of “learn one, see one, do one” — as a 13 month program where people would go through a set of curriculum and structured mentorships to get them up and running on their own. Our initial cohort had 5 incredible humans, and I had the wonderful opportunity to be their year-long mentor (and now friend).

Although the three of us have all left Facebook, the program has transitioned and flourished under the guidance of many incredible people, including my original Facebook manager, Sarah Sled.

You can learn more about the program and apply at FacebookRAP.com

I have a deep admiration and respect for Houston Kraft, someone who so clearly practices what he preaches — kindness.

Houston and I met at an event he spoke at, as his girlfriend at the time was someone I knew from summer camp. They lived near the University of Washington while I was in graduate school there and after to a few coffees and meals, Houston invited me to help him design an activity book to go along with his speaking & facilitation practice.

Our goal was to develop one activity for each week of the school year, broken up into a number of core concepts (derived from Houston’s practice). We spent a few months exploring and iterating on different ways to facilitate conversations about and experiences with these concepts, and were eventually able to complete the book and a set of activity cards. In the process, I was able to witness Houston in action a few times, and it made me jealous of the middle school and high school students who had someone speaking so candidly and lovingly about the importance of kindness — both to themselves and each other.

Houston recently wrote a book — Deep Kindness — which “takes an honest look at the gap between our belief in kindness and our ability to practice it well—and shows us how to put intention into action.” Knowing how much went into the first “book” he wrote, I can’t wait to read this one.

It was seemingly by accident that I ended up meeting director Jeff Orlowski.

I happened to be visiting my undergraduate advisor’s office during freshman year when Drew Levin was outside the door. Nacho invited both of us in, and — because we stayed in touch — four years later, Drew reached out when he was visiting Seattle to work on a film with Daniel Goldhaber. We all sat on the balcony at my parents’ house, discussing ways that Chasing Ice could maintain its film festival momentum into a theatrical release, and I said enough things that made sense where Daniel texted Jeff so that we could meet when Jeff was in town later that week.

Jeff, Daniel, and I got breakfast at Lola, where we talked about social media and marketing strategy for the film. Jeff invited me to a house on Lake Union that night to see it myself, and after the showing functionally gave me access to Chasing Ice’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. For the next year plus, I worked with Jeff and the team to communicate on behalf of Chasing Ice. I tweeted, responded to Facebook posts, wrote the weekly newsletter, updated the website, and did everything else you do when you have a small team of folks feeling the impending urgency of a warming climate.

It’s the most fun and most connected I’ve ever felt to my work, and I’ll never forget that year of my life.

I learned that it’s pretty hard to say no to Sam Kuhn, and honestly I never wanted to.

During my freshman year of college, I lived on the same hall as Sam (before we ended up as roommates), and he was always inviting folks to participate in his video projects. I loved learning from and working with him, so I would regularly help.

Sometimes I drove the car (as a dolly), sometimes I helped with recording, and other times I wore a bespoke Zebra mask that he made and caused mayhem (which you can enjoy in the video!).