Hi. I'm Lauren
Product Design Leader & Research-Driven Strategist
I lead teams that transform complex problems into intuitive, human-centered experiences. My passion is empowering designers and researchers to explore and craft solutions that make people feel confident and capable while driving meaningful business impact.
When I’m not building products or teams, you’ll find me traveling, discovering new restaurants, or goofing off with my kids.
Design & Research Approach
I approach design through a systems thinking lens blended with psychology, breaking complex challenges into meaningful insights that guide human-centered solutions. My work balances analytical rigor with empathy, ensuring outcomes that work both for the business and the people it serves.
Leadership Philosophy
I lead with trust, clarity, and purpose, building strong team culture through ownership and shared impact. I believe the best teams are built on people who feel seen, valued, and empowered to grow, and thriving teams create thriving products.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Testimonials
Kendra Cooke
Experience Director at SYPartners
Lauren is passionate about all aspects of user experience, and that is reflected in the quality of her work. She has a natural ability to understand "good design" and has the analytical skills necessary to validate her ideas with the groups of people who use the products she helps produce. It was a pleasure to work with her, and I continue to consider her a dear friend and colleague.
Jennifer Romano, PhD
Design Research Advisor and Consultant
I have worked with Lauren on the UXPA International Board for about 5 years - she was the Dir of Marketing and Communications and then Director of Web, while I was President and then Dir of Marketing and Comms. From the start, Lauren was driven to improve existing processes and set new ones up that enabled our organization run smoothly and deliver resources to UX professionals. She is extremely organized and ingenuitive - she has invented new ways of sharing info (e.g., revamped our monthly newsletter), worked on creating and rebranding entities that members desired (e.g., certificates, business cards, signatures), and she carried our website redesign to the finish line - something that was moving slowly before she was in the Dir of Web role. She was able to corral volunteers to assist her along the way, something that is often hard to do in our org. Not only was she a hard worker and got things done well and quickly, she was a delight to work with! We had so much fun at our annual conferences - every year, planning ways to engage with potential new members and existing members and ensuring all had a remarkable experience at the event. I really enjoyed our time together and hope to work with her again in the future.
Christian Rossi
Staff Designer at Seesaw
Lauren's leadership skills and expertise as UX/UI designer and manager is unmatched by most. Her passion for building her team while also building personal relationships with everyone makes her a leader that I was extremely lucky to have worked for. Not only does she make sure that her team excels, she pushes all stakeholders and teams at her company to think about the user and how we can improve the usability of our products. In the two years that I worked for her, I saw her transform the UX team from a team with too many design tools, a few processes, and little collaboration, to a fully integrated team that works together with a standardized set of tools. Her work transformed our team and product in a positive way based on the user needs! She is still my mentor and I look up to her in regards to her talent as a leader and designer.
Jonathan Montalvo
Principal Product Designer at Plei
As a director, Lauren was everything a UX team could ever ask for. Her leadership style focused on leveling up our skills and UX mindset while creating synergy amongst the team. Because of her we became like family, we trusted each other, leveraged each other, and backed each other up. Her management style instilled trust but she did her job correctly by challenging us. Nothing ever got passed her keen eye for detail and was always advocating for users and leveraging the broad principles of design and human behavior as a guiding force. If Lauren ever called to join her on any UX adventure, I’d follow in heart beat. Any organization is lucky to have her, and even more so the team.