User Experience Research
I love this work because I get to advocate on behalf of the actual observed behavior and user sentiment. The collection of insights I gather inform product and design strategy decisions that open up minds to having conversations that might otherwise not have started had the observation not been made. Building strong relationships with partners is essential to my process and allows me to moderate fruitful conversations with strangers. I am actively looking for my next UX Research position, if you have any leads, I'd be excited to hear from you!
June, July, August, September 2020
Beads for a Brighter Tomorrow
Charitable Giving, Entrepreneurship, Social Media Marketing, Creative Solutions, Website and Mobile Design
October 2020 to present
The Walt Disney Company: User Experience Research
Foundational Usability Research, Evaluative Benchmarks, Competitive Analysis, Heuristic Evaluations + more
January to June 2019
The Walt Disney Company: Enterprise Research
Data Analysis, Contextual Interviews and Usability Testing
May to August 2018
General Mills: User Experience Strategy
Data Analysis, Digital Marketing, Website and App Design, Asset Management
May 2020
University of Michigan: School of Information
App + Website User Experience Product Design, UX Research, Sprint Planning, Design Strategy
References
Angie Hennessy, Senior Manager of Design at Disney
"I couldn't recommend Michelle enough as a team member, as her former manager. From running research projects to collaborating with design to assisting UXR teammates with research, Michelle excelled in multiple areas across the design and research teams as a whole. Feedback from team members demonstrated how valuable her contribution was to the success of the research team and the success of the design team overall.
Michelle was a highly respected team member, especially for someone so early in her career, who you could always rely on to get tasks done, done well, and jump in where needed. Michelle wasn't afraid to ask questions when needed and was constantly coming up with ideas on how she could improve not only her work but the team’s overall work. Michelle was also invaluable in helping to create a new strategy for research as well as a new way of working/our process. She created templates, educated herself further on best practices, and was overall a staple of what the research team had become. Any team would be lucky to have Michelle!"
Chris Whelan, Head of UX Research at BetMGM
"I had the great pleasure of being Michelle's first manager (at Disney and ever!), and can enthusiastically relay that I was routinely impressed by her approach to learning and work ethic. Michelle embraces new situations and experiences, and is a highly curious person. She takes an active role in her own advancement and is very coachable. While I primarily focused on helping develop techniques interviewing users and evaluating digital products, her broad skill set was what initially attracted us to Michelle; she is a strong writer and understands visual design. These of course are traits that serve User Researchers well, and I am confident that, if Michelle continues on this path, she will soon be one of the prominent leaders in the UXR field."
Sarah Tencher, UX Designer at Disney
"Michelle is an exceptional UX researcher. Her empathetic, patient, and thoughtful approach makes her a valuable asset to any project or team. She consistently goes above and beyond, meticulously collecting and methodically analyzing data to craft actionable insights. With Michelle's expertise, we successfully shaped products to align better with user needs and effectively communicated our direction to product partners. I highly recommend Michelle to anyone seeking a detail-oriented, kind, and passionate UX researcher."
Vik Ramana, Product Designer at Disney
"Michelle is an empathetic, meticulous and thoughtful researcher and storyteller. During our collaborations, she effortlessly steered designers, engineers, product partners and executives stakeholders to a reach consensus through intentional storytelling. Her passion for identifying high impact and high value needs inspired large cross functional teams to work together towards building the best experiences for our global audiences at The Walt Disney Company. I highly recommend Michelle to any team or leader who is looking for a researcher who has the perfect blend of intentionality, storytelling, positivity and adaptability."