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New Portfolio Entry: Echo Look

I am beyond delighted to formally share here that my “secret” Amazon project has finally been announced to the public and is making it into people’s homes. In 2014, I was hired into Amazon as employee #3 on the Echo Look project. The Echo Look is a first-of-its-kind home photography device that allows customers to document their wardrobes and obtain real-time feedback from stylists from the comfort of their homes. The Echo Look is also fully Alexa enabled – meaning not only hands-free operation of the fashion photography features, but access to everything else Alexa can do. As the first…

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Spring 2019 Appearances

It’s been a long year! 2018 brought an exciting speaking calendar on two continents, including Interaction 18 in Lyon; a workshop at Microsoft’s Office AI Design Days; a workshop and talk at UX London 2018; DEVit 360 in Thessaloniki, Greece; UX Week in San Francisco; a private workshop at BMW in Munich; a workshop and talk at Amuse UX Conference in Budapest; a public workshop in Redmond; and a talk at DesignOps Summit 2018 in New York City. 2019 promises to be just as packed, with three continents on the calendar (and a fourth in planning…) Let’s take a look…

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The Traitor Within: A call for reproductive health

Women across the nation – and the world – are fighting an epidemic of reproductive ills. From fibroids and dermoids to polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis, women’s reproductive systems are sabotaging our health. Women suffer daily, and countless children – wanted, desired, strived for – never come to fruition in this world of unwell. This nation spends so much time spinning around in circles talking about why more women aren’t having babies: blaming abortions, a lapse in morals, the rise of feminism – but there is something deeper, far more insidious at play. Beyond fertility, these ills threaten the health…

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The Glitch in my Matrix

This long post adds another chapter to this year’s medical saga, and it contains some medical details you may not want. Buckle up, folks – it’s been a hell of a year. As many of you know, the first half of this year saw me struggling with significant health issues – ovarian tumors that were misdiagnosed as endometriosis. Those masses were discovered to be dermoid cysts in July during my surgery, and were removed, leaving the rest of my reproductive system intact. When I woke up to find that my hysterectomy hadn’t been performed because the unlikely “edge case” I’d…

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Voice Design Articles on Medium

Over the past year, I’ve published a series of posts on the topics of voice user interfaces and conversational user interfaces. While not quite equivalent, these two topics are fundamentally linked, and over the coming years the two experience classes will likely converge far more than is seen today. Want to read more? Please join me for the following posts: Voice User Interface Design: New Solutions for Old Problems The voice user interfaces of today aren’t solving unsolved problems – but they are delighting customers and expanding inclusivity by providing the power of computing to customers in new contexts. The…

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Fall 2017 European Tour Itinerary

After months of planning, part 2 of my European voice design speaking tour is upon us. I’m honored to be speaking 5 times across 3 cities: Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo. Many of the events are close to selling out, so if one of these events interests you, please book immediately! Design Matters // Copenhagen, Denmark // Wed, Sep 28th NEW Keynote: “From Blank Page to World Stage” SOLD OUT – click here to join the waitlist. Most designers are experts at improving upon existing experiences – but how does your process translate to a brand new product? How do you…

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