As the organiser of IxDA Melbourne (currently indefinitely on hold due to Covid) I am nurturing a community of human-centered designers to come together and learn from each other. I'm focused on breaking down barriers between design disciplines and having big conversations about the kind of things that designers should be thinking about, not just pixels and palettes.
I've inspired girls and women by investing my time into events, workshops, hackathons and mentorships with Code Like a Girl. In particular, I'm proud of a research project I did with them, investigating through a series of depth interviews the experience of secondary school teachers attempting to teach tech skills through the Victorian Digitech Curriculum. I developed their HTML/CSS class offering and have taught both children and adults, including a series of workshops at the Microsoft Store in Sydney.
I've volunteered my time to causes I care about with Girls In Tech, Girl Geek Academy, Girl Geek Dinners, Ladies that UX and other organisations trying to increase diversity in the technology industry. I particularly care about visibility and representation for technical roles for women and non-binary people as well as pay equity.
I've taught more classes than I can count at General Assembly and Academy Xi. I developed and delivered successful classes around Agile/Scrum, UX fundamentals and HTML/CSS basics. I have consistently received high ratings on my teaching style and content.
Engagement log
📅 January 2022
- Recorded a podcast with Akanksha Malik for Paths Uncovered
📅 2021
- Presented at AdWorld 2021
- Presented at Design Research 2021
- Presented at UX Australia 2021
- Fireside chat with Product People
📅 2020
- Cancelled everything.
- Took a lot of baths.
- Participated in an online forum with Digital Influx.
📅 December 2019
- Was published in Offscreen.
📅 November 2019
- Organised ran the second event for IxDA Melbourne with two speakers World Interaction Design Day as part of IxDA Melbourne. I interviewed Miranda.
📅 October 2019
- Gave a very ambitious talk at at Prototypes & Popcorn about new design paradigms for sustainability.
- Joined UsabilityHub as a Senior UX Designer!
📅 September 2019
- Helped Michele Ronsen crowdsource design and research terms to make a user experience glossary.
- I hosted a panel for Coder Academy about diversity and inclusion in tech called Changing the Stats.
- Industry Expert Mentor for RMIT Online's User Experience Design course.
- Organised and successfully ran an event for World Interaction Design Day World Interaction Design Day as part of IxDA Melbourne. I interviewed Kat.
📅 August 2019
- Attended UX Australia. I drew a bunch of sketchnotes.
- Stepped up to organise the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) Melbourne Chapter with Justin Cheong.
📅 July 2019
- Won the RMIT Online Hackathon with a sustainability strategy for our office and organisation.
📅 February 2019
- Industry Export Mentor for RMIT Online's Customer Experience Strategy and Design course.
- Event host for Code Like a Girl's Unmanning Aviation event.
📅 December 2018
- Volunteered some time with Code Like a Girl to help them prepare for a big 2019.
- UX consultant with Circle In.
- Panel speaker at Girl Geek Dinners Insights from the inside - The evolution of UX and Product design.
📅 November 2018
- Mentor and hacker/hipster at Girl Geek Academy's hackathon with Korowa Girls' School.
📅 October 2018
- Attended Web Directions Summit.. I drew a bunch of sketchnotes.
📅 September 2018
- Spoke at DesignOps Melbourne about being a rogue change agent.
- Published a mammoth blog post about my views on humility and collaboration in tech.
📅 August 2018
- Worked hard at my new job!
📅 July 2018
- Appeared on Why2 Podcast speaking about asking better questions through research.
- Taught Workshops with Microsoft in Sydney for Code Like a Girl.
📅 June 2018
- Helped Circle In design a new user experience by consolidating their two career advice portals into one landing page.
- Appeared on Customer Experience Leaders Podcast speaking about Design Thinking.
- Spoke at The Web Meetup about the importance of humility in building great products.
- Spoke at The DDD Meetup teaching how to give a talk or deliver a workshop.
- Taught Intro to UX at General Assembly.
📅 May 2018
- Taught Intro to UX at General Assembly.
- Taught Coding for Designers at Academy Xi.
- Panel participant for A Design Led Approach to Everyday Living at Academy Xi.
- Panel moderator for The Product Ecosystem: Building Products for Melbourne’s Best Tech Companies at Academy Xi.
- Taught Mother's Day Creative Coding workshop for Code Like a Girl.
📅 April 2018
- Taught Intro to UX at General Assembly.
- Taught Coding for Agencies for Carter Digital.
- Taught Design your business at the 12-15 year olds Code Camp for Code Like a Girl.
📅 March 2018
- MC'd at CSSConf Australia and JSConf Australia.
- Conducted user research for Code Like a Girl.
📅 February 2018
- MC'd at PauseFest 2018.
- Spoke on a panel on "Is it ever OK to lie in business?" at PauseFest 2018 with Girls in Tech.
- Taught Intro to UX at General Assembly.
- Taught Coding for Designers at Academy Xi.
- Taught Coding for Agencies for Carter Digital.
📅 2017
- Spoke on a panel for Designing Healthier Workplaces at Academy Xi.
- Event host at Mind Body & Code for Code Like a Girl.
- Speaker at Go Girl Summit for VU.
- Speaker at Melbourne Geek Night
- Taught various classes and workshops at General Assembly.
Published work
Videos of talks I've done (playlist)
Published writing
- The classic philosophical theory that nails why 2016 sucked so much at Quartz
- Gudetama the lazy egg is the Hello Kitty of Japan’s millennial generation at Quartz
- A practical guide for learning meditation through the art of gaming at Quartz
- Author archive at Junkee
- Contributing author in Through The Clock's Workings (Sydney University Press 2009)
People mentioning me
- Recording of my talk about going Rogue at Design Ops Melbourne
- Laura Summers with Design Ops Melbourne says nice things about me
- 5 surprising lessons we learned at PauseFest 2018 at BlueChilli's blog
- Designing delightful experiences with our UX Lead, Amelia interview at Equiem's blog
- Apply Design Thinking to Problem Solve Your Life interview at Agency Iceberg's blog
Audio
- Ep 6. How to ask questions like a multifunctional designer feat. Milly Schmidt on Better Questions, Better Life podcast
- Part 1 and Part 2 of an interview with Laura Summers on the True North podcast
- What is Design Thinking? And how can you apply it right away! at Customer Experience Leaders podcast
- 2SER: interview about Girls in Tech launching in Australia