Hello. I’m Mr. Mike (a nickname I’ve had since birth) and I have 10 years of strategic leadership experience “designing for good” specifically in the EdTech and Social Impact spaces, 7 of which, as a direct manager working with small teams in a remote setting.
About me: As a leader, I believe in creating safe spaces for my teams to learn, grow and thrive both individually and together. I like to mentor and encourage their strengths while identifying weaknesses that we can develop into strengths. All at a pace that works in tandem with the organization and the individual’s goals. Usually with a sense of humor, because I love to laugh and keep things fun while working on creating serious solutions to the world’s problems. What’s the point of anything if you’re not having fun? I’m currently the Sr. Director of Product at Empatico - We are the world-leader in supporting and supplying educators with the tools necessary to empower school-aged children around the globe to connect with themselves, each other and the world, through empathy building and social-emotional learning curriculum. We also enhance the students’ experience by encouraging classrooms to meet and collaborate virtually via “live exchanges” in our platform. Along with leading the UX team, I oversee both the QA and Development teams as well. For what it’s worth, I always seem to have a toe in the Branding, Marketing and Comms worlds a lot too, including here at Empatico. Prior to this position, I was the Director of UX at Kid Power (when it was originally created for UNICEF) and the Lead UX Designer/Creative Director of Skybrary (when it was originally created for Reading Rainbow - LeVar Burton Kids). I’m happy to report that both of these platforms still exist, but under the watchful eye of other companies. Throughout my career, I’ve always been dedicated in helping the organizations I work with to become more human-centered and data-driven. I like being at the intersection where business and creative strategies meet. It’s a bit cliche but, I think one drives the other and I always strive to offer strategic guidance and solutions which balance both sides uniformly in getting things done. Extracurricular Design stuff: I’m the co-founder and host of a long running Meetup (since May of 2014) called We'll Talk: UX. At its core, we’re a community of UX designers and Tech friends who help to mentor and guide through project sharing. We gather (in-person till 2020, and then virtually) to discuss and work through different aspects of personal or professional products while having a good laugh. I’m very proud of gathering a small but mighty group of talented people who joined us regularly, or just once or twice, over all these many years. Unfortunately, I haven’t been as active in the community since the “COVID moment” till now, but in the before times, beyond my own Meetup, I was a mentor within the local LA design/tech community as well, and a part of the leadership team for both the LAUX Meetup (which has the largest membership of UX/tech professionals in the US) and NELAUX Meetup (which put a focus on UXers in the North East of Los Angeles) where I helped to lead, organize and even host different events since 2017 and going as far back as 2013 respectively. I was also affiliated with Innovate Pasadena in the capacity of one of their “Meetup Collaborators” between 2016-2019, and I was one of the lead organizers for the World Information Architecture Day (WIADLA) event in 2018 and 2019. Also in 2019, on occasion, I filled in for a friend who was an instructor of Interaction Design at ArtCenter when he was traveling. And lastly, I am currently on the advisory boards of CommonAlly and (sometimes) LA Tech4Good. (It’s hard to be brief when you’re trying to be modest.) On a personal note: When I’m off the clock… I’m most likely walking my dogs, playing drums, silk screen printing, working on the house, or (seasonally) cheering for the LA Kings. Former life: Well before transitioning into UX/EdTech/Social Impact work, I got my start as an Industrial Designer working at the BOSE Corporation, ORION Research, ThermoElectron and other companies in the Greater Boston area after earning a degree from the Massachusetts Collage of Art. And not so much these days, but back when I was an Industrial Designer, I’m proud to say that I won a few awards when those sorts of things were important to me. Now, I’m content with just doing good work. Anyway, for more details on my past employment, please check out my LinkedIn. P.S. - Everything on this website is c. 2010-2014, just before starting at Reading Rainbow… I have plans to update things when I have “a free minute” available. But in a sense, it’s kind of a nice “blast from the past” and a constant reminder that we all have to start someplace. Congrats on making it to the last word… Cheers! |