University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business

Tufts University

Universitat d'Alacant

Winchester High School

Senior UX Researcher + Design Thinking Instructor

Italic Type is the reading app for total book immersion; think of us as your cozy digital reading nook. We help readers engage more deeply with their books through every stage of the reading journey. We're all about beautiful design, like-minded community, and authentic engagement (no ads). And we keep the reader experience front and center in everything we do.

Italic Type

Chief Experience Officer + Co-Founder

AnswerLab

Principal UX Researcher

Senior UX Researcher and Team Lead

UX Researcher and Team Lead

Develop hands-on curriculum and teach 10-week course on design thinking and user experience strategy.

UC Berkeley Extension

Course Instructor, Design Thinking and UX Strategy

AnswerLab helps create experiences people love. We work closely with global brands to bring a human-centered design process to every product and service they launch.

As a UX Researcher, I partner with a range of clients across the tech, retail/CPG, and financial services industries to deeply understand and successfully address their pressing UX needs.

UX Researcher

Jump Associates

Senior Strategist

Fidelity Labs (Center for Applied Technology) is Fidelity’s innovation catalyst. We use design thinking to help imagine the possibilities and realize the benefits of new ideas and emerging technologies. 

In my role, I worked to develop a deep understanding of how Fidelity could build a more supportive experience for its retiring customers. I led all qualitative user research, conducting semi-structured interviews to build empathy with older adults in various stages of the retirement process. Identifying unexpected pain points along the retirement journey enabled my PM partner to develop a targeted and actionable business strategy.

Fidelity Investments

Design Strategy Intern

The Berkeley Innovation Group (big) help to transform companies and the people in them using an experiential learning approach - we infuse an innovation mentality and design-thinking capabilities throughout your company's culture. 

As a part-time Innovation Consultant, I helped design and lead clients through capacity-building workshops customized to their needs. I also wrote and published blog posts on the power of human-centered design.

The Berkeley Innovation Group

Innovation Consultant

USER-CENTERED DESIGN, INNOVATION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP 

•  Co-founder of Rapport Card, a voice-recognition tool that compiles communication trends to facilitate more equitable participation in the workplace. Prize winner at UC Berkeley's Building Women Up pitch day and state-wide Investing In Inclusion competition. 

• With a fantastic multidisciplinary team, co-created the Smart Can, empowering lifeguards to focus on their most critical jobs - saving lives! - by autonomously collecting and aggregating ocean rescue data in real-time. Spearheaded user research and linked app design. Working prototype of the Smart Can showcased in the annual campus-wide "Made at Berkeley" book. 

• Graduate instructor and lecturer for Opportunity Recognition (Innovation Strategies for Emerging Technologies) and Innovation & Design in Business. 

LEADERSHIP

• Vice president of Innovation & Design Club; second-year Peer Advisor for first-year students pursuing careers in Innovation & Design. 

• Team lead for Social Sector Solutions, an intensive experiential course in which student teams serve as consultants and tackle complex problems for nonprofit clients. 

• Co-president of Gender Equity Initiative, a research and advocacy organization providing real-time and actionable data on diversity, equity, and inclusion to Haas students and administration. 

ACADEMICS

• Graduated with honors (top 10% of class).  

Relevant Coursework: 
• Needs & Usability Assessment (School of Information)
• Critical Making (Jacobs Institute of Design Innovation)
• Designing the Future (IDEO CoLab @ Haas) 
• Product Management (Fitbit @ Haas)
• Innovation Lab (Salesforce Ignite @ Haas)
• Innovation Strategies for Emerging Technologies (Haas)
• Organizational Moonshots (Haas)
• Applied Behavioral Economics (School of Information) 
• Introduction to HTML/CSS (Berkeley Art Studio)

MBA: Design and Innovation

At Community Wealth Partners, a Share Our Strength organization, we dream of a world in which all people thrive. To realize this dream, we help change agents solve social problems at the magnitude they exist. 

As the organization's first Data Analytics Manager, I spearheaded the advancement of data systems and infrastructure, designed user-friendly models to promote data sharing, and partnered with/led project teams to build surveys and drive actionable analysis for client engagements.

Community Wealth Partners

Data Analytics Manager

The ProInspire Fellowship builds the next generation of non-profit leaders by expanding the talent pipeline, developing professionals, and increasing diversity. Outstanding business professionals are recruited who want to use their skills for social impact. 

I spent my ProInspire year at Community Wealth Partners, a social impact consulting firm, and was thrilled to be invited to stay with the company in a full-time role when my fellowship ended.

ProInspire

2014-2015 ProInspire Fellow (Community Wealth Partners)

Kantar Retail is a global retail consultancy for the world's largest consumer goods companies.

As leader of the Analytics group, I was responsible for staffing and training decisions, advancing new methodologies, and actively promoting development of all team members.

I helped pioneer a new "growth driver" product line, developing innovative user-centered strategies to revitalize stagnant consumer packaged goods categories. 

I used numbers to tell stories, conducting rigorous analysis in Excel and SPSS to determine retail recommendations (around pricing, promotion, shelving, and assortment decisions) and quantify TAM, SAM, SOM, and size-of-prize opportunities. 

I took on the Lead Analyst role for multiple domestic and international projects, which entailed guiding the full analyst team, project-planning and ensuring accountability, traveling frequently within and outside of the U.S. to present client deliverables, and acting as point person for both internal team and client. In 2014, I received the "All For The Cause" award for exceptional commitment and results 

I was promoted to Team Lead from Senior Analyst in January 2014, and promoted from Project Analyst in June 2013.

Kantar Retail

Team Leader of Analytics

My independent thesis, "Turning up the volume of stereotype threat: Music, gender, and mathematics," received High Honors from the Psychology Department and was selected for publication in Yale Review 2013.

Tufts University Interpersonal Perception and Communication Laboratory

Interpersonal Perception & Communication Researcher

As the longest-running sales associate, I worked under multiple managers and provided training and support during transitional periods. I supervised the store independently for 8.5-hour shifts from opening to closing, and assisted with major purchase, display, and promotional decisions.

Christina Pappas