Currently, I’m a product design manager at Stripe where I manage a team of designers working on the core Stripe product and shared product systems.
In past roles I lead the rebrand of Firefox and Mozilla, redesigned the end-to-end product experience for Philips HealthTech, and created a new hospitality experience for Hyatt.
I have worked on many product and brand projects for clients that include: AT&T, Blue Shield, Disney, Dell, Dignity Health, GE, PepsiCo, The Blackstone Group, University of Texas.
“Growing up in the former USSR, my nickname was pachimushka—the why-asker.
After reaching California in 1993, I never stopped asking. It is how I navigate through new places, new cuisines, and more importantly, new projects.”
Areas of expertise
Design Team Management
Team management for product, brand, visual design, research, motion graphics, and system design.
Management of distributed and on-site design teams, with +10 direct reports. Responsibility for recruiting, hiring, career coaching, and capacity building.
Building design teams from the ground up, including vision setting, identifying new discipline needs, performance management, establishing design process, incorporating design practice into organizational process.
Identified key talent and brought in experts in photography, illustration, motion and development to deliver a high quality experience.
Design Leadership
Leading initiatives in product design and brand marketing, building large-scale products, brands, partnerships, and design systems from scratch.
Setting vision for new brands and recalibrating the vision for evolving brands. Creating teams to deliver on the vision.
Building cross-org partnerships between product and marketing to ensure user experience consistency across the end-to-end journey.
Brand Design & Strategy
Leading the redesign of large-scale brands. Previous experience includes The Blackstone Group, PepsiCo, Dignity Heal, Mozilla, and Firefox.
Building out vision and strategy, creating systems that scale from product to marketing.
Building new brand for startups and new products, and supporting their market launch.
Evolving brands to highlight their origin and best align with future growth.
Product Design & Research
Leading teams in market research and user research methodology to identify market fit and new product opportunities.
Sizing opportunities based on research and delivering strategies to support business growth and product evolution.
Assessing end-to-end product experience and delivering streamlined and optimized product experience solutions.
Designed new mobile products and web app experiences, and managed buildout and product launch.