Director of Product Design
Mars
I led design for a portfolio of new pet parent ventures within Mars Petcare, launching multiple zero-to-one digital products. I built design teams, established scalable systems, and embedded user-centered practices into early-stage ventures, helping shape innovative, consumer businesses aligned with Mars' strategic vision.
I partnered with our heads of research and product to define a research strategy that mapped the full pet parent journey. We conducted usability tests, analyzed industry reports, and interviewed experts from Mars teams to cat breeders to vets to uncover unmet needs of millennial pet parents. Our work revealed three key user archetypes:
Value & Convenience Hunters, focused on deals and ease
Variety & Novelty Seekers, driven by joy and bonding
Simplifiers, looking to streamline pet care
I created journey maps to highlight gaps in the pet parent experience and identify where our brands were and weren’t meeting their needs.
We designed wireframes and prototypes to explore concepts like this one guiding new dog owners from adoption to their next steps and answering the critical “What’s next?” question.
Over two years at Mars, we launched six companies, built design teams, go-to-market strategies and key partnerships, and also drove traffic and improved performance across our existing brands.
Here are three of my favorites lessons:
Achieve early alignment with leadership, engineers, and key stakeholders to clearly define the problem.
Build transparently and set expectations upfront to foster trust and collaboration
Engage experts frequently—from internal teams to external clients and users—and cultivate their support for your success.
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