Brave UX with Brendan Jarvis 🇺🇦

Jennifer Speciale – Designing the Career You Actually Want

Jennifer Speciale helps leaders rewrite the rules of career growth 🚀, redefine executive presence 🧠, and build unapologetic clarity in an uncertain market 🌍—sharing why designing your career is the ultimate act of leadership 🎯.
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Episode Chapters:
00:00 – Why You Are the Prize  01:15 – Welcome and Introduction  03:12 – Living in Italy and Training for a Marathon  06:45 – Discovering Sicilian Roots and the Aeolian Islands  13:25 – Learning from Strong Women in Italian History  16:32 – Coaching Leaders Through Career Crossroads  19:55 – Why "Open-Minded" Job Searches Fail  26:29 – Helping Leaders Find Hidden Career Options  30:11 – Rebranding LinkedIn for Strategic Career Moves  33:24 – What Recruiters Really Look for on LinkedIn  37:02 – Why Job Descriptions Are Designed to Be Vague  42:32 – The Hidden Risks of a Bad Interview  47:19 – Using Flattery Authentically in Networking  51:36 – Flipping Interviews into Conversations  56:47 – Believing You Are the Prize (Without Arrogance)  1:01:13 – How to Stop Over-Apologizing in Interviews  1:03:05 – Closing Reflections and Where to Find Jennifer
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Who is Jennifer Speciale?
Jennifer Speciale is the Founder and Executive Leadership Coach at Speciale Executive Leadership, helping ambitious leaders transition into executive roles and unlock new opportunities 🚀.
She has:
Led executive recruiting for design at Amazon  
Built a global Experience Design team at McKinsey  
Helped leaders at Google, Amazon, and McKinsey land executive roles  
Coached over 100 leaders into executive positions, delivering over half a million dollars in salary growth in 2024 ✨
Through her proven frameworks, she’s changing the way leaders navigate executive transitions.
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Find Jennifer Speciale here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferspeciale/  Website: https://www.jenniferspeciale.com
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
Brendan Jarvis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
The Space InBetween Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/

Dave Hoffer – Empathy, Courage, and the Future of Design

Dave Hoffer shares why design demands empathy 🧠, courage 🛡️, and long-term thinking 🌱—and how amplifying others can transform leadership in uncertain times 🚀.
He explores design’s shifting role in business, the disruptive rise of AI, and why resilience and critique will shape the future of design.
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Episode Chapters
00:00 – Welcome and Introduction04:42 – Dave’s Instinct to Amplify Others Over Himself08:36 – Weathering Layoffs and the Power of Staying the Course12:43 – From Personal Crisis to Mission-Driven Work17:24 – Why Hope and Long-Term Thinking Matter in Design21:24 – Courage, Critique, and Speaking Truth to Power24:20 – Design’s Role in Policy and Sustainability28:17 – Is UX Dead? Navigating the AI Disruption32:35 – Spectral Thinking: Understanding the Human Spectrum37:11 – The Hard Cost of Empathy in Design42:05 – Why Executives Must Experience Real Empathy48:13 – Empathy, Judgment, and Learning from Outliers54:10 – What Research with Outliers Teaches Us58:13 – How Physical Labor (Like Bricklaying) Changes Perspective1:04:09 – Think Like a Gardener, Not an Architect1:07:00 – Why Design’s Work Isn’t Done Yet1:10:54 – Taste, Design Leadership, and Meeting Halfway1:11:57 – Closing Reflections and Where to Find Dave
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Who is Dave Hoffer?
Dave Hoffer is a seasoned design leader and strategist whose career spans product design, digital innovation, and design transformation 🌎.
He has:
Led design teams at Frog Design, PwC, and McKinsey & Company
Grown McKinsey’s global design practice from a handful of designers to hundreds 📈
Brought design strategy into the heart of business and policy change
Advised mission-driven organisations like Safe Kids AI 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦
Advocated for amplifying others and championing empathy and critique as foundations for impactful leadership ✨
Today, Dave advises organisations as an independent consultant, helping them embed human-centered design practices into strategy and transformation initiatives.
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Find Dave Hoffer here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-hoffer/Website: https://www.mpqd.com/
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Subscribe to Brave UX
Like what you heard?🎙️ Subscribe to Brave UX for more conversations with world-class voices in UX, design, and product leadership. Your support helps others discover the show!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/brave-ux-with-brendan-jarvis/id1552607805
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7j2ocni6A00fzgHkj6TtCK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSpaceInBetween
Podbean: https://braveux.podbean.com/
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
Brendan Jarvis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
The Space InBetween Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/

Josephine Wong – Making Meaningful Work

Josephine Wong challenges us to design with intention, build cultures that care, and recognise the quiet power of everyday interactions to create truly meaningful work.
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Episode chapters
00:00 – Welcome and Introduction04:42 – Jo’s Unexpected Start in Advertising09:26 – A Multicultural Upbringing in Hong Kong14:18 – From Melbourne to Apogee: Founding a UX Consultancy21:35 – Building a Life and Business Partnership with Dan Szuc26:04 – Understanding Systems: Politics, Economics, and Research33:50 – The Problem with Feature-Centric Thinking40:44 – Opening Stakeholder Minds Without Judgement49:16 – What Deng Xiaoping Taught Jo About Leadership58:33 – East Meets West: Bridging Philosophical Differences1:06:18 – Make Meaningful Work and the Power of Micro-Interactions1:13:57 – Bringing Human Skills to Kids Through Sparkle Studio1:22:42 – The Contribution We Owe the World
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Who is Josephine Wong?
Josephine Wong is a co-founder and principal at Apogee, a pioneering user experience consultancy founded in 1998 with a vision to bring human-centred design to Hong Kong and the wider region. Over the past 25 years, Apogee has played a significant role in advancing UX across Asia.
She’s also the co-founder of Make Meaningful Work, a studio and learning platform helping people unlock their potential by focusing on meaningful work in environments where they can learn, improve, and thrive together.
If that wasn’t enough, Jo is also the co-founder of UX Hong Kong, an annual learning event that brings together passionate practitioners from across product and service design to explore and celebrate exceptional experience creation.
A committed and influential contributor to our field, Jo has shared her expertise on global platforms including Beat Camp, We Can Do Better, the Reorient podcast, and UXpod.
Her work is deeply informed by her multicultural upbringing and global perspective, allowing her to bridge cultural nuance and inspire designers and researchers around the world.
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Find Josephine here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephine-wong-6801922/X: https://x.com/igiwongApogee: https://www.apogeehk.com/Make Meaningful Work: https://www.makemeaningfulwork.com/UX Hong Kong: https://uxhongkong.com/
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Roberta Dombrowski – Redefining Leadership and Thriving at Work

Roberta Dombrowski invites us to rethink success, tune into our intuition, and lead with intention —sharing how mindfulness, healing, and self-compassion can transform the way we work and live.
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Episode chapters
00:00 – Welcome and Introduction04:25 – Being a Transracial Adoptee and Finding Voice14:11 – The Restless Career Journey and Job-Hopping22:54 – Lessons from Anxiety, Burnout, and Slowing Down32:25 – Mindfulness, Somatic Work, and Coaching Practice42:46 – The Challenges Facing UX Researchers Today50:42 – Systemic vs Individual Burnout58:10 – How to Navigate Red Flags in Hiring1:06:01 – The Role of Intuition and Inner Wisdom1:15:51 – Rediscovering Fun and Joy at Work
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Who is Roberta Dombrowski?
Roberta Dombrowski is a certified leadership coach and experience strategist, dedicated to transforming the way people live, learn, and work.
She is the founder of Learn Mindfully, a coaching and training company she launched in 2022. Since then, Roberta has supported hundreds of leaders from companies such as Adobe, Instacart, ServiceNow, Zapier, and Zoom.
Previously, Roberta was a Research Partner at Maze, where she helped clients maximize the platform’s potential. Before that, she was VP of User Research at User Interviews, where she built and scaled the research function while tackling the meta-challenge of researching researchers.
Roberta is also the author of Consciously Crafting Your Career Path, a self-reflection and career planning workbook designed to help people shape fulfilling and intentional careers. Her insights have been featured on podcasts like Lead the People and BLOC, and at events such as Rosenfeld Media’s Advancing Research conference.
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Find Roberta here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertadombrowski/Company website: https://learnmindfully.co/Personal website: https://robertalearns.com/ 
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Gloria Osardu - Slowing Down to See the System

Gloria Osardu urges researchers to slow down, understand the business, and partner with intention—sharing why empathy, alignment, and asking the right questions are the foundation for research that matters.
Highlights include:
05:02 – How did your parents shape your worldview and curiosity?15:22 – Why is success as a research leader about facilitating others?24:26 – What does “understanding the business” really mean?30:43 – What does “skin in the game” mean for stakeholders?45:24 – How has embracing slowness changed your approach to leadership?
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Who is Gloria Osardu?
Gloria is a Senior Director and Global Head of UX Research, Brand, and Consumer Insights at Yahoo!, where she leads initiatives to deepen Yahoo’s understanding of consumer behaviour, aligning the company’s brand, product, and marketing strategies with these insights.
Before joining Yahoo!, Gloria was Senior Director and Head of UX Research and Insights at Gusto, where she built and led Gusto’s Global Product Experience Research Team, overseeing both research and research operations professionals.
She has also held senior research roles at Amazon Web Services, where she led UX Research Operations and Programs, and at Capital One, where she headed UX Research for their Enterprise AI and ML Platforms.
With extensive commercial experience in customer insights and analytics, Gloria also brings an impressive academic background, holding a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction, a Master of Science in Applied Health Informatics, and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.
A committed contributor to our field, Gloria is a long-standing mentor with the Computing Research Association and has been featured in User Weekly, as well as on podcasts like Black Stories and Saving UX.
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Find Gloria here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gloriaosardu/
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Esther Ahn - Designing for Scale and Building Culture

Esther Ahn reflects on the twists and turns of her creative journey, shares how critique can unlock better design without breaking spirits, and reveals why embracing the oops is essential for building resilient teams and products.
Highlights include:
12:13 – How do you make sense of your career’s twists and turns?28:52 – What does a healthy culture of critique look like?35:24 – What works best when presenting design work to executives?42:19 – Where is the most tension between business goals and user needs?01:06:36 – How is the children’s book Beautiful Oops! relevant to your career?
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Who is Esther Ahn?
Esther is the Director of User Experience for YouTube TV and Primetime Channels on YouTube—a role in which she brings deep expertise in human-centered design and research to enhance the viewing experience across platforms and at scale.
Throughout her career, Esther has pioneered new participatory design methods and conducted global research across the US, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Before YouTube, she was Director of Digital Health UX at Stanford Health Care and a Creative Director at the world-renowned innovation firm Frog Design.
She’s also worked at two other giants of design—IDEO and Smart Design—where she shaped experiences through multidisciplinary practice.
Esther holds a BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in Interaction Design from Carnegie Mellon University.
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Find Esther here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/estherahn/
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Meryl Evans - Progress Over Perfection in Accessibility

Meryl Evans shares why accessibility is everyone’s responsibility, how captions can create connection—not just convenience—and why progress over perfection is the mindset that drives lasting inclusion.
Highlights include:
11:30 – How did publishing your first video in 2018 change everything?
20:28 – Why progress over perfection is essential in accessibility
29:06 – How do you carry the responsibility of being an advocate?
49:34 – What does it take to build a culture of accessibility?
59:15 – Why equitable design matters for dignity and inclusion
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Who is Meryl Evans?
Meryl is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), a sought-after speaker, trainer, and accessibility marketing consultant who has spent over two decades championing inclusive digital experiences.
Named one of LinkedIn’s Top 12 Voices for Accessibility Advocacy, Meryl’s work has been recognised by organisations such as the North Texas Disability Chamber and featured in The Wall Street Journal, MarketingProfs, and The Dallas Morning News.
She’s the author of The Brilliant Outlook Pocketbook and co-author of Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax for Big Sites, and her speaking credits include TEDx, SXSW, and the American Marketing Association.
Beyond her consulting and speaking, Meryl is a passionate volunteer, contributing to the W3C’s Immersive Captions community group and XR Access, helping ensure emerging technologies are accessible to everyone.
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Find Meryl here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meryl/Website: https://meryl.net/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/merylkevans/videos X: https://x.com/merylkevans
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Tammy Everts - How Web Performance Shapes UX

Tammy Everts unpacks why web performance is a fundamental UX issue, how slow websites affect user perceptions and business outcomes, and why designers need to take ownership of performance alongside developers.
Highlights include:
02:14 - How did you come to own uber.com?
15:27 - What does performance have to do with UX?
28:54 - How do you identify the best executive champion for performance?
35:24 - Is measuring the business impact of performance as easy as it sounds?
46:37 - Why aren’t designers more involved in performance?
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Who is Tammy Everts?
Tammy is the Chief Experience Officer at SpeedCurve—a platform that enables organisations to unlock the full potential of their web performance.
In her role, Tammy champions the connection between site speed, user experience, and business success, working closely with customers to deepen their understanding of how people use with their websites.
Tammy's career journey also includes senior UX roles at Soasta and Radware, and over two decades of pioneering research involving EEG headsets, facial action coding, and advanced machine learning.
She is the author of “Time is Money: The Business Value of Web Performance” and a sought-after speaker, having shared her expertise at prominent events like Chrome Dev Summit, Smashing Conference, and Beyond Tellerand.
Tammy also co-chairs the annual performance.now() conference in Amsterdam and co-curates WPO Stats, a valuable resource of web performance case studies.
Find Tammy here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammyeverts/Website: https://tammyeverts.wordpress.com/Mastodon: https://webperf.social/@tammyX: https://x.com/tameverts
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Carla Diana - Human-Centered Robots and the Future of Design

In this episode of Brave UX, host Brendan Jarvis interviews designer, author, and educator Carla Diana, a leader in human-centered product design and technology. Carla is the D Designer-in-Residence and Head of Program at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and works part-time as the Design Advisor at Diligent Robotics.
Join Carla and Brendan as they explore the future of smart technologies, including Carla’s work on humanizing healthcare robots and her project "Mobility Town," which reimagines public transportation in Detroit. Carla also discusses the challenges of designing relatable robots, societal misconceptions about AI, and the ethical implications of technology. The conversation delves into the roles of designers in shaping how people interact with technology innovations like autonomous systems and social robots, urging a thoughtful consideration of technology’s impact on society.
 
Highlights include:
00:00 - Getting to Know Carla Diana
05:31 - The Importance of Critical Engagement
12:01 -  Mobility Town: Reimagining Transportation in Detroit
18:01 - The Social Aspects of Public Transport
24:01 - The Narrative Around Robots
30:01 - Designing Relatable Robots
36:01 - Ethical Implications of Design
42:01 - The Role of AI in Robotics
48:01 - Autonomous Vehicles and Society's Responsibility
55:01 - Reflections on Design Education and Technology
Who is Carla Diana
Carla Diana is a highly influential designer, author, and educator known for her work at the intersection of technology and human-centered product design. She is the founder and designer-in-residence of the Interaction Design Programme at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she leads an innovative exploration into smart objects, immersive environments, and intelligent systems. Carla also serves as a design advisor at Diligent Robotics, shaping healthcare robots to assist workers better. 
Her extensive experience includes roles at Smart Design and Frog Design, where she worked on diverse products, from robots to connected home appliances. Carla authored "Leo, The Maker Prince," the first children’s book about 3D printing, and "My Robot Gets Me," which focused on intuitive design for intelligent technologies. She’s a frequent speaker at prominent events like TEDx SXSW, and her writing has been featured in Fast Company, The New York Times, and Popular Science.
Find Carla Diana Here
Carla Diana on LinkedIn
Cranbrook Academy of Art Website
Diligent Robotics Website
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Kelly Goto - Designing for Emotional Connection

In this episode of Brave UX, Brendan welcomes Kelly Goto, CEO and Founder of gotoresearch and gotomedia. Kelly is a trailblazer in web and UX design with nearly 25 years of experience. She shares her inspiring journey as a fourth-generation Japanese American and discusses her work with major brands like Netflix and Samsung. They delve into the importance of emotional connection in product design, the impact of technology on attention spans, and the evolving methodologies in research, especially in light of generative AI. Kelly also reflects on cultural lessons and the significance of continuous learning in design. Don't miss this insightful conversation packed with valuable perspectives on UX and the intersection of culture and innovation!
 
Highlights include:
00:00 - Introduction
05:30 - Cultural Identity and Heritage
12:00 - Emotional Connection in Product Design
18:45 - Generational Technology Use in Design
25:15 - Insights from Japanese Culture
31:30 - The Role of Generative AI in Research
37:50 - Evolving Client Attitudes Towards Research
43:10 - Continuous Learning in Design
49:00 - Diverse Perspectives in UX
55:30 - Closing Thoughts and Engagement
 
Who is Kelly Goto
Kelly is passionate about helping organizations truly understand and empathize with their customers so they can deliver products and services that are genuinely meaningful. After over 20 years on the digital frontier, Kelly knows user experience (UX) better than most. As a design ethnographer, she focuses on uncovering how people integrate products and services into their daily lives — what those experiences mean to people and how to shape that meaning better.
Kelly heads up gotoresearch, the global leader in research-driven strategy and solutions for digital products and connected experiences. The gotoresearch team dives deep into the customer’s world, translating unspoken wants and needs into UX realities. This enables clients such as Samsung, Hyundai, Sony, Target, Verizon, and Pearson Education to relate with customers in new and innovative ways. Her book, Web Redesign 2.0: Workflow That Works, is an industry classic translated into 22 languages.
Find Kelly Goto Here
Kelly Goto on LinkedIn
Gotoresearch Website
Gotomedia Website
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Brendan Jarvis hosts the Show, and you can find him here:
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