Product Designer Digital Accessibility Lead
I believe every user has a name, every person has a struggle, and—with conversation, empathy, and action—every problem has a path to a solution.
Listen — Ask Questions — Learn — Adapt
I have a passion for User Equity and Accessibility.
From working in a non-profit to leading the marketing efforts at a healthcare recruiting firm and driving the development of a digital accessibility program within a Fortune 100 company, I’ve had the opportunity to play in various industries, interface with diverse groups of executives, and collaborate with incredible creatives.
As an individual living with low vision; I let my ears and emotions guide me. I’ve learned the importance of leveraging active listening and empathy to fuel my strategy for baking accessibility into the Product Development Lifecycle. These soft skills, combined with my background in design and marketing, drive me to educate others, up-skill cross-functional partners, and advocate for only shipping accessible experiences.
Testimonials
“Rachel has been instrumental in implementing organization-wide accessibility standards, ensuring that our products and services meet the highest levels of inclusivity. She has taken the initiative to educate our entire design team on best practices in accessibility, consistently making herself available to support and guide us through any challenges we face. She has even joined my design team’s weekly critiques to provide feedback early in the design stage.
Her leadership in pioneering new processes, such as accessibility annotations for our designers, has significantly improved our ability to communicate accessibility standards for our devs as they implement code. This forward-thinking approach is just one example of how Rachel continuously pushes for excellence in accessibility within our team.
Working with Rachel has been an absolute pleasure. She is always optimistic, level-headed, and a great communicator. Her approach to problem-solving is incredibly thoughtful, and she brings a wealth of empathy to everything she does. Personally, Rachel has taught me almost everything I know about accessibility, and because of her, I have grown as both a designer and a leader.”
—Mondana Motazedian, Lead Product Design Strategist at American Express
“In the short time working with Rachel and her team, I have been very impressed, I can’t lie. Our product is very complicated, as such it’s generally hard for people to initially get their arms around, but that wasn’t the case here. We were all rather shocked at how quickly the team was able to provide a strong initial design after a brief onboarding. After this experience, I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the Design team.“
—Ann Wendt, Senior Product Manager at American Express
“I've had the pleasure of working with Rachel at Amex for the past 2 years. In this time, Rachel has progressed from an Associate UX Designer to leading our entire org's Accessibility initiative. The level of care and thoughtfulness that goes into Rachel's work is exceptional. She's played a pivotal role in ensuring our designs are up to standard and inclusive of all users, and her knowledge has transformed how our team works in a short period of time. She's always willing to share resources, provide feedback, and jump into designs head on.
I feel lucky to work with Rachel. We've partnered on quite a few projects and her communication and collaboration skills are top notch-- from working with other designers, to product managers and engineers. Overall, she's an empathetic, professional, and intelligent Product Designer who has a very bright future ahead!”
—Sarah Conlon, Senior Product Designer at American Express
“I've seen first-hand Rachel's ability to achieve impressive results for Career Tree Network and our clients. She is creative yet detail orientated. You can give Rachel a project and she'll complete it on time with excellent results. I really enjoyed working with Rachel, plus she is friendly and has a great sense of humor.”
—Brian Weidner, President at Career Tree Network