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PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

 

Senior UX/UI AI first designer with over 9 years of experience, specializing in transforming complex functional and business requirements into intuitive, AI-enabled digital experiences. AI has given me a chance and power to push the boundaries and go beyond in my design and development workflow.

I solve problems for businesses by designing and building experiences with AI. 

I apply design theory with industry best practices to automate business process and create a great digital product. 

Expert in leading the design and development of user-centered solutions grounded in Universal Design (UX/UD) principles, establishing scaleable design systems, style guides, and component libraries, ensuring Section 508 and WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility.

Possesses strong systems thinking skills with a technical mindset to user problems, a proven ability to champion usability, conduct comprehensive user research, ideation, testing, and collaborate effectively with product owners, engineers, and diverse non-technical stakeholders in fast-paced Agile environments to drive mission success and create engaging digital tools.

 

    •    9+ years of experience in UX/Product design and development roles

    •    Experienced with Figma, Adobe CS, Sketch, Axure, Balsamiq, InVision, Google AI Studio, Cursor, Gemini

    •    Strong presentation, communication, and ideation skills

    •    Self starter and problem solver, but able to ask for help when needed

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EXPERIENCE

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Leidos

Baltimore, MD

User Experience Specialist

September 2022 – Present

Led the design team in transforming our design system and development environment into an AI first framework, accelerating design workflows and improving clarity and accessibility across the mySSA product.

Collaborated with the design system team to build a robust library of design assets, style guides, and reusable components. Leveraged AI-driven design tools to produce developer-ready designs and provided guidance to developers and testers on adopting AI-first design practices within our development process.

Led the application of advanced Universal Design (UX/UD) and accessibility principles to enhance public- facing web applications within the MySSA (Social Security Administration) ecosystem, supporting seven major platforms relevant to federal IT portfolio management.

Rapidly designed and developed an urgent solution application leveraging AI, guiding the entire project from initial concept, wireframes, and prototypes to successful delivery and deployment, demonstrating innovative use of AI-driven design tools.

Streamlined critical user journeys and navigation for an application ecosystem serving over 80,000 users, improving clarity and efficiency.

Upgraded the agency's primary digital portal to meet WCAG 2.1 AA and actively implementing 2.2 AA and Section 508 accessibility standards, significantly enhancing usability and ensuring broad, inclusive content reach while maintaining secure interaction flows.

Collaborated closely with Product Owners, Developers, and diverse stakeholders, including non-technical experts, in Agile environments to translate complex technical insights into detailed visual and functional requirements, ensuring high-quality implementation and facilitating seamless feature deployment and content strategy.

Designed data-driven, user-friendly low- to high-fidelity wireframes, mockups, and interactive prototypes for responsive web and mobile applications using Figma (leveraging AI advanced features for structured components) and Axure RP, guiding designs from conception to dev-ready specifications and design assets.

 

Peraton

Baltimore, MD

User Experience Specialist

March 2022 – September 2022

Contributed to the design and enhancement of public-facing web applications for MySSA, emphasizing Universal Design (UX/UD), user-centered principles, elegant visual presentation, and strict adherence to security protocols and platform conventions within a federal government context.

Led and actively participated in Agile sprints and product discovery phases, creating rapid prototypes to visualize and validate user flows and content structures for both web and mobile interfaces using Figma and Axure RP.

Conducted comprehensive user research and customer experience activities, including developing user personas and journey mapping to inform data-driven design decisions and compelling content narratives.

Collaborated effectively with stakeholders and engineering teams to gather crucial insights, aiding in the development of intuitive and visually appealing interactive solutions ensuring technical feasibility.

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Blen Inc

Washington DC

Senior UX/UI Designer

September 2016 – March 2022

Served as the Senior UX/UI Designer, Researcher, and Strategist, leading the UX UI and visual design direction and strategy for diverse B2B and B2C projects across SaaS, E-commerce, Health Care, Marketing, Finance, Banking, and Government sectors, often addressing novel problem spaces.

Partnered with Marketing, Sales, and Engineering teams to establish cohesive visual language, consistent brand experiences, and design standards, optimizing content branding and user engagement for multiple business lines and contributing to saleable design systems.

Managed all stages of the design and development life cycle, from user research and ideation to intuitive user flow development, wire-framing, high-fidelity UI, and interactive prototype design for responsive web and mobile applications, ensuring detailed, polished visual design and thoughtful execution.

 

Developed innovative product solutions that enhanced user engagement, increased sales, and met

stringent brand and accessibility standards, focusing on elegant and intuitive user interfaces and

consistent craft. Utilized industry-standard tools such as Figma, and Sketch to create low- and high-fidelity wireframes, mobile app, and web application designs, demonstrating comprehensive visual design proficiency and knowledge of platform conventions.

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Baro Technologies

Product Designer

Sept, 2013- Aug, 2016

Silver Spring MD​

Researching, Designing, Updating and maintaining Web and App applications to the best of company goals and user experience. worked on a variety of products. Designing and building user experience aligning with business goals advocated users in meetings the business goals with development and marketing strategies. Wireframing, Prototyping using standard tools like Figma, Invision and Sketch.

Created annotated visual artifacts to show ways to improve user experience. Researching, including creating user persona, User empathy map, User journey map, Low and high fidelity wireframing, creating mock-ups, user interviews, interactive prototypes and user testing. Created detailed business and product requirements based on stakeholder and user interviews. Delivered high quality design and development works as per the business standard.

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Blen Corp

Graphic Designer 

Jan, 2011 - Dec, 2012

Washington, DC

As a graphic designer I was responsible to translating client needs and branding strategies into design strategies. Creating concepts that speaks to the brand identity and company goals. Designing visual concepts using graphic design tools. Selecting The visual design elements including the logo, color, typography, font, image, layouts and other design elements to communicate creative concepts.  ​

Collaborated with multiple brands to help them meet conceptual and visual business goals with a particular focus on meeting the needs of both project stakeholders and end users. Offering consultation services in Graphic Design, Web Design, and Visual Design. Collaborating with art directors, branding experts, front end developers, marketing, content and other professionals to create media.

Working with the team of designers in helping with customers to establish better work space of the company and customer needs towards creating brand, print, and web materials.

 

Five Art Studios

Art Director

Jun, 2008 - Dec, 2010

Headed the creative team, brainstorming sessions and spearheading the initial concepts of a project. Guided the professionals with the final say on what goes to the client and make important upper-level managerial and creative direction decisions.

Organizing art related events including exhibitions, workshops and residencies. Leading a team of artists, to determine which artistic elements to use, review and approve artistic concepts to determine how to best represent the creative industry.

Provided creative direction for a team of staff, artists, designers, managed personal and staff meetings, facilitated exhibitions, discussions and other related events and creating relationships between the artist and customers to establish better communication among the art community.

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EDUCATION

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Lancaster University, UK | MA, Culture Media and Society | 2015-2016

Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia | MA, African Studies | 2012-2014

Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia | BA, Fine Arts, Painting | 2000-2004

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Certificates in User Experience TechDegree from the Treehouse,

Creating great user experience for web and mobile apps from University of Leeds Via Futurelearn, Digital skills: User Experience from Accenture, Learn to Code from university of Leeds via Futurelearn.

 

CLEARANCE

Public Trust

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SKILLS

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Design and Prototyping Tools: Figma, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator), Axure RP, Adobe XD, Sketch, InVision, Framer, Miro, FigJam, Google AI Studio, Cursor, Adobe Firefly, ChatGPT, Gemini, Stitch, Canva.

 

Product Design: Universal Design (UX/UD), User-Centered Design, Visual Design, Responsive Design, Mobile App Design, Front-End Design, Wireframing (low- to high-fidelity), Mockups, Prototyping, Interaction Design, Layout Design, Modular Design Systems, Component Libraries, Design Standards, Style Guides, Pattern Libraries, Information Architecture, User Flows & Journey Mapping, Accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA, U. S. Section 508 Compliance), Data Visualization, Content Design, Dev Handoff (Specs; Assets),  Procurement Workflows, Government/Federal Environments, Federal Compliance, Inclusive Design, Systems Thinking.

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User Research & Strategy: User Research (qualitative & quantitative), Usability Testing, Stakeholder Interviews, Customer Experience, User Personas, Empathy; User Advocacy, Data Analysis.

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Core Competencies: UX/UI Leadership, Project Ownership, Detail-Oriented,  Communication; Storytelling, Presentation Skills, Cross-functional Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Time Management, Analytical Skills, Problem Solving, Agile Methodologies, Product Vision Champion, Technical Fluency, Adaptability, Establishing Best Practices, Continuous Learning, Leadership Alignment, Technology, Evaluation, Integration, Collaboration with Stakeholders

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REFERENCE

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Available Upon request

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