Episode 16 - Creating Your Own Path

Episode 16 - Creating Your Own Path

For our next episode, we have a very special guest, Sadhana Pakala: Sadhana is a New York-based designer and creative project manager passionate about visual storytelling and building brand experiences that feel intentional and human. Her work spans branding, visual identity, and systems that help ideas scale. Coming out of corporate, she's now deep in a career transition — taking the skills she honed in-house and applying it to the freelance world, where she gets to combine all of her passions into something sustainable. About the hosts: Sara Barber is a UX Designer at Arizona State University, specializing in accessibility. With five years of experience crafting intuitive and exciting designs, Sara has experience scaling solutions from startups to service organizations and larger institutions. Sara co-hosts the Designed Minds Podcast and serves on the Out in Tech UIUX chapter leadership team. Sara also loves self-publishing zines and co-founded Bisbee Zine Fest! Moyai Fujimura is a product designer specializing in design systems. Coming from a non-traditional path into design, she values shared learning and vulnerability. As a co-host of the Designed Minds podcast and community organizer, she aims to create spaces where designers can share openly, connect authentically, and grow together.

Episode 15 - How to articulate design decisions and get buy-in

For our next episode, we have a very special guest, Ariella St. Rose. Ariella St. Rose is a Senior Product Designer at TKO, leading design for all enterprise and internal products for the Milan 2026 and LA 2028 Olympic Games. She holds a degree in Communication Studies and Interactive Media from the University of Miami. Ariella has lived in Mexico, Korea, Spain, and Portugal, and loves learning languages, dancing, pilates, doing improv, and checking out new restaurants. Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are Ariella’s own and not reflective of TKO. About the hosts: Sara Barber is a UX Designer at Arizona State University, specializing in accessibility. With five years of experience crafting intuitive and exciting designs, Sara has experience scaling solutions from startups to service organizations and larger institutions. Sara co-hosts the Designed Minds Podcast and serves on the Out in Tech UIUX chapter leadership team. Sara also loves self-publishing zines and co-founded Bisbee Zine Fest! Moyai Fujimura is a product designer specializing in design systems. Coming from a non-traditional path into design, she values shared learning and vulnerability. As a co-host of the Designed Minds podcast and community organizer, she aims to create spaces where designers can share openly, connect authentically, and grow together.

Episode 14 - Growing as a Designer with Hackathons

For our next episode, we have a very special guest, Parys Khazaie: Parys is a UX Designer and Researcher based in Los Angeles with a background in human rights and political science from NYU. They bring a systems-thinking approach to product design, focusing on how thoughtful design can reduce friction between people and the institutions they interact with. Currently, they're working on projects spanning civic tech, ed tech, and AI-powered tools. About the hosts: Sara Barber is a UX Designer at Arizona State University, specializing in accessibility. With five years of experience crafting intuitive and exciting designs, Sara has experience scaling solutions from startups to service organizations and larger institutions. Sara co-hosts the Designed Minds Podcast and serves on the Out in Tech UIUX chapter leadership team. Sara also loves self-publishing zines and co-founded Bisbee Zine Fest! Moyai Fujimura is a product designer specializing in design systems. Coming from a non-traditional path into design, she values shared learning and vulnerability. As a co-host of the Designed Minds podcast and community organizer, she aims to create spaces where designers can share openly, connect authentically, and grow together.

Episode 13 - The Emotional Journey of a Career Change

For our next episode, we have a very special guest, Blake Lemons:Blake Lemons is a product designer with a unique background in animation direction. After 15+ years writing and directing cartoons for Netflix, DreamWorks, and Nickelodeon, he recognized that user-centered design was the core of everything he had done. Now he's in the vulnerable middle of a career transition, applying the skills he used to make people laugh to help them feel capable instead. He's honest about the messy parts: the identity shifts, the beginner moments, the grief of walking away from something you loved, because that's where the real growth happens. About the hosts: Sara Barber is a UX Designer at Arizona State University, specializing in accessibility. With five years of experience crafting intuitive and exciting designs, Sara has experience scaling solutions from startups to service organizations and larger institutions. Sara co-hosts the Designed Minds Podcast and serves on the Out in Tech UIUX chapter leadership team. Sara also loves self-publishing zines and co-founded Bisbee Zine Fest! Moyai Fujimura is a product designer specializing in design systems. Coming from a non-traditional path into design, she values shared learning and vulnerability. As a co-host of the Designed Minds podcast and community organizer, she aims to create spaces where designers can share openly, connect authentically, and grow together.

Episode 12 - Career Nomad

For our next episode, we have a very special guest, Jong Lee:Jong is a freelance product designer and UX designer for the UXR Guild. With a background in journalism, sports radio, education, and management experience, Jong's journey into design has been a long and rewarding one. He considers himself a career nomad, cycling through different careers but one thing always remained the same; he has a love of helping people. Whether it was covering real issues as a journalist, expanding coverage as a sports radio producer, educating our next generation of youth, or mentoring young minds, he always has had a love for providing knowledge to people who want to learn. Jong's mentality is all about taking what you learn and applying it to your career destination. He lives by "No Regrets," both in his personal life and career. About the hosts: Sara Barber is a UX Designer at Arizona State University, specializing in accessibility. With five years of experience crafting intuitive and exciting designs, Sara has experience scaling solutions from startups to service organizations and larger institutions. Sara co-hosts the Designed Minds Podcast and serves on the Out in Tech UIUX chapter leadership team. Sara also loves self-publishing zines and co-founded Bisbee Zine Fest! Moyai Fujimura is a product designer specializing in design systems. Coming from a non-traditional path into design, she values shared learning and vulnerability. As a co-host of the Designed Minds podcast and community organizer, she aims to create spaces where designers can share openly, connect authentically, and grow together.