About

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Hi, I’m Therese.

Over the past eight years, my mission has been to improve how people live and work with (and without) technology.

I’m currently based in the Ithaca, NY area, but I was born in Boston, MA, and raised in Jersey City, NJ. My mother immigrated from the Philippines, and moved thousands of miles from home for the opportunity to be a nurse in America. My American father is a passionate problem solver and pharmaceutical researcher.

Much to their chagrin, I didn’t catch the “medicine” bug, but I am still inspired by the same deep values as they are: to find opportunities and solve problems that prevent people from living and working to their fullest potential.

Education & Certifications

Cornell University
BS, Information Science

University of Hawaiʻi
Master, Business Administration

Nielsen Norman Group
UX Master Certification

Since 2016, as a Senior UX Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group, my research on human behavior and motivation has informed articles, videos, and reports which are referenced globally by other UX professionals. It also informs the UX Certification courses and workshops that I facilitate around the world.

My consulting work spans a range of types of clients: small companies and large corporations alike from both the public and private sectors, including (but not limited to) finance, ecommerce, nonprofit, technology, education, healthcare, and government. This breadth of experience allows me to easily translate great practices across disciplines for truly innovative problem-solving.

Other hats that I wear:

  1. Captain in the US Army Reserve. Currently, I train and mentor future officers of the US Army through Cornell University’s Army ROTC program.
  2. Producer and host of the NN/g UX Podcast, where I interview other thought-leaders in UX about their work and how they tackle UX-related challenges.
  3. Author of Excelsior Post, a hobby publication on a smattering of things I like writing about, including optimizing performance and building positive habits.

Relevant Work Experience

O-3 Captain, US Army Reserve
(2013 – Present)
Previous positions I’ve held: Company Commander and Executive Officer of a detachment of drill sergeants, Chief of Military Police Operations and Assistant Operations Officer for a Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, and Platoon Leader of an MP Company.

Freelance Web Designer, Freelance
(2013 – 2016)
On my “free” time, I took on small business clients and researched, prototyped, built, and maintained websites.

Administrative Professional, Booz Allen Hamilton
(2015)
Under the banner of the Learning and Development team, I focused on instructional design, creating UI prototypes and videos for online self-paced training, and assisted with contract requisition for cyber security training initiatives.

Graduate Assistant, University of Hawaiʻi
(2014 – 2015)
During business school, I also worked part-time for the University of Hawaiʻi system, where I supervised the on-campus graphic design studio and a team of 6 designers. I hired, evaluated, and ran bi-weekly professional development workshops for the team.

Associate UX Consultant, Microsoft Corporation
(2013 – 2014)
As my first UX role out of college, I was tasked with creating wireframes, prototypes, proofs of concept, and style guides for Sharepoint implementations and enterprise Windows 8 applications for various Fortune 500 companies.