Testimonials

"I’m already loving this presentation have decided THIS is my favourite conference presentation ever. So much respect."

- Michelle Balge, Audience member, 2022

"I loved the way you framed stakeholders bringing solutions as "nails", but more importantly, the way you put (some of) the honus on UX/Design to stop bringing our hammers really resonated. I have felt and seen similar eagerness and excitement that I heard in your contract tracing example. It is an easy trap to get swept up in the moment and a desire to be the one to solve the problem, and as you noted we're not always ready or able to stop the momentum or at the very least pump the brakes. 

Thank you for sharing, so much of this resonated with my own goals for leading my team and our struggles managing stakeholders."

- Jeremy Abrahams , Manager of User Experience, 2022

"I attended Roxi's talk at the FITC spotlight UX conference. I was inspired by the way it was personal, interesting, and filled with examples that make you think about the larger context and impacts of equitable design. I now look at design projects from a different perspective. For instance, edge cases are always talked about but they are never presented as actual people, and depending on the product, looking at users as stats can be dangerous."
- Anne Liu, Senior Product Designer, 2022

"Roxi’s transparency and eloquence during her presentation was a breath of fresh air. Her thoughtfulness in presenting pertinent information and answering questions proved to me that she not only is able to deliver but she LIVES what she offers.”

- Rebekah Gordon,Vice President  of UX Design & Strategy at JP Morgan Chase, 2022

"Thank you for articulating things I believe and how I think in my design process but have not had the ability to say so eloquently."

- JJ Cloutier, Audience member, 2022

"It has definitely changed my outlook on the world and design forever."

- Student, 2021

"...this has showed me that designing does not have to result in an actual product, the act of designing begins with the initial—and continuous—thinking process itself. And this is where I could leverage my own thinking skills in the design world."

 - Student, 2021

"I know now that the best design is not the most unique or different from other designs. The best design is the one that is the most effective. It is impossible to create an effective solution without understanding the problem completely. Every detail needs to be taken into consideration. The end-user, feasibility, usability, functionality, and of course, its efficiency. Sometimes the first solution that I come up with may not be the right one."

- Student, 2021

"The best part was when all three of us realized that the problem we wanted to solve was defined by us and not given to us as an assignment. The moment we knew that the solution we designed was solving a different problem from the one we framed initially, we immediately went back and reworked our initial problem statement. Asking the right question means that we're halfway near a solution. A definite "AHA!" moment for me."

- Student, 2021

Thank you... for teaching me the right way to solve a problem - it feels good. I have so much to do to become a better systems designer and I find that really exciting!

- Student, 2021

Roxi and I worked together on one of the most exciting initiatives I've been involved in at Spotify. Our goal was to create a product development model for machine learning projects in Spotify's commerce platform. Roxi had already produced high quality customer intake models for our commerce platform and I was recommended by senior leadership to consult Roxi to achieve this goal. Roxi helped me define and communicate the model to stakeholders by asking all the right questions. She helped me iterate and eventually present the complex machine learning development model in a clear and comprehensible manner.

Her skills in designing these operational frameworks and articulating roles and processes played a crucial role in our project's organisation and success. Roxi's contribution is expected to yield substantial value, particularly in the payment optimisation domain, as our Machine Learning projects evolve. In the coming years, we expect these machine learning systems to help Spotify retain millions of subscribers and onboard millions more. I confidently recommend her for roles that leverage her expertise in finding clarity in complexity – any organisation will benefit from her contribution.

- Stephen Dooley, Engineering Manager, 2024

Roxi working with you was one of the highlights of the time I spent on the "platformize revenue enablers" bet at Spotify. I found that you were so passionate and eager to learn - highly contageous qualities and was amazed at how quickly you onboarded as a new employee on a very complex domain and started delivering value. It is rare to work with someone so proactive and talented. I learnt a lot from you!

 - Lehka Muraleedharan, Senior Engineer, 2024

I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Roxi at Spotify. We collaborated on a strategic and company-wide initiative aimed at enhancing our processes to raise awareness of our capabilities among customers. Roxi played a crucial role in improving collaboration, transparency, and prioritization across teams in different product areas.

Her structured and innovative approaches were instrumental in moving us forward. Roxi conducted user interviews with customers and stakeholders, facilitating a comprehensive diagnosis of current challenges. The retros and design sprints she led were particularly impactful, resulting in the formation of essential working groups to address these challenges. I find her incorporation of core design principles into our sessions especially commendable.

Roxi's system design approach significantly streamlined the gating process, fostering a more cohesive operation. Notable contributions, such as the Figma Flows of the Operating Model, and the workshops she hosted, showcase her proactive approach and ownership of tasks.

Roxi's superpower lies in reviewing and understanding end-to-end interactions between us and our customers. In the implementation of the new process, her contributions to creating the full end-to-end journey and conducting continuous interview sessions with customers and involved teams were invaluable. This ensured a thorough understanding of the impact and identified opportunities for continuous improvement moving forward.

I eagerly anticipate the opportunity to work with Roxi again, as her dedication and collaborative spirit are truly commendable.

- Dejan Krstic , Group Product Manager at Spotify, 2023

Roxi is a visionary leader and a pro at delivering innovative solutions. As a consulting design strategist, she optimized our startup idea, inspired us to passionately move forward and gave us the tools to bring our idea to life. Without Roxi and her focused yet open mind, our team would have been stuck on the same challenge unable to move forward. Professional and to the point, I have witnessed Roxi navigate complexity, turning ideas into concepts, and concepts into real-world success stories. I look forward to working with her again in the near future! 

- Samantha Davies, Environmental Educator, Social Entrepreneur , 2019

I can always count on Roxi to lead us fearlessly through challenges and roadblocks. When my business partner and I find ourselves stuck or going in circles, Roxi knows just the right questions to ask in order to guide us to where we need to be. She matches our business goals with our personal goals and devises a tactical plan with us to achieve them. Her unique combination of expertise in design, research, and strategy continues to be extremely valuable at every stage of growing our business. 

- Salman Shakeel, Front-end Developer at Empire Life, Social Entrepreneur, 2019

Roxi is a superstar because she can guide you on almost anything. Roxi was one of the mentors for this year’s Global Service Jam ‘Toronto Jam for Good’. She is a holistic contributor since she brings the best of design and business together, which she was able to demonstrate both through her talk on design-led problem solving and her mentorship support.

I found her mentoring approach empowering – she listens and tries to understand a team’s thought process before giving feedback. Her feedback style incorporates prompts so that the team can think for themselves and are not fed direct information.

Besides mentoring on the actual content, she also helped my team story tell and pitch our idea in an impactful way. I had a great experience working with her as a mentor and any group would be privileged to have her guide them.

- Apoorva Mittal, Senior Associate at Capital One, 2019

It was a huge pleasure and enormous privilege to get to work with Roxi during our time together at Shopify. From a hackathon project on strategic foresight to hatching plans for more strategic impact in the financial services space, I learned an absolute ton from Roxi during that time about vision, strategy, empathy, and giving import to all aspects of the customer experience. There are still projects ongoing to this day to streamline and improve support tools as a result of Roxi's service design efforts - this is true impact and I would recommend to anyone the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from Roxi as I hope to do myself again in the future!

Jeremy Hedges, UX Researcher at Stripe, 2022

Roxi has been a valuable addition to our design team and the design community at RBC Digital. Her passion for research and openness to educate designers, developers, product owners, etc, on the value of research and how it can impact business decisions has had a profound impact on our Journey Team. This can be seen when she presents her findings during our sprint reviews. She breaks down her synthesis in an easily consumable way by telling a compelling story, selling the narrative, persuading audiences with actionable next steps, so that stakeholders have a clear understanding of our findings.

 Jeffrey Madlanbayan, Director of Digital Product Design at RBC,2019

Before working with Roxi, I was feeling stuck and uninspired. She helped me tell a powerful story to present myself, boosted my confidence and got me excited about my own potential. She helped me realise how my experiences were actually my success stories, beaming with impressive accomplishments. I realized that they were worth highlighting and celebrating, not only to potential employers / clients but also to myself. I started to feel like clients or employers would be lucky to have me. Working with Roxi in just a few short sessions accomplished so much more than I had imagined.

- Zora Trocme, Freelance Service Designer, 2024

Roxi is a superstar because she can guide you on almost anything. Roxi was one of the mentors for this year’s Global Service Jam ‘Toronto Jam for Good’. She is a holistic contributor since she brings the best of design and business together, which she was able to demonstrate both through her talk on design-led problem solving and her mentorship support.

I found her mentoring approach empowering – she listens and tries to understand a team’s thought process before giving feedback. Her feedback style incorporates prompts so that the team can think for themselves and are not fed direct information.

Besides mentoring on the actual content, she also helped my team story tell and pitch our idea in an impactful way. I had a great experience working with her as a mentor and any group would be privileged to have her guide them.

- Apoorva Mittal, Senior Associate at Capital One, 2019

Roxi has been a valuable addition to our design team and the design community at RBC Digital. Her passion for research and openness to educate designers, developers, product owners, etc, on the value of research and how it can impact business decisions has had a profound impact on our Journey Team. This can be seen when she presents her findings during our sprint reviews. She breaks down her synthesis in an easily consumable way by telling a compelling story, selling the narrative, persuading audiences with actionable next steps, so that stakeholders have a clear understanding of our findings. 

- Jeffrey Madlanbayan, Product Design Lead at RBC Digital, 2019

Roxi is a visionary leader and a pro at delivering innovative solutions. As a consulting design strategist, she optimized our startup idea, inspired us to passionately move forward and gave us the tools to bring our idea to life. Without Roxi and her focused yet open mind, our team would have been stuck on the same challenge unable to move forward. Professional and to the point, I have witnessed Roxi navigate complexity, turning ideas into concepts, and concepts into real-world success stories. I look forward to working with her again in the near future! 

- Samantha Davies, Environmental Educator, Social Entrepreneur , 2019

I can always count on Roxi to lead us fearlessly through challenges and roadblocks. When my business partner and I find ourselves stuck or going in circles, Roxi knows just the right questions to ask in order to guide us to where we need to be. She matches our business goals with our personal goals and devises a tactical plan with us to achieve them. Her unique combination of expertise in design, research, and strategy continues to be extremely valuable at every stage of growing our business. 

- Salman Shakeel, Front-end Developer at Empire Life, 2019

Roxanne was highly accommodating in mentoring me - a total stranger who reached out to her on Twitter. I must say, It's common to come across mentors who are experts in their fields. However, it is rare to come across mentors that are empathetic and take an extra mile in uncovering your blind spots to empower you.

These are her few words that have really stuck with me:
"Always acknowledge your own bias first before approaching a problem"
"Not every problem needs a digital solution"

If Roxanne is your teacher/mentor, consider yourself lucky!

You are in good hands.
- Rehan Vasi, Product Designer & Strategist , 2018

Roxi is a celebrated figure amongst the team at RBC Digital. Not only is she a passionate design researcher but also an exceptional mentor. I learned and grew so much through her mentorship during the summer of 2019 as a co-op student. Roxi is able to stay on top of her work and take the time out of her capacity to teach and lead by example. She can paint a picture of what is possible in my mind and allow me to build confidence as a junior designer to initiate on work that may seem daunting at first. She is sincere and honest, making her more than just a co-worker but a friend of mine where I feel comfortable sharing my feelings and thoughts. Any student or junior would be lucky to have Roxi as their teacher as I would have not been able to get the most of my co-op experience without her. She is one of the reasons I would come back to RBC Digital and start a career as I know there’s someone amazing that I can trust and learn so much from.

- Jaywhy Kim, Founder at Kinspeople, 2018