I’m Vanessa…

a product design lead who designs the moments where people decide a product is worth it: sign-up, onboarding, and now, trusting an AI agent to act on their behalf. At HubSpot, I led design for agentic onboarding that lifted completion from 15% to 25%, and set the patterns other product teams build their own agents on.

I think in systems. I hold a high bar for craft, down to the interaction and visual details, and I build with AI every day: I prototype in Claude Code, use it in design reviews in place of static mocks, and write skills engineers use.

Before HubSpot, I led UX for Rite Aid’s digital refresh and designed through the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s merger. I’ve managed designers and mentored 150+ through Designlab.

When I’m not designing, I travel, watch movies, or spend time with my wife and our two dogs, Dax and Mika.

“The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”— Steve Jobs