Advertise on podcast: Working in UX Design

Sigit is a Lead Product Designer with 17+ years of experience at companies like TripAdvisor, Shopify, Expedia/Vrbo, and DBS Bank. Based in Singapore, he combines deep craft expertise with people leadership and is known for his direct, no-nonsense communication style. He also writes the "Unlearn UX" newsletter and authored Forever an Impostor. Hear us cover: As leaders we're taught to effectively manage up and around, but much of it also effectively managing down Your team = your asset, if you care for them, they take care of the business Compassionate = genuinely caring about positive intent, practicing radical candor, be "with" them in good and bad, understand motivations

Ana Lei is driven by the dynamic intersection of finance and technology. This fascination fuelled her career pivot from private banking into tech. She believes the world can be more equitable if complex financial systems are demystified through technology. A seasoned Lead Product Manager, Ana most recently played a pivotal role in Grab’s super-app journey, contributing to the early launch of GrabPay and the regional expansion of GrabFood across Southeast Asia. She led multiple products that supported millions of merchants with accurate and timely payments. Ana is currently pursuing her Master’s in FinTech at NYU Stern, where she explores how emerging technologies are shaping the future of financial products. She also mentors startups, product managers, and aspiring professionals building careers in tech. Hear us cover: Transitioning from banking to product management How products were launched in the early days (2017+) vs. today to power a super app Pivots from 0 to 1 while building at Grab and expanding regionally The role of AI in modern product management

With 10+ years of experience working in New York City, San Francisco, China, Singapore, and now Australia, Jay Demetillo has built an impressive resume of experience and creating impact from 0 to 1. Jay has designed for Twitter, Pinterest, Yahoo, and Grab. Jay was an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts in San Francisco and has spoken/lectured in China for ACG. He’s worked on notable projects like the Bay Lights, Gaspar Brasserie, San Francisco’s Park System SFPark, GrabFood, and Grab AudioProtect. Jay is passionate about building products and designs that are inclusive, having empathy for your users, and challenging your biases. Currently, he's at Canva where he led and launched Canva Sheets this year. Hear us cover: The designer as a strategic partner Developing "Good taste" Gen AI's impact on the future of design Building confidence and protecting yourself from burnout

Tara Hirebet is a seasoned product development and research leader with 18+ years experience working with big tech (Google), startups (Spotify) and super apps (GoJek, Swiggy, Rappi), creative agencies (RGA, TBWA), and government—delivering across the full E2E lifecycle. She builds things that don't exist yet— products, teams, offices and approaches —wherever the highest-stakes, messiest challenges live. Her strength lies in connecting systems thinking with user insight, then turning that into scalable solutions that unlock new market share, revive stuck products, or define what's next. Tara believes in seeing users and products as systems. Systems are much harder to abandon. Tara has led multinational teams to address complex challenges, from combating rideshare fraud to launching and scaling products in mass markets like Southeast Asia and Latin America. A recognized thought leader, Tara has spoken at global events such as TEDx Singapore and SXSW and has been featured in leading publications including The Economist Intelligence Unit and The Business Times. Tara is currently the Deputy Director of Research at GovTech and prior to that was engaged in fractional advisory roles in female health, neurodiversity, and Gen Z research. On the side, she is developing an Asia-America animation project with an ex-Pixar animator. Hear us cover: How Google maps and search are designed from systems Applying systems thinking for sustainability From hype cycle to preservation transformation Silicon Valley vs South-East Asia product building mindset Getting a Product Design Role in the USA

Sherizan Sheikh is a designer and AI builder. He leads design at botim (MENA’s fastest-growing app), builds solo projects like Nasma.ai, a spiritual AI habit tracker, Getglocal.ai, AI localisation tool and runs Detach.to for designers who love AI. When he’s not in Figma or Cursor, he’s rallying builders at JFBI, a vibecoding community in UAE. Hear us cover: Why vibe code is a massive opportunity for product professionals Deciding what to build Getting started with tools Launch and market to PMF Reiterating as a solo builder UX Career pathways

Jocelyn is a product and design leader with 14 years of experience in building strong teams and creating impact for consumers and businesses. She helps teams achieve strategic excellence across stages and particularly loves the 0-1 stage. She has been the CEO of a Series A breast cancer biotech (acquired in 2019), founded two organizations, including a design firm based in NYC, and has been part of the founding team of two other companies. Her expertise is her ability to translate customer insights into concepts and products. Some careers highlights include being a Senior Product and Design Director at a design care agency in the US, learning a team to design products from healthcare to eldercare, teaching classes at Stanford's design school (d.school), and getting her career started in finance, at the International Finance Corp., World Bank Group based in Nairobi, Kenya. Jocelyn believes that the how matters as much as the what when building products. She is based in Singapore with her family. Hear us cover: What’s an effective product discovery process? The Power of Iteration: Why “Fit” is a Moving Target Setting Up for Research Success in the Age of GenAI Best Practices for Iterative Product Discovery (including localisation) Case Studies: Success Stories of Agile Product Market Fit and AI-Accelerated Discovery

Assyaraf is currently a product design manager at Circles - a Telco SaaS company. With 10 years of experience in digital design, he is passionate about building great products as well as mentoring and growing design teams. Outside of work, Assyaraf enjoys the occasional travelling, discovering new music and supporting his favourite football team, Liverpool FC. Hear us cover: Lessons from transitioning from an individual contributor to a team manager Why choose a career and culture that demands excellence? Scaling design teams in the ASEAN region Reasons for working in a startup vs elsewhere

Jill Quek is a design lead at Automattic. She currently manages a team of product designers, who work remotely from all over the world. Together, they build e-commerce software at scale for more than 3 million stores on WordPress. Hear us cover: Making remote work productive as a leader Managing up and design team visibility while working remote Growing and evolving your career as an IC and Manager Preparing a portfolio and profile for an international company like Automattic

Sabina Fernandez is a UX Content Design Lead whose designs have unlocked millions-worth of spending with diverse-owned suppliers. How? Empathy. She puts herself in the shoes of others to make things better. After launching user experience (UX) content design in Meta's APAC headquarters, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where she continued to design with words and information, making Enterprise software intuitive and user-friendly at Meta. Before that, she crafted content for Yahoo, Audi, and Conde Nast Traveller. Hear us cover: - Bridging the talent gap in content and product design - Why does it pay to be curious and courageous at work? - How is AI changing the work in content and product design? - Language and localisation competencies in global projects

Winnie Chong has spent 17 years bridging creativity and commerce in design, advertising, and interactive media across the APAC region. She’s worked with some of the biggest names, from VMLY&R, a global digital ad agency, to SPH, where she played a key role in transforming Singapore’s largest media company from traditional publishing to the digital economy. Today, she leads User Experience at Bank of New York and is based in Singapore. Winnie’s passion is understanding what people truly want, whether it’s clients, customers or users, and making sure the experiences she designs are not only functional but also loved. She believes great design starts with listening—even when it means unlearning what you thought you knew. It’s about sparking curiosity, igniting imagination, and bringing a little wonder into people’s lives. Hear us cover: Barriers to adopting new technologies Investor and evangelism mindset for designers The potential of blockchain and its associated projects Why curiosity has a high correlation to one's career trajectory?

Jonathan Yap is a design leader and community advocate exploring the evolving identity of design in Southeast Asia. Through Design Pay Asia, he dives beyond surface-level salary data to uncover deeper insights about career growth, education pathways, and the changing value of design in the region. With 15 years of experience across WeWork and Visa, and currently leading design standards at a Singapore bank, Jonathan brings a unique perspective on how design roles are transforming alongside technological advancement. His work combines quantitative insights with nuanced understanding of cultural and educational shifts in the design industry. As someone deeply invested in nurturing future design talent, he regularly speaks about the intersection of design education, industry needs, and regional identity in Southeast Asia's growing tech ecosystem. Hear us cover: Preview of Design Pay 2025 Report Salaries between men and women Where are the UX hotspots in South-East Asia? How design education is shifting and what that means for future talents The perception vs reality of design value in our region Continuous learning as a product and design talent

With over a decade in design, Yin has done everything from print and branding to working with startups, leading event creatives, and managing an indie band’s branding. After 5 years in consulting, where she worked across different industries and regions, she now lead the design and product teams at Naluri, pulling all that experience together to create impactful digital products.   Hear us cover: Building a regional product with global ambitions from Malaysia Evolving Naluri's Brand and Design Language Designing around legacy systems Insights building and designing for HealthTech Consulting at McKinsey vs working In-house

Kicking off his career through hackathons, Isaac Lee quickly transitioned from payments into wealthtech. With a passion for solving problems at scale, he's revamped wealthtech apps, overhauled customer service workflows, and automated everything from onboarding to exclusive investor products. Now, he’s discovering just how far technology can elevate wealth management as a senior product manager at Endowus.   Hear us cover: Solving the issue of both online and offline experience in wealth management Cultural adaptation versus thought leadership, GTM for different markets Product Innovation at a growth stage company Building a career in FinTech

Shery is a design strategist with a flair for unconventional thinking and excels at tackling complex problems in creative ways. After nearly a decade in New Zealand, this Singaporean returnee has built a solid track record across Aviation, Education, Digital Consulting, FinTech, and more. As a cheeseboard layout expert, amateur wine-enthusiast and lazy food lover, she set up the Innovation Design Club as a support group for wayward designers like herself. Now part of the care Innovation team at SC Ventures, she leverages her talent for connecting the dots to drive ecosystem considerate thinking and achieve meaningful growth.   A strong believer in outcome-driven collaboration, Shery is passionate about reinforcing future-proof strategies through people-first approaches. With deep experience in service and product design, she’s led impactful initiatives in digital transformation, customer experience, and partnerships across diverse industries.   Hear us cover: - Skillsets of an Innovation Designer (or Consultant) - Building a community like Innovation Design Club - Consulting vs In-house Design Team - Innovation theatre in enterprises - Sustainability practices

Adela is Director of Product Design and User Insights teams at Zalora, working across various SEA markets. She has been at the forefront of designing user friendly and intentional products, services and experiences. She has been both on client side and consultancy side having worked across continents in Americas, Europe and now in Asia.   Hear us cover: - Service Design in Europe vs Asia - Skillsets of a Service Designer - Projects at Zalora and more that goes beyond UX design - Consulting vs In-house Design Team