How design bridges worlds: my in-betweenness story

Born and raised in east Asia, I went to NYC to study design. Little did I know, I was thrown into an unfamiliar world that completely had me shuttered and rebuilt! Looking back, I’ve been in NYC for 10 years! I turned from a shy, super polite asian girl into a confident working professional at Google NYC for 7 years, even led teams, products, people – it has been quite a transformative journey!

What did I learn? As a designer, I see how empathy enabled me to bridge the differences between cultures, how design has blended the wonderfulness of both eastern and western cultures that I can share with the audience who’s eager to find out.

The takeaway for the participants:

• inspiration of how empathic design can shape the world in a better way
• how design can be baked into personal growth
• how different cultures can reconcile and make wonders in designing products
• for anyone long for chasing their dreams, hear example of doing what you love can take you to an incredible place (my before vs. after)

About Leecy

Leecy set foot in design in Motorola, Beijing in 2011. With 12 years in design and 7 years working at Google NYC, her work spread across tangible interfaces in physical space, consumers and large enterprise, complex products that touch billions of users. She architects workflows, translates needs and develops crafted solutions for better life with human-centered principles. Leecy also shares stories about UX career growth, design in large corporations and Asian identity at educational facilities, design conferences internationally. She writes on a social platform with 45K subscribers. Her portfolio was featured by Bestfolios(2019) and ADPlist(2023). In addition, Leecy has expanded her interest in interior design and her apartment was interviewed by Apartment Therapy, one of the most influential interior design platforms in the US.