Produced in partnership with Austin Design Week, #bossbabesATX is proud to present Designing For Equity on Nov. 8 from 7 to 9 PM at the Elisabet Ney Museum (304 E 44th St.). This multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted panel will touch on designing for gender equity with experts in experience research, human centered design, service design and design strategy. Together, we’ll bring together various points of view on gender aspects of design across different industries, geographies and generations.
— MEET THE PANELISTS —
Nata Abbott, moderator and curator
Abbot leads Service Design Practice at USAA’s Design Studio in Austin, Texas and is volunteering on a programming committee for BossBabesATX. Abbott started her career in international development with UN and EU Development Programs, followed by 15 years of technology, quality and design experience at GE, where she led one of the largest volunteer chapters and community education collaborative efforts. Abbott is passionate about design for social innovation, focusing on the issues of inequity in education, healthcare and employment and developing community efforts to address local issues with local talent and resources.
Sarah Kettles, panelist
Sarah Kettles is a researcher, triathlete, cat-lover, backcountry enthusiast, and activist for women in the workplace. Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Kettles moved to Mansfield, TX in 1996 and then to Austin to study at The University of Texas at Austin in 2009. After earning her Bachelor of Arts in psychology, Kettles moved to San Francisco to pursue a career in user experience research, working for Facebook and Airbnb to help develop processes for bringing user's voices into product development and make it easier for individuals with vision and mobility disabilities to access their apps. Kettles also founded Women @ Airbnb in 2016, an employee resource group for women employed with the company, and found a true passion in providing career support through professional development and giving back to underserved women in the community. She moved back to Austin, TX to be closer to her partner and family in 2017 and now works as a researcher for The Zebra, a local Austin car insurance comparison platform. She spends much of her time training for triathlon and working with local non-profits she cares about, like Texas 4000 for Cancer and #bbatx. She focuses on research, providing input and feedback from the women #bbatx serves and Texas 4000 alums to their respective staff and boards to ultimately help build programming that serves those communities better.
Erin Hauber, panelist
Hauber leads the Human-Centered Design Practice at USAA. She is passionate about scaling design and innovation culture and practices in enterprises; making design and design thinking knowable and actionable by diverse teams. Prior to USAA, Erin led similar efforts at two global technology businesses Atlassian and IBM. Erin began her career working as a designer for social justice organizations, cultural non-profits, and academic institutions. She was an Assistant Professor of Design at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and visiting faculty at North Carolina State University. In 2013, her Master of Design thesis “Extending and Enhancing Meaningful Conversation” explored alternatives to college age women’s social networking experiences from a critical perspective.
Carl Settles, Jr., panelist
Carl Settles Jr. is the Founder/Executive Director of E4 Youth, an Austin, TX based non-profit that bridges the gap between underserved creative youth and creative careers. A former science teacher, Mr. Settles has over 20 years of hands on experience in educational publishing, interactive development and advertising. He embodies the principle that “great educators teach students, not subjects” and has spearheaded the creation of E4 Youth’s professional development, soft skills curriculum and after school enrichment services to fulfill that purpose.
Alexis Du Mond Puchek, panelist
Du Mond Puchek has 13+ years of experience in User Experience, Interaction Design, Front-End Web Development and Design, and Information Architecture. She has experience working in-house with Fortune 500 companies like Visa and PayPal, as well as in advertising and consulting firms with companies like SapientRazorfish and frog. Her background in financial services, enterprise software, systemic thinking, prototyping methods, and cross-platform and responsive interfaces has enabled her to create world-class solutions for IT services, financial services, ecommerce, automotive, spirits, airline, oil and gas, healthcare, cellular, and banking clients. As a Principal Director at frog, Alexis drives concepting and ideation throughout the holistic program lifecycle and leads the Interaction Design discipline in the studio. She restructured and runs the frogTX intern program, and co-leads the global frog Diversity & Inclusion committee. She is a guest lecturer and speaker at the University of Texas at Austin, General Assembly, the Art Institute of Austin, AIGA Creative Space, and other design firms, student organizations and national conferences. She sits on the UXUI Advisory Board for Austin Community College, Graphic Design Advisory Board for Round Rock High School, and was a 2017 Advisory Board member for Austin Design Week. Alexis is a teacher, mentor, and connector. She strives to lift people up and empower designers to produce exemplary, usable, and accessible design.
Nikki DaVaughn, panelist
Nikki DaVaughn is writer, body positivity activist, story teller and all around performer. She is the Founder and Director of the award winning Fat Bottom Cabaret, Texas' only plus size cabaret troupe; and Co-Producer of Midnight Menagerie, a Powerhouse Collective showcasing performers that are queer, of color or of size. She spends her time participating in shenanigry and musing about what it's like to be fat and Black in Texas.
— RSVP —
This event is free and open to the public. Although no RSVP is required, we suggest securing an RSVP for updates on the event and more information regarding the evening's discussion below.
— MEET THE PRODUCERS AND PARTNERS —
About #bossbabesATX, the producers: We exist to build educated and empowered creative communities at the intersections of sisterhood and space. Through event series, showcases and personal/professional development programs, we amplify and connect women-identifying artists, creatives and entrepreneurs. Since we've been in operation, we've provided a platform of visibility, outreach and financial opportunity to 300+ Texas-based women artists, 400+ women-owned businesses and women activists. We were selected by The White House to attend the United State of Women Summit in June 2016 and inducted into the City of Austin Hall of Fame in 2017. This production has been made possible in part by 2018 presenting partners Resplendent Hospitality.
About the Elisabet Ney Museum: In 1892, European portrait sculptress Elisabet Ney (1833-1907) purchased property in Austin, established a studio named Formosa and resumed her career as a noted sculptor of notables. At Formosa, Ney sculpted legendary Texans, among them Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston. Ney also assembled at her American studio portraits of European notables, including King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Otto von Bismarck, Arthur Schopenhauer and Jacob Grimm rendered from life as a young artist in Europe. At the turn of the 19th century, Elisabet Ney’s studio became a gathering place for influential Texans drawn to “Miss Ney” and to the stimulating discussions of politics, art and philosophy that took place there. Following Ney’s death in 1907, her friends preserved the studio and its contents as the Elisabet Ney Museum and established the Texas Fine Arts Association dedicated to her memory.
About Austin Design Week: Austin Design Week celebrates Austin's creative economy through a week of workshops, talks, studio tours and events. For its second year, ADW invited the community to propose and showcase the best in visual, interactive, product, industrial, architectural and civic design.