As someone who has now been practicing UX for over ten years, it no longer comes as a surprise to me when we end up working a little outside of our job description. That’s exactly what happened here!
I was the Assistant Director of Development Research at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. We had a great idea about how to save money hosting philanthropic events, by inviting our supporters to host their own.
It was such a great idea, the CFO was ready to cut us a check. Unfortunately, an unexpected leadership change left this project dead in its tracks. So I moved to San Francisco and sold it again to UC Berkeley, who hired me as a Senior Research Analyst on their Arts + Design Initiative. It also became the cornerstone of my scholarship to California College of the Arts DMBA.