When we appreciate people’s artwork or performance, it’s common to say, “They’re so talented.” What defines talent? Is it really talent that makes them so good at what they do?

This must mean that we cannot achieve greatness in a skill or task if we aren’t talented. Several people know and practice sports, dance, instruments, and more. However, it is only a select few that will achieve greatness.

How can greatness be achieved without talent playing a role?

I recently had the opportunity of facilitating a virtual design workshop for the SheHacks Hackathon. Running virtual design workshops are distinctively different from in-person. There’s a lack of insight into energy levels, what participants may be struggling with, and visual cues.

The needs and constraints:

• Duration: 1 hour
• 100+ participants
• I won’t be able to see any of the participants
• Hopin(webinar tool) doesn’t have breakout rooms
• Interactive workshop and different from a generic design thinking workshop

Since the pandemic, virtual workshops are something I’d have to do from time to time at work. However, leading a workshop with over 100 participants, where I’m unable…

I was trying to design the perfect wallet for my friend. What makes a product perfect is the way it meets the user’s needs. The first step was to understand those needs, evaluate if their current wallet is meeting it, what would make them purchase a new wallet over their current one and why.

I began by creating an outline of questions to ask my friend, as I went through the user interview writing notes I was cautious to pay attention to visual and verbal cues. For instance, emphasis was placed on certain key words that I underlined (e.g. …

This is a story of how I along with a team of talented women tackled an impossible challenge of representing diversity accurately in media and in a social environment. We presented the idea using an adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, “The Ugly Duckling”.

The Ugly Truth

Today in a world where mass media consumption thrives, representation and portrayal of cultural diversity on screens is mirrored inaccurately. The portrayals in media affect children most in how they see themselves and others. Although progress has been made, many of these issues continue to persist. …

This article explains how I tackled the challenge of incorporating an effective onboarding experience in a consumer-to-consumer platform.

Problem at hand

Products that integrate consumer-to-consumer interaction enjoy a much higher user engagement, which is key in today’s competitive landscape.

Aside from developing the consumer-to-consumer platform, a crucial task is to create an effective onboarding process to welcome new users and teach them the ropes.

The missing piece to the monument

In finding a product that could benefit from a consumer-to-consumer platform, I chose Monument Valley by ustwo games.

Monument Valley is an explorative puzzle-based game with exceptional visuals and music. …

Hackathons are a great way to challenge your thinking, gain perspective and collaborate with people from various backgrounds and perspectives. I decided to take on a challenge with the BikeSpace team at the Civic Tech Hackathon.

The Challenge

Cycling is a popular alternative to driving in the city of Toronto. However, there is a shortage of parking available, specifically safe parking. Cyclists feel neglected due to lack of updates on issues raised with parking.

We decided to tackle the major problems that cyclists encounter with relation to parking in Toronto.

How can we help cyclists find a safe spot to park their…