My Journey
I wasn't born knowing I'd be a product leader. With a B.S. in Aquatic Biology, I started by contributing to breakthrough research at UC Santa Barbara's Marine Biotech Center, working on abalone protein structures to find a cure for osteoporosis. While we didn't find the cure, we developed accelerated protein matrix modeling techniques that became foundational for future studies.
That experience taught me something invaluable: how to fail gracefully, learn from complex challenges, and transform setbacks into breakthroughs. These principles became the foundation of my product philosophy—combining scientific rigor with strategic vision to solve problems others see as impossible.
What I discovered is that product management is applied scientific method at business scale. My approach is rooted in frameworks I've developed that synthesize the best thinking from jobs-to-be-done methodology, continuous discovery principles, and innovation theory. Whether I'm architecting platform strategies or building organizational frameworks, I start by deeply understanding the problem before prescribing solutions.
Einstein's wisdom guides everything I do: spend most of your time truly understanding what you're solving, and the solution becomes clear. This first-principles approach has enabled me to transform complex organizational challenges into systematic breakthroughs that drive sustainable competitive advantage.
Strategic Product Leadership
First-principles thinking, jobs-to-be-done frameworks, continuous discovery, and market disruption methodology
Master Storytelling
Transforming complex technical visions into compelling narratives that unite stakeholders and drive organizational alignment
Platform Architecture
Designing scalable systems and technical solutions that eliminate operational inefficiencies while maintaining highest standards
Elite Execution
Delivering breakthrough results through rigorous methodology, cross-functional leadership, and relentless focus on business outcomes
Python & Data Analysis
Data modeling, automation scripts, analytics frameworks, and technical product requirements development
SQL & Database Design
Complex queries, data architecture, performance optimization, and business intelligence for product decisions
Strategic Impact Stories
Enterprise Platform Architecture
Led comprehensive platform transformation for global e-commerce infrastructure, implementing ML-powered forecasting systems and automated workflow orchestration. Designed scalable architecture serving millions of users while reducing operational complexity.
"Problems Not Prescriptions" Framework
Architected and implemented organization-wide methodology transformation, shifting product intake from solution-focused to problem-first approach. Created systematic framework that improved development ROI and reduced feature failure rates across multiple teams.
Global Supply Chain Convergence
Designed strategic convergence framework for multi-banner operations, establishing unified sourcing methodology while preserving unique business requirements. Led complex stakeholder alignment across international teams and operational models.
Advanced Feature Architecture
Created comprehensive vision documents and technical specifications for next-generation platform capabilities, including location automation, algorithmic optimization, and intelligent workflow management systems.
Learning Through Failure
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." Every failed experiment taught me something valuable that made the next breakthrough possible.
AI-Powered Recommendation Engine
Launched intelligent recommendation system to personalize user experiences and drive engagement. Expected 25% increase in user retention and 15% boost in key conversion metrics, but initial rollout achieved only 8% adoption rate despite extensive user research and A/B testing.
Overengineered the solution with too many personalization variables. Users found recommendations intrusive rather than helpful. Black-box algorithm created distrust when suggestions seemed irrelevant or biased.
Personalization requires gradual trust-building and user control. Now I prioritize explainable recommendations with clear user controls for customization. Start simple with transparent logic before adding sophistication.
Self-Service Analytics Platform
Built comprehensive business intelligence platform to democratize data access across teams. Despite significant engineering investment and stakeholder enthusiasm, achieved only 35% sustained usage after 6 months, with most teams reverting to spreadsheets and manual reports.
Focused on technical capabilities rather than user workflows. Complex interface required extensive training. Created a powerful tool that was harder to use than existing solutions for most common use cases.
Self-service tools must be simpler than the problems they replace. Now I prioritize progressive disclosure and use case-driven design. Analytics tools should feel like natural extensions of existing workflows, not separate platforms.
Mobile-First Platform Redesign
Led comprehensive mobile redesign to improve user engagement and reduce bounce rates. Despite modern UI/UX design and responsive architecture, mobile conversion rates decreased by 12% and user session times dropped significantly during the first quarter post-launch.
Prioritized visual design over functional usability. Removed features that power users relied on to create cleaner mobile interface. Mobile-first approach ignored the fact that many users needed desktop functionality.
Mobile-first doesn't mean mobile-only. Different user segments have different device preferences for different tasks. Now I design adaptive experiences that optimize for context, not just screen size.
Third-Party API Integration Hub
Designed unified integration platform to connect multiple external services and streamline data flows. Project extended from 4-month timeline to 11 months with significant performance issues and integration failures requiring extensive manual intervention.
Underestimated API inconsistencies and rate limiting across different providers. Built tight coupling between services without adequate error handling. Assumed external APIs would behave consistently.
Integration platforms must be designed for failure, not success. External dependencies are inherently unreliable. Now I prioritize circuit breakers, graceful degradation, and extensive monitoring before building integration features.
Leadership Journey
Senior Product Manager
Amazon
- Owned product strategy for core platform services, including ML-powered forecasting engine that drove 5% YoY revenue increase by improving accuracy of financial and inventory data models
- Drove technical strategy for platform scalability and reliability, leading deep-dive technical evaluations that resulted in $10M cost reduction while ensuring long-term architectural integrity
- Analyzed complex, system-level workflows across internal operational teams, identifying and resolving core data inaccuracies that boosted downstream user satisfaction by 45%
- Managed roadmap for platform improvements enabling other product teams to ship features more efficiently, contributing to 58% QoQ increase in end-user adoption
- Collaborated with finance, operations, and engineering stakeholders to define technical requirements for platforms modeling key revenue and cost drivers within worldwide grocery business
- Secured $4M in engineering resources for strategic platform initiatives by developing compelling product vision and multi-year roadmap focused on system-level improvements
VP of Operations (Founding Team Member)
The Organic Coup
- Built and developed high-performing management team from ground up, implementing coaching and performance tracking that improved leadership success rates from 50% to 90%
- As founding team member, spearheaded 0-to-1 development of custom inventory management platform, enabling data-driven demand forecasting and logistical operations that decreased company waste by 2%
- Built and launched company's initial e-commerce website and online ordering platform, establishing first digital transaction systems from the ground up
- Applied first-principles thinking to scale operations from startup phase through rapid growth, creating systematic processes that supported business expansion
Senior Brand Manager
Ignite Farm
- Drove 0-to-1 brand and product launch by defining GTM strategy and product roadmap, scaling revenue from $0 to $400K in six months
- Established foundational product management practices including customer discovery, market analysis, and strategic positioning
- Demonstrated early mastery of systematic problem-solving and strategic thinking that became hallmarks of later product leadership success
- Applied data-driven decision making to optimize product-market fit and accelerate growth trajectory
Research Contributor
UC Santa Barbara Marine Biotech Center
- Contributed to breakthrough research breaking down abalone protein structures to find cure for osteoporosis at UC Santa Barbara's Marine Biotech Center
- Developed accelerated protein matrix modeling techniques that became foundational for future studies, demonstrating early systems thinking
- Learned to fail gracefully on complex scientific challenges while extracting valuable learnings for future research directions
- Established first-principles thinking methodology and scientific rigor that later translated to elite product leadership success
Education & Recognition
University of California, Santa Barbara
- B.S. Aquatic Biology - Developed analytical thinking and scientific methodology that forms foundation of product leadership approach
- GenAI Hackathon (Top 3 Finalist) - Co-developed productionized AI tool improving customer productivity by 50%, championing responsible AI application
- Leadership Development Program - Selected as one of 150 participants nationwide for 18-month professional development program for high-achieving underrepresented talent in tech
- Core competencies: Platform Product Strategy, System-Level Analysis, Data Modeling, Technical Product Management, Cross-Functional Collaboration, AI/ML Product Concepts
Let's Build the Future Together
Ready to transform your product organization and achieve breakthrough market outcomes? Let's discuss how we can create the next chapter of exponential growth.