Ladies that UX London

✨ Key Learnings from Tonight’s Panel ✨ Thank you to Ladies that UX London for hosting such an insightful event. The panelists Navdeep Athwal, PhD, Louise Robertson, Naoil Sbai, and Danielle Macdonald were fantastic, sharing their experiences and insights on leadership and building impactful UX teams. As a new and growing lead, I sometimes find it challenging to support my team while maintaining a healthy balance with work and managing varied priorities across wider teams. Tonight’s takeaways were a helpful reminder of what really matters: 🔑 Core values—trust, transparency, respect, and collaboration—are foundational for building accountability and encouraging diverse perspectives within the team. 🔑 Leadership is about guiding teams toward success, celebrating growth and achievements, and shielding them from unnecessary criticism. 🔑 Influence as a leader is earned through empathy and understanding others’ perspectives, which also breaks down language barriers and fosters smoother collaboration. 🔑 Bridging UX research with business values is essential. Research and design should align closely with organisational goals for a truly impactful UX strategy. (Remember UX is not the only thing that matters!) 🔑 Effective product development balances desirability, feasibility, and viability to ensure that decisions meet both user needs and business realities. I’m excited to bring these learnings into my role and grow together with my team!

A massive thank you to these incredible speakers: Navdeep Athwal, PhD, Louise Robertson, Danielle Macdonald and Naoil Sbai, for sharing your inspiring journeys in #UX & #UXR leadership! Your personal stories, strategies and advice for leading #UXD teams inspired and resonated with everyone in the room. Thank you for sharing your journeys from individual contributors to influential leaders and for giving us a look into the future of UX #leadership. A huge shoutout to my amazing colleagues at the Financial Times, Erika Cellai and Jazmin Batisti, for volunteering to make this event run smoothly—and to the FT for hosting Ladies that UX London #LtUXLondon of course. It was such a dream just having to go from the 2nd to the 5th floor!

What a fantastic event last night - a room full of enthusiastic female #UXDesign professionals and an incredible panel brought together by Ladies that UX London in partnership with Financial Times - excited to have attended is an understatement 😊 It was really inspiring to listen to four talented leaders in #UX and #UXResearch - Naoil Sbai, Navdeep Athwal, PhD, Louise Robertson, Danielle Macdonald - talk about their success journeys from individual contributors to influential leaders in top organisations. They all shared some brilliant stories, thoughts and advice about ways to drive success for their teams, overcoming challenges, styles of leadership, showcasing the impact and value UX delivers within each organisation, and soft skills new UXers can bring to the table in the current landscape. Having recently pivoted into this exciting field, it was encouraging to hear that things I fully embrace as a professional (a growth mindset, resilience and adaptability, business acumen etc.) are valued assets in the industry, and can help you become a better designer. I also loved the speakers' views on leading with empathy, being a true cheerleader for their teams, and championing trust, transparency, respect, collaboration as core values in their leadership roles - all so very refreshing! 👏 Many thanks to Sophie M. & all the volunteers, the FT team and the Leaders in Conversation panelists for this wonderful opportunity. And lovely to connect with fellow attendees Diana, Debie, Irina, Candy, Justine, Cait, Kasia who already showed support by sharing bits of advice for my journey - very much looking forward to the next event! ✨ #DesignCommunity #LTUXLondon #LadiesThatUX #UXDesigner #ProductDesigner

✨ Last night, I had an amazing time volunteering at the Ladies that UX London “Leaders in Conversation” event, graciously hosted by the Financial Times. It was filled with inspiring conversations led by rockstar women in UX! These impressive leaders took us through their personal experiences and insights on some of the most relevant topics in UX today: 🚀 Their Leadership Journeys 🏋🏻♀️ Navigating UX Team Challenges 🥇 Valuing Teams & Showcasing Impact 🔮 The Future of UX Leadership Many thanks to these visionary leaders who shared their stories so openly: Louise Robertson – Associate Director of Product Design, Financial Times Navdeep Athwal, PhD Athwal, PhD – Global Head of UX, Citi Naoil Sbai – Global Team Lead, UX Research, Just Eat Takeaway.com Danielle Macdonald – Senior UX Research Manager, Google 🙌🏼 And a huge shoutout to Ladies that UX London for organizing such an impactful event! They're a non-profit that empowers women in UX to support each other, grow together, and push boundaries in the field. Best of all, there are Ladies That UX groups worldwide! #LadiesThatUX #WomenInUX #UXLeadership #UserExperience #FinancialTimes #Networking

I really enjoyed hearing from Navdeep Athwal, PhD, Louise Robertson, Naoil Sbai and Danielle Macdonald at Ladies that UX London last night. These leaders shared their thoughts on the importance of authenticity and how AI is a common challenge, especially when looking ahead. That's unsurprising considering how quickly we're all getting to grips with it! I love the reminder that a growth mindset and resilience have always been essential in UX and will continue to be so. It's great to head to F2F events again, let me know if you have recommendations for more.

Last night, Financial Times had the pleasure of hosting an inspiring Ladies that UX London event at our Bracken House office. The evening featured a powerful panel on leadership, innovation, and navigating the evolving UX landscape. We were thrilled to have Louise Robertson from FT on the panel, alongside Danielle Macdonald, Navdeep Athwal, PhD & Naoil Sbai lending their expertise and unique perspectives. The evening was brilliantly hosted by our own Sanita Lustika, whose thoughtful questions sparked meaningful conversations and encouraged deep reflection on the challenges and opportunities within UX careers today. Thank you to all who attended and participated! We are proud to support spaces where women in UX can connect, learn, and grow. Here’s to many more nights like these, where current and future leaders in tech can come together to inspire and empower each other.  #FinancialTimes #LadiesThatUXLondon #WomenInTech #UX

Before yesterday's Ladies that UX London panel at the Financial Times offices in the City, I worried I'd feel like a fish out of water as a newcomer to London. Instead, I was reminded how lucky I am to be a part of the UX community and how I can always count on UXers to share my values, wherever they're from. I was so inspired by the words of confident, compassionate and fierce women like Navdeep Athwal, PhD, Louise Robertson, Naoil Sbai and Danielle Macdonald. Their insights on empathetic leadership, staying true to your values, and influencing workplace change were music to my ears. The UX way of thinking truly brings people together and it was so refreshing to feel a sense of belonging in a new country and a new city. Thank you, Ladies that UX London, for creating an environment for contamination and growth. I feel grateful for the wisdom and support that women like Navdeep, Louise, Naoil, and Danielle shared with us yesterday. I hope I'm able to give back to the community one day! See you at the next event! PS: also thanks for an awesome moderation Sanita Lustika and Sophie M.

I was lucky to attend the Ladies that UX London leadership event last night hosted by Financial Times. Thank you to Sophie M. and the whole team for putting on another great event and thank you to Navdeep Athwal, PhD , Louise Robertson, Danielle Macdonald and Naoil Sbai for your candor and insight. Such an incredible panel of incredible women speaking about their journeys in design leadership.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion at Ladies that UX London alongside my fellow panellists Louise Robertson Danielle Macdonald and Naoil Sbai We covered: 🚀 Our journeys in UX leadership 🏋🏻♀️ Navigating partnerships with stakeholders 🤓 Embedding UX into organisational culture 🏆 Showcasing the impact of UX Thanks to our fantastic panel host Sanita Lustika and organiser Sophie M. Ladies that UX London is a community committed to inspiring and empowering women in UX through collaboration, learning, and mutual support.

I'm feeling grateful to have been able to attend my first Ladies that UX London event. It was inspiring to be in a room full of Senior/Lead women in the industry. The space felt safe, open, and hopeful in a changing market. My key takeaways were: 🫶 Leading with empathy - the importance of leading with empathy for your team, stakeholders and end users. It's vital to have everyone aligned to drive things forward 🎉 Celebrate the team the whole way through the design process. It's crucial for the team's work to be seen and valued and for leaders to advocate for their team when they are not there 💡 We need to learn each client's craft - they don't need to learn ours. The importance of reframing context and design language 🫵🏻 Leading with your values in mind - keeping true to your values when leading to remain authentic. The importance of resetting and coming back more present for your team. Thank you to the panellists Louise Robertson Navdeep Athwal, PhD Danielle Macdonald Naoil Sbai for sharing your open and honest experiences with your leadership roles.