Hi There!

My name is Melanie, and I dedicate myself to innovative and sustainable technology. I love to step out of my comfort zone to experience different cultures, and I enjoy understanding how others perceive our world. From working in five different companies during my undergraduate degree, I have gained experience in managing a team, managing products and designing products mostly in the software industry. As a UX designer, I have learned that user testing is key. Stepping into others' realities is important in order to create the right product for them. Please, take a look around!
Feel free to drop me a line.

Work Experience

Flashfood

Product Manager
Spring 2017

Flashfood is a small start up trying to solve a huge problem - food waste at grocery stores. During the three months I worked there, I ran a week-long product sprint to change the item posting experience in the grocery stores. The sprint was successful so I designed the entire experience as well. I also re-designed the shopper experience to improve the flow and increase usability. Lastly, I automated all the daily and weekly reports my team was doing manually, using PostgreSQL with Mode Analytics.

Horizn
Studios

Product Manager
Fall 2016

As a Product Manager, I standardized the method of developing new products by creating template documents in order to make our products consistent across platforms and clients. I cut the time to development of a project by half by streamlining the product definition and backlog phase.

Rokk3r Labs

UX/UI Designer
Winter 2016

At Rokk3r Labs I worked with 4 portfolio companies. I created wireframes and mockups to design a user experience that embodies the entrepreneur’s idea. I also conducted 40 user research interviews to identify a target persona for a portfolio company. I also created a business plan for my own idea by designing a logo and brand, conducting a market and competitor analysis, creating a landing page, and drafting a pitch deck.

Deloitte

Business Innovation Analyst
Spring 2015

At Deloitte, I was the Project Manager of a project that enhances the client experience in the Deloitte Greenhouse, a space to incubate innovative solutions. I presented the finished project to Greenhouse stakeholders and Deloitte partners, receiving positive feedback from them. Further, I supervised and mentored two students during their internship.

Projects

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Flashfood
Ongoing

Flashfood is a young startup based in Toronto aiming to reduce food waste from restaurants and grocery stores. I designed their signs for food pickup, banner stands for conferences and other marketing material.

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Ridekick
Ongoing

I am currently working on designing a mobile application which creates rideshare communities of people living and working in the same areas. It matches users with a commuting partner based on interests, mutual friends and music taste for their daily commute.

Road Electrification Project
Summer 2016

My team developed a solution for highways to power four-wheel vehicles while in motion. I was the Customer Expert and Human Factors Engineer, conducting user testing and pitching the solution to my class for our 3rd Year Design Project.

DESIGN PORTFOLIO

University Involvement

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Systems Mentorship Program

I started a Mentorship Program for the ﬁrst years in Systems Design Engineering to have mentors from my class (the upper-year students) so they could feel more comfortable during their transition into university and have someone to direct their questions to.

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Engineering Ambassadors Director

Waterloo Engineering has a Shadow Program where high school students shadow an engineering ambassador for a day in their prospective program. I served as the Shadow Day Director, where I trained new ambassadors to understand the shadow program, matched ambassadors and shadows, and facilitated their communication.

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Orientation Week Leader

During Orientation Week 2016 I will be in charge of a group of more than 100 ﬁrst years with 3 other leaders running the group, as a Huge. I also directed Junk Yard Wars, the largest event of the week.