With Mozilla Foundation, I led a multifaceted 16-months ethnographic study of the next billion web users and their behaviors online. I spent time in Kenya, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, and Brazil to understand how different cultures and communities use the web, the critical structural and behavioral barriers they face, and the opportunities for designing innovative tools to promote active and empowering usage. The study was multidisciplinary and involved both ethnographic and UX research methods. The insights were featured in the press, were shared in conferences, and had a transformative effect on our organization and our products and services.

Our team’s goal was to develop an in-depth understanding of the decision-making strategies that diverse communities make as they move around urban spaces. How do people choose to ride their bike or another mode of transportation? How does racism impact people’s decisions when it comes to mobility? What strategies do people use to keep themselves and their loved ones safe? I designed a diary study with engaging activities to answer these questions. For several days, we followed the lives of students, delivery drivers, mothers, and fathers as they made daily decisions about their safety and mobility. The study generated rich innovation and marketing insights that informed the client’s future strategy.

With Mozilla and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, I designed and led a year-long study following the lives of 200 first-time smartphone users in Kenya. Our team conducted extensive ethnographic research, collected periodic quantitative data, and developed prototypes for products and services. The study was also a community-driven project modeled after the principles of Participatory Action Research. It followed a quasi-experimental design with a control group and a treatment group. Insights unveiled the complexity of the relationship between digital skills and digital financial services uptake and provided extensive knowledge about people’s technological needs when stepping into digital lives.

At the Airbel Impact Lab (International Rescue Committee), I designed and led an innovative edutaining program co-created with our partner Ubongo.org. We worked with hundreds of mothers and caregivers and their reference networks living in refugee camps in Tanzania to co-design a program and learning products to support their parenting. The idea was to leverage the power of edutaining content and to create engaging videos to illustrate and guide caregivers through early childhood education activities proven to support the healthy development of their babies. Our videos were designed with and produced by Ubongo and tested multiple times in various settings. Our rigorous pilot revealed positive outcome measures, and the project is currently being scaled across East Africa by Ubongo.