Design leadership and coaching

Welcome!

I'm Pia

I always hoped to become a design unicorn or a fluffy panda, but life seems to have other plans.

I now have a bigger vision – I want to help companies raise design maturity, change the work culture in tech to become more inclusive and people-oriented, and help people thrive and not just survive in their jobs.

Building and developing a team

Team leader

Teamwork and collaboration / Team purpose / Career vision / Goal setting / DISC profiling / Values & Beliefs / Strengths / Asking and receiving feedback / Team building and events

Building a team is easy, but building a high-performing team is an art form.

My vision for my team is to empower every individual to find their strengths and use them to their fullest – to shine like the brightest stars in the sky. At the same time, I envision a team where people help each other recognize their blind spots and empower each other to create opportunities for personal and professional growth.

I believe in teamwork, kind and honest communication, and the importance of psychological safety.

Management case study

Problem solving as a career

Product designer

Design thinking / UX Research / Ideation / Design workshops / Screen design & Prototyping / Interaction design / UI Design / Validation & Testing / Design system

I fell in love with user experience and design before I knew what it was…

By now, I have experience leading every stage of the design process, from discovery to delivery. My passion lies in the discovery of the true problem, and my superpowers are facilitation and ideation. That said, I don’t shy away from any design task, be it research, ideation, execution, or working with pixels.

The power of design for me lies in finding the balance between pushing the edge of reality and staying pragmatic.

Design case study

Thriving vs surviving

Career Coach

CV / Portfolio / Cover letter / Mock interviews / Whiteboard challenges / Product and Design exercises / Career vision / Goal setting / DISC profiling and use / Values and Beliefs

It takes courage and action to not just survive at work but to thrive there truly.

I’ve naturally gravitated towards career coaching after working as a Product design mentor. My students’ passion was so inspiring that I wanted to find more ways of supporting them. Seeing how practical some approaches were, I’ve started adapting them for my Design team at work.

I’ve experienced that empowered people who thrive at work regularly go above and beyond compared to their unhappy colleagues.

Work with me

And how is working with me really?

This is what my coworkers think

Soline Vix

Product designer / Userlane

I worked with Pia, who was my manager. I really appreciated our collaboration and the things we accomplished together. Pia is a great listener and support person. She is talented, with great respect for people and a huge heart. If you are looking for a product lead in your company, Pia will be the right person to get this mission. I hope one day to have the opportunity to work with her again, let's see what the future holds for us, but she has been the best manager I have had in my all career so far.

Marija Hajnal

Senior Product Manager / Userlane

Pia has a unique combination of skills that make her an exceptional UX leader in her field. Her background in teaching has been invaluable in organizing and facilitating workshops, where she is able to create engaging exercises that foster collaboration and creativity. In addition to her facilitation skills, Pia is also highly skilled in team management and is particularly adept at using frameworks like DISC to help teams work together effectively. She is always looking for ways to improve her management, UX, and UI skills, and is always willing to go the extra mile to help her team succeed. Furthermore, her ability to create a safe space for the team to ideate has been instrumental in fostering a positive and productive work environment.

What really sets Pia apart, however, is her ability to listen to and include the perspectives of all team members, including those who may be quieter or less confident. Her ability to create an inclusive and equitable workplace is truly remarkable, and it is a testament to her leadership abilities.

In short, I highly recommend Pia as a UX Team Lead. She is a skilled facilitator, an effective team manager, and an inclusive leader who consistently goes above and beyond to help her team succeed.

Gui Marques Penha

Senior Visual designer / Userlane

It was an absolute pleasure to work with Pia! She is an exceptional people-oriented design leader and mentor. Her expertise in design and UX, leadership skills, and coaching abilities helped me grow both professionally and personally. I am grateful to Pia for all the learnings and personal development opportunities she provided me during our time working together.If you are looking for a design leader who can take your team and your work to the next level, I highly recommend Pia.

Dr. Humera Noor

Team Lead Quality Analysis / Cliqz

Pia and I worked closely on Cliqz University - our technical onboarding program at Cliqz, where she introduced and conducted courses on Qualitative UX and Sense Making. I just love her spirit of knowledge sharing and her compassion for user-facing products. Passionate to her core, Pia makes a difference in everything she takes up! My best wishes for her.

Stefanie Mainwaring

Project & Product lead / Cliqz

I had the pleasure of working with Pia for 2 years. She joined Cliqz as a UX designer and quickly became an essential contributor to the product team. As a project/product lead at this time, I soon came to value her insights into creating a positive user experience. Cliqz went through a phase of building and maintaining a large portfolio of products with a relatively small team. When a need for more project management became apparent, Pia took on the challenge and grew into a project manager position. She soon took on ownership of projects and steered them toward completion while orchestrating a cross functional team. A strong communicator, Pia is able to keep people aligned on common objectives. Her mentoring experience makes her an inspiring conversation partner.

By now, Pia has taken on a full product manager role for mobile software. I am certain that she will do an excellent job!

Nils Clasen

Senior Product designer / Travian Games

I had the pleasure to work with Pia when i was freelancing for 9 months at Travian Games. To keep it short: She is a lovley human being and i had a great time debating with her over detailed UX quesion. She is very organized, has a keen eye for design, is a good observer, curious by nature and ask the right questions at the right time.

If i had to pick my UX-Top-five-dream-team to collaborate - she would be definitely on board!

Rich Winterstetter

Game designer / Travian Games

I had the pleasure of working with Pia during the development of Pyramid Raid. She is a resourceful and dedicated UX/UI designer. She tackled some very challenging tasks and delivered on time with high quality. She always makes sure to get as much information as possible and tries to work as transparent as possible so that there is little room for misunderstandings or miscommunications.Apart from her professional attitude Pia is a friendly and fun person who's energy and drive is infectious for everyone who is working with her.I wish her all the best for the future and hope to work with her again sometime in the future!