October 20th, 2022, 10:00 am PT / Category: Interviews
Why is leveraging product strategy expertise more critical now than ever, and how can it be done from idea to MVP (and beyond).
Dawn Delatte
Dawn is a Designer and Managing Director for the Ignite team at thoughtbot. She has been with the company since July 2016, working with clients in many stages to bring their products and ideas to life.
As Managing Director of the Ignite Team, she is responsible for the Team’s sales and business development as well as the success of our client and team relationships. She works collaboratively with the designers and developers to ensure we add value to the people and products we work with every day.
In addition to leading the Ignite Team, Dawn has contributed to many client projects over the years. Most recently, she has conducted Product Design Sprints for a FinTech product using crypto-currencies to buy and sell music shares, as well as an EdTech product that helps high school students have their college essays reviewed by expert admissions officers. She’s designed MVP applications, tested prototypes, and implemented those designs on the front-end to help launch a new product. Her goal for each project is to facilitate positive and meaningful interactions for people, using tools like design thinking, user research, and front-end development.
In college, Dawn studied Fine Art and later went on to complete a UI Design and Development program. She has a long history in retail sales, supply-chain management, and customer success.
Emily Bahna
Emily Bahna is a Managing Director of thoughtbot Lift Off which she joined in July 2017. She is also a regular coach and advisor to NC Idea, American Underground, Momentum Learning, TechStars, and NC RiOT.
Her background is in art direction, interactive design, information architecture, and user experience strategy. Before joining thoughtbot, she worked for Digitas, Pixel Press (a Human Rights Digital Magazine), Duke University, Centerline Digital, and she was also founder of UX-Shop (a user-centered design consultancy). She has worked on projects for Seagrams, American Express, UNICEF, GE Oil & Gas, IBM, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, RTI International, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, The East Coast Greenway, Planned Parenthood, among many other clients, large and small, for profit and not-for-profit.
Emily is originally from New York City and moved to Durham NC in 2004. She has been designing and consulting with clients on service design, web, and applications solutions since 1999. She holds a B.A. from Rutgers and a Graphic Design degree from Parsons School of Design.
