2025
I led the design of a mobile app for perinatal Black moms, reshaping its direction through participatory design and three design sprints.
I am a co-founder of this product and currently participating in the Klaus Startup Challenge, a competitive early-stage startup accelerator.
Collaborators: Thesis partner, advisors, HCI experts, public health researchers
Lead Designer | Master's Thesis | 2024 - 2025
Why This Matters
The Problem
"I’m doing everything alone. It’s exhausting." — Focus Group Participant
Black mothers face higher pregnancy-related risks and often lack support that reflects their lived experiences. To design better support, we first mapped where stress, isolation, and unmet needs show up across the perinatal journey.
What Changed
Listening to Moms
Before designing solutions, I led focus groups and a participatory design workshop with Black perinatal moms to understand where existing tools fall short.
Through these sessions:
Moms co-shapedearly conceptsWe identified gapsin daily, practical supportSix design requirementsemerged
Key Decisions
Three Design Sprints
Three design sprints reshaped the product:
Focused on
social connectionandresource sharingExpanded users to
include dadsas active usersRemoved cost barriersto participation
Each sprint validated decisions with real users.
The Outcome
Final Design
The final concept is a mobile app designed for:
Hands-free voice interactions
Events for moms and dads
Community-supported childcare
Takeaways
What this project taught me:
Prioritize
low effortover more featuresCultural context builds
trustParticipatory design and design sprints reveal needs research alone can’t
The product continues to evolve as a founder-led startup.
