My name is Kim Inouye. I’m a Product Design Leader with expertise in building, managing, and scaling teams.
I am currently Chief of Staff for the Global UX team at PayPal which includes brands like Venmo, honey, and Braintree.
Prior to PayPal, I was the Head of Product Design Ops at Etsy. At Etsy I helped to scale the operations of a high growth design team during the pandemic.
I studied Information Design at the MICA, and have a bachelors of science in math and physics.
Detailed Bio
As a Design Leader, I am often asked how someone who studied math and physics ended up in design. I find that there are more similarities between the two than not. Math students love problems, in particular, they love deconstructing the pieces related to a problem into tiny components. They will study those components, understand the laws that define and govern these components in order to design an elegant and simple solution.
A good designer, is also considered a problem solver - for business and user problems. They study humans and their relationship to products, And use that understanding to design elegant and simple product experiences.
Professionally, I began my career in survey research under University of Chicago professor Colette Steward Phd, and found my stride when I began planning digital experiences for Olay and COVERGIRL. I specialized in search engine optimization, content strategy and information architecture that put human insights at the center. I grew into leadership and management roles and led teams of 15 in driving excellence in digital marketing, research/insights, and designing digital experiences for P&G Beauty, Hair, and Personal Care brands in all Global Markets. As my interests expanded into more systems oriented work, I began focusing on developing toolkits for P&G and Estée Lauder to create best in class content and digital experiences across all digital platforms and media types, in all of their major global markets and languages.
Since then, I’ve been fortunate to hold impacting roles at well known brands where I’ve been successful in building teams that create exciting new product designs and experiences. And more importantly, I’ve been helping teams find joy and confidence in their work. Some of those brands include FLOR, Nordstrom’sTrunk Club, and Etsy.
Parallel to my career journey I have also been highly involved in advocating for social and racial justice for Chicago’s Asian American community. Over the last 10+ years I have done much to preserve the history of Japanese American Internment in the MidWest by raising funds and managing efforts to archive video interviews of internees, preserve artifacts, and present curations and exhibitions nationally. I was Executive Director of the Foundation for Asian American Independent Media which is sponsored by the Art Institute of Chicago, where I ran an annual film festival, art show, and music events that promoted and celebrated Asian American artists, performers, and writers.
Lately, I have become very interested in thinking more critically about the social and cultural impacts of our day to day design decisions. Especially as it relates to Design Systems, Information Architecture and Gender and Racial Identity. If you share the same interests or would like to grab coffee (online), you can contact me at kim.k.inouye@gmail.com or my LinkedIn.