UX Research, Design, and LGBTQIA+ Inclusion: A Panel Discussion

LTUX ATL is celebrating Pride Month in June with a panel discussion on how we can make products and teams more inclusive of gender and sexual minorities. Listen to LGBTQ UXers speak on the topic and dig in deep on how we as designers can break our work free from heteronormativity.

🎤 SPEAKERS

Kaela Burns - http://kaelaburnsdesign.com/
Kaela Burns is a customer experience strategist at Deluxe corporation where they focus on testing and optimization to find ways to improve the user experience and make impactful changes, both on the brand site and in various products. They are also a part of the leadership team for Deluxe’s accessibility program. Kaela is passionate about teaching people to acknowledge the need for diversity and equality for all people in all experiences. When they’re not championing the people’s needs, they can be found baking too much bread, snuggling their cat and dog and fiancé, or any embarking on any manner of culinary adventure.

Mei Kei - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mei-ke/
Mei, who uses they/them pronouns, is a graduate of University of California San Diego with a Master of International Affairs. Their academic specialization is in the fields of security, diplomacy, and intelligence collection. Mei has worked with teams at Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) Pacific, the Congressional Office of California's 52nd District, and the County of San Diego. They also have experience as a Diversity and Inclusion advocate, working to further education on queer and transgender issues in both companies and organizations. In the future, Mei aims to build a bridge across the Pacific using diplomacy and communication.

Candra Gill - http://ckgill.com/
Candra K. Gill is a Senior UX Architect at IHG Hotels & Resorts. She also teaches Information Architecture at the graduate level. She began her UX career after completing an MSI in Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Michigan School of Information. Before changing careers to UX, she worked at universities as a Student Affairs professional and an adjunct instructor.

Abby Stegall - https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-stegall-26b588161/
Abby is a UX Developer with Morris Group International where she designs and codes some of the business' e-commerce websites. As a designer, she specializes in user research, prototyping, and UI design. She is a graduate from Indiana University's Master's program in Human Computer Interaction and Design. During her time at IU she completed a capstone project focused on research and design for transgender inclusive healthcare.

🎤 MODERATOR

Sam Ashlee - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-ashlee/

Sam Ashlee is senior UX researcher at Honeywell where she focuses her efforts on accessibility. She has her PhD in Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies from Emory University where she focused on ethics, disability studies, and user research methodologies. Aside from being a passionate accessibility advocate, Sam has also co-chaired Atlanta’s World Information Architecture Day conference (2019, 2020), is the Director of Accessibility for World Information Architecture Day, and in pre-pandemic times used to teach in the Atlanta area, and sit on Emory's Data Safety and Monitoring Board. When she is not writing bios in the third-person, you can find her chasing her ten-year-old around the house or baking cookies. Or both.