[Hybrid] Talk Business as a UXer

Hello Design Thinkers!

Creating innovation isn’t just about having great ideas or building sophisticated technical solutions — it’s also about demonstrating their value in a language that business leaders understand, the financial impact. One of the most overlooked, yet critical, pillars of innovation is the ability to provide strong financial justifications for the solutions we propose. Whether you’re designing a new digital product, streamlining an internal process, or implementing a cutting-edge technology, understanding and articulating the cost to build, operate, and scale those solutions is essential to earning stakeholder buy-in and ensuring long-term success.

In this month’s session, we’re dedicating our agenda to explore the intersection of design, technology, and business value. We’ll unpack the fundamentals of financial justification — from upfront investment and recurring costs to value realization and ROI storytelling — and show how these financial narratives can enhance the credibility and influence of design-driven innovation.

Join us for an overview of what every innovation professional needs to know about aligning design with business value to create solutions that are not only technically feasible and user-centric — but also financially sound. Our speaker this month is one of our own member Isabel Almaguer.

“Isabel graduated from the University of Houston - Downtown (UHD), with a B.S. in Computer Science, along with two minors, one in Math, the other in Art. After graduating, she worked as a Business Intelligence (BI) Analyst for 4+ years, where she researched solutions, visually communicated data, and collaborated with several stakeholders across departments. To follow her dreams of being in UX, she pursued the Master’s in Human Computer Interactions at Iowa State University. She now works in the Energy field at Enbridge in their technology and innovation lab as a UX Researcher.
Isabel is passionate about community engagement and demonstrates strong interpersonal skills in her current role as the Seek Advisor of EDGE and an active member for FEMININE at Enbridge. She is also a Membership Coordinator for Houston chapter for the AIGA Houston Chapter, volunteers as a” Big” for Big Brother Big Sister and is a practicing Martial Artist.”

The conversation will be hosted by the founder of Design Thinking and Innovation – Tanveer Chaudhary. Please feel free to reach out to her and DM if you have any questions for the speaker or any comments regarding the event.

Agenda - Sept 10th, 2025:

1. Registration / Pizza - 6:00 - 6:30PM CST
2. Guest Speaker session - 6:30PM - 8:00PM CST
3. Professional Networking - 8:00PM - 9:00PM CST

Online Link [6:30PM - 8:00PM] (Guest Speaker session ONLY)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83319455193?pwd=PkyqYtcTTcdsY0c5mnCx3c9FZhkckc.1
Meeting ID: 833 1945 5193
Passcode: 379661
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+13462487799,,83319455193#,,,,*379661# US (Houston)
+16694449171,,83319455193#,,,,*379661# US
In-person Location [6:00PM - 9:00PM] (Includes Networking):
Improving
10111 Richmond Ave, #100, 77042, Houston, Texas
Who would find this event useful:

• Entrepreneurs, start-up founders
• Business owners
• Design Strategists, design professionals
• Design and Management Students
• Community at-large
• Join our Linked-in group:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/dt-i-org
DT&I Team