✨ Money, Money, Money✨ : Why Designers Need to Care About Business

Design that pays its way: craft × commercial acumen.

Too many designers shy away from numbers - preferring to “just design.” If we want a seat at the big bois / girls / they table, then we need to speak the language of value.

In this session, we’ll unpack how financial literacy, commercial thinking, and outcome-driven design unlock influence, career growth, and better products. Because money talks - and so should we.

What you’ll learn

• How to translate design work into business outcomes (revenue, retention, risk).
• The “mini-P&L” every designer should know: costs, margins, payback, impact.
• Practical dashboards: tying hypotheses → experiments → metrics.
• How to ask sharper questions of product, finance, and execs.
• Career moves: building a portfolio that proves commercial impact.

Who this is for
Junior to exec designers, PMs, DesignOps, researchers, contractors/freelancers, anyone ready to level up their fiscal fitness.

Our speakers

⭐️ Kendra Eckert - GM, Digital Experience @ RACV
⭐️ Hasan Sharif - Co-Founder @ Natural Velocity
⭐️ Milly Schmidt - Design Manager @ Atlassian

Our hosts

⭐️ Mickey Rummery - Founder @ RUMR, Conference Director, The Outlook & UXCamp Naarm
⭐️ Rachel Zhang - UX Lead @ RACV, Founder @ Ro&Co Studio, MelbDT

Bios
Kendra Eckert - GM, Digital Experience @ RACV
Kendra blends 15+ years across insurance, education, and automotive services, uniting business, tech, and experience teams to deliver outcomes at scale. Previously Assistant Director of Digital Delivery at RMIT, she drove agile and HCD transformation across complex orgs. With a Master’s in Editing & Communications (UniMelb), she pairs strategic clarity with strong storytelling and a lifelong curiosity sparked by her first BBS login at 12. She champions design as an investment that compounds, not a line item to trim

Hasan Sharif - Co-Founder @ Natural Velocity
Hasan Sharif is a systems strategist, operator, and Co-Founder of Natural Velocity. He has spent nearly three decades translating purpose into scalable business infrastructure, blending operational rigor with human-centered design.
At NV, he helps organizations turn clarity into momentum using AI-assisted frameworks and team rhythms that scale. His leadership style is humble, strategic, and deeply grounded in contribution.
That commitment is also reflected in his work with Rashan Enterprises, owned with his life partner and focused on mentoring others in personal growth and wealth creation.

Milly Schmidt - Design Manager @ Atlassian
Milly is a systems-thinking design leader with roots in front-end dev, research, and product strategy. She’s worked across startups, corporates, and her own business, which fuels her passion for financial literacy - making sure design decisions drive clear business and financial impact. Former Director of Product at UsabilityHub, she bridges boardrooms and build rooms, championing outcomes over pixels. Milly co-organises IxDA Melbourne and mentors through ADPList (top 10% AU), with a bias for human-centred practices that actually move the needle

Evening
6:00 Arrival & Drinks & Pizza 🍕
6:25 Welcome / housekeeping (5 mins)
6:30 Lightning talks (3 × 5min)
6:45 Panel discussion (20-30mins)
7:15 Q&A
7:30 Mingle
9:00 Close