Work

I have the privilege of partnering with leaders across industries who are ready to take the leaps needed to grow.


Financial Empowerment for the Underserved

Challenge: Many young military members and new-to-credit members face significant hurdles due to a lack of financial knowledge and predatory financial practices, often leading to poor credit, no credit, or debt. USAA wanted to support their members not only through traditional credit products but also with additional services to ensure their members achieved financial success and felt supported throughout their financial journey.

Approach: We conducted interviews with young military members to identify their financial behaviors, pain points, and urgent needs. Based on these insights, we generated and tested a variety of solutions with key audience members. We then identified the concepts that resonated best with users and achieved the highest rankings on key success metrics.

Impact: We designed a custom product offering that not only helped these individuals manage their finances but also enhanced their financial literacy and supported their long-term financial goals.

A Vision for the Future of Ambulatory Care


Challenge: Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California Region was implementing an ambitious capital plan to build over 60 clinics in 8 years. Rather than viewing this merely as a capital expansion project, KP seized the opportunity to envision how ambulatory care should be delivered in the future and to rethink spaces to improve and transform care delivery.

Approach: In order to adopt a comprehensive approach we visited innovative hospital rooms, spoke with doctors and patients, and analyzed current patient communications. We explored the intersection of doctor and patient needs and examined how patients feel throughout the entire experience. We evaluated the full patient journey, from scheduling an appointment to entering the exam room and understanding their results.

Impact: Ultimately, we prototyped a future experience that is patient-driven and mobile-first. Our design empowers members throughout their healthcare journey, providing them with simple, digestible information and access to their healthcare anytime, anywhere.

Pathbrite

Transforming a Platform for Learning

Challenge: Pathbrite’s mission is to build innovative solutions that help students collect, track and showcase a lifetime of achievement, in addition to recommending pathways for continued success. Pathbrite came to us during a critical pivot from B2C to B2B, in which the company sought to transform itself into a robust learning management system and thus establishing itself as a key player in the education technology market.

Approach: Working collaboratively with the design, engineering and product teams we transformed the platform from a private portfolio sharing network to a customizable, cross-platform e-portfolio and learning tool. This involved iterative design, user feedback, and strategic shifts to target college administrators and educational institutions.

Impact: Pathbrite raised a total funding of $11.8M over 3 rounds. Pathbrite successfully transitioned to a B2B model, and became a widely used tool in educational institutions, enhancing the management of student achievements and supporting career development. The platform now supports over 900 schools globally, including Stanford and Leadership Public Schools, and integrates with various educational resources. Pathbrite was acquired by Cengage Group.

Global Growth for the Gig Economy

Challenge: Taskrabbit is on a mission to transform lives, one task at a time by connecting millions globally with trusted Taskers everyday. TaskRabbit was looking for a partner to help them gain a better understanding of their consumers, which segments to target, and which global regions to target for growth, as well as how to improve user retention and engagement.

Approach: We partnered to conduct comprehensive research on key target audience segments, focusing on their motivations, behaviors, and reasons for using the service. Of high importance was the ability to assess and distill core reasons to use, re­use and share the Taskrabbit experience. This included both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to provide actionable insights for marketing strategies and the product roadmap.

Impact: We developed key archetypes and strategic recommendations that informed their marketing and growth strategy, improved user retention, and optimized product offerings, ultimately supporting their global growth objectives.

Bicultural Health & Wellness Retail & Product Strategy

Challenge: Milagros de Mexico is a chain of health and wellness retail outlets committed to enhancing the health of the Latino community by offering high-quality products at affordable prices. When I began collaborating with Milagros de Mexico, their objectives were ambitious: they aimed to expand through e-commerce, grow their retail footprint, enter wholesale markets, and expand their own product line to establish themselves as a leading health and wellness brand for Latinos. To achieve their broad growth aspirations Milagros de Mexico needed a strategic framework to drive innovation, gain deeper consumer understanding, and achieve greater brand awareness to increase sales.

Approach: Over seven years of collaboration, we crafted a consumer-centric growth strategy and fostered an agile, innovation-driven culture. This involved engaging employees at all levels of the organization to gain a deeper understanding of our customers and creating opportunities for team members to share and test ideas. We also implemented ongoing strategies to gather feedback from consumers, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Through this process, we developed consumer archetypes and insights that drove the refinement of our business strategy, which included updating marketing messaging, adjusting the product mix, creating a roadmap for product development, and expanding retail operations.

Impact: During my tenure, we achieved key milestones, including launching a consumer loyalty program, developing multiple new products under the Milagros brand, and enhancing our e-commerce and social media presence. We underwent a company-wide rebrand to better connect with our target market and increased our emphasis on natural ingredients in both our health and beauty categories. Additionally, we conducted wholesale test markets with Walgreens, added two new store locations, and established Milagros Medical, a health clinic within several store locations.

Testimonials

  • Collaborating with Shabi helped me deliver a relevant, engaging, and clear experience for the customer.

    I had the privilege of working with Shabi when I was tasked with building a digital experience for customers who were new to building credit and those who needed assistance in rebuilding their credit.

    Shabi was a tremendous partner who brought a wealth of knowledge around consumer behavior, psychological mindsets, and a knack for making connections where they seemingly didn’t exist.

    I always appreciated her ability to listen and willingness to understand my customer base. Collaborating with Shabi helped me deliver a relevant, engaging, and clear experience for the customer.

    Deborah Lewis
    Product Management Director
    USAA

  • Shabi has a strategic mindset that will help any company, whether small or large, better understand their biggest challenges in a simple, concrete manner.

    We are a health, wellness, and medical group serving the US Latino market. Shabi worked as our Head of Innovation for a number of years during a period of significant growth and at a time when we needed to deeply understand our consumer. Through focus groups, home visits, and surveys, Shabi gained valuable insights not only into our audience but also into their immediate, medium, and long-term needs.

    Shabi has a strategic mindset that will help any company, whether small or large, better understand their biggest challenges in a simple, concrete manner. She employs a collaborative approach that fosters a productive working environment.

    I highly recommend Shabi for any organization seeking a highly skilled consultant with a proven track record in driving innovation and achieving outstanding results.

    Mauricio Simbeck
    CEO
    Milagros de Mexico and Milagros Medical

  • Together, we discovered new possibilities that not only brought the team alive, but helped increase our impact significantly.

    Shabi's relaxed yet attentive way of being really helped to draw out the latent creativity in our team. Together, we discovered new possibilities that not only brought the team alive, but helped increase our impact significantly.

    Christopher Gray
    Chief Product Officer
    Pathbrite

Explore All