Hi, I'm Aaron. I'm a UX design manager at Google, currently leading a team building shopping experiences on YouTube. I began my career in agencies, spent a few years at startups, and have been at Google for 7 years. The range has exposed me to a lot of different contexts and ways of working that I still draw on today.
I've been managing for 1.5 years, and was a staff IC designer before that. Some of my team used to be my peers — which has been its own kind of education.
While I'm open to any interesting conversation, I think I might be most helpful for:

• Mid-to-senior designers trying to elevate — promo, scope, visibility, turning good work into recognition.
• New managers, or people considering a transition into management.
• Anyone navigating large or complex orgs (big tech, traditional corporate, mature startups, and similar).
• People thinking carefully about how AI is reshaping design craft and output.

I'm happy to help with portfolio reviews here and there, but I think I'm even better as a longer-arc thinking partner — the more we get to know each other, the deeper we can go on career dynamics and the changing paradigms in our field.

My path here wasn't straight. I'm from NYC originally, studied art, taught in Japan, did grad school in Australia, moved back to NY, and now live in LA with my wife and two wiener dogs. I cook, read, vibe code, and am learning woodworking. I'm still figuring out a few things in my own career — which I think is part of what makes mentorship interesting in both directions.