About Me

I work to elevate the voices that we bring to the room and ensure that they are diverse, inclusive, and heard.

I am currently a contract UX Researcher at Meta, working with cross-functional teams to uncover opportunities and develop GenAI products that unlock new social experiences.

I was previously at IDEO, where I utilized qualitative research methods and translated insights into tangible innovations. I bring a unique blend of research expertise and creative vision to every project. My past clients include Meta, Google, Abbott Laboratories, Bracco Medical Devices, and Amyris. 

Prior to IDEO, I honed my client management skills at IBM as a renewals manager. I graduated from Rice University with a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, where I also won the George G. Williams Award for Fiction Writing for my piece, “Shade of the Deepest Blue.”

Outside of work, I freelance as product designer and run The Katsu Shop, where I design stationery that celebrates my Asian heritage and funnily enough, my cat, Katsu. I currently live in San Francisco.

Professional Craft Skills -

Technical Skills -

  • Research methods: Exploratory and evaluative research approaches, research planning and recruitment, ethnography, concept testing, in-depth user interviews, focus groups, co-creation workshops, contextual inquiry, usability testing, survey design, insight generation.
  • User Experience & Design: UX design, visual design, information architecture, wireframing. 
  • Strategy and Development: Content strategy formulation and execution, project management, product strategy.
  • Figma/Figjam
  • DScout
  • Prolific
  • Framer
  • JIRA/Github
  • Miro
  • Illustrator
  • Procreate

Peer Reviews

"While Sunny was always open to feedback and open to learning and adjusting her process, she showed up with confidence, with well thought out plans & structured processes across the design thinking journey that helped the team make progress in their research goals. Sunny could always be counted on to do her part and often went above and beyond in inspiring the team and pushing their thinking. And she did all of it with an incredibly positive and uplifting attitude."

- Design Director @ IDEO

"I was really impressed with how Sunny led interviews, group sessions, and research presentations for the client. She was so poised and thoughtful, and did such a nice job of creating human moments, making people feel at ease, and showing that she listened by replaying what she heard or highlighting something they said. We were asking people to talk about pooping, and it was so important to get people comfortable to be able to share intimate details with us.

One of my favorite project moments was when she asked the astronaut we were interviewing if he believed in aliens to break the ice - it totally worked. He loved that question and the rest of the interview was pure gold."

- Project Lead @ IDEO

The Katsu Shop